Beyond features: How to build a roadmap that actually moves the needle

Ditch the feature factory mentality and focus on outcomes that matter

👋 Hey, Sam here! Welcome back to The Product Trench. Every other Wednesday, I cut through the noise to share actionable insights, no-nonsense advice, and stories related to product management, startups, and leadership.

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On a recent podcast,

Aakash Gupta

and I found ourselves in the middle of a spicy round on some of the hottest product management topics of the day—45 minutes of straight-up, unfiltered talk on everything from AI to the death (or maybe just the slow demise) of the feature-based roadmap. It was one of those conversations that hit a nerve. Midway through our chat, we landed on featureless roadmaps, and it was clear: this is a topic that needs some serious unpacking.

It got me thinking about the number of times I've personally been stuck in the feature factory trap. You know the drill: halfway through the quarter, your team is working overtime to hit deadlines, the marketing team is hyping up features, sales is waiting to show off the latest shiny thing, and your engineers? They're burning through sprints like it's a race. But somewhere, deep down, there's that feeling… are these features actually going to solve the problems our users care about?

This is the heart of the issue with feature-based roadmaps—they give the illusion of progress but often lead you off course. If you've ever found yourself shipping features just to check a box for stakeholders, it might be time to rethink how you're planning your product roadmap.

The problem with feature-based roadmaps

Feature-based roadmaps are like trying to assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions. Sure, you'll put something together (I will be impressed if you do), but don't be surprised when it looks nothing like the picture on the box. By converging on features too early, we risk focusing on short-term wins while ignoring the bigger picture. Executives and stakeholders love features—they're easy to sell, they look great in a demo, and they make for impressive reports. But here's the catch: they can also pull you away from your product's true goals.

When you're committed to building Feature A, Feature B, and Feature C, you end up focusing on outputs (what you deliver) instead of outcomes (why you're doing it, a.k.a impact). It's a slippery slope into becoming a "feature factory"—cranking out features to meet deadlines without questioning whether they're addressing the right problems.

This approach also risks turning your product into a disjointed collection of features that no longer tie into your core vision. Worse, you can end up delivering things that neither customers need nor truly benefit the business in the long run, but that were promised for short-term gains. The real danger? Losing sight of your product's long-term potential and missing the opportunity to create meaningful impact.

What is a featureless roadmap?

What does one put on a roadmap if not features?

So, what's the alternative? Enter featureless roadmaps (a.k.a outcome-focused roadmaps). This approach shifts the focus away from delivering specific features and toward solving bigger, strategic problems. Instead of saying, "We're launching Feature X this quarter," you're saying, "We're tackling Theme Y this quarter, and we'll solve this customer problem in the most effective way possible."

Think of a featureless roadmap is like planning a potluck dinner. You set the theme (Italian night… fancy), but let your guests decide whether they bring lasagna, garlic bread, or tiramisu. The key is that you're all aiming to have a great meal—without micromanaging every dish. Similarly, a featureless roadmap focuses on the "why" behind each initiative—what business problem you're solving and what outcomes you want to achieve. For example, instead of saying, "We're adding one-click checkout," you'd say, "We're reducing shopping cart abandonment by 15%." Features are still part of the plan, but they're not the goal—solving the problem is the goal. How you achieve that goal is open to experimentation, allowing for greater creativity and responsiveness to changing customer needs.

Themes and North Stars: Your guiding lights

At the heart of a featureless roadmap are themes and North Star metrics. Themes are high-level focus areas that align with your product's overall goals, while North Star metrics act as the leading indicators of success. Your North Star is the one metric that matters most to your business—whether that's user engagement, daily active users (DAU), or gross merchandise volume (GMV).

Think of the North Star as your compass, guiding everything your team works on. Each theme you focus on should drive movement towards your North Star. For example, if your North Star is to increase daily active users, a theme might be "Enhance User Engagement." This theme could encompass several initiatives (yes, including features), like improving onboarding or creating a more personalized and gamified customer experience. But the key difference here is that the theme drives the conversation—not the features.

By focusing on themes, you shift the team's mindset from output ("Did we ship Feature X?") to outcome ("Did we increase user engagement by 20%?"). Your product team will be empowered to remain adaptable, innovative, and aligned with the broader business objectives because teams aren't constrained by a rigid feature list—they're free to explore the best way to solve the problem.

Once your themes and North Star are set, the challenge becomes how to structure your roadmap to execute on those high-level goals. That's where the Now-Next-Later framework comes in.

Now-Next-Later: A simple framework for flexibility

The Now-Next-Later roadmap offers a practical way to structure a featureless roadmap without overwhelming your team or stakeholders. This approach balances strategic goals and flexibility, especially when transitioning from a feature-heavy model to an outcome-focused roadmap.

Here's how you can use the framework:

• Now: These are the initiatives you're actively working on that directly impact your short-term goals. This is your core focus for the current quarter—whether it's solving a critical user pain point or improving a key metric like engagement or retention.

• Next: Initiatives that are on the horizon and will soon demand attention. These are slightly more fluid and can be adjusted based on the success of what's being worked on "Now." This allows for flexibility without sacrificing progress.

• Later: These are the longer-term strategic objectives or experiments you want to keep in view but aren't yet committing to. They represent your product's future evolution but can be reprioritized as needed.

By organizing work in stages like this, you ensure flexibility and agility while keeping everyone aligned with high-level business outcomes. This allows product managers to avoid the pitfalls of overly detailed feature roadmaps and instead focus on solving the right problems at the right time.

Are featureless product roadmaps right for your product?

Now, I can hear some of you asking: "But Sam, is this featureless roadmap right for my product?" Well, as we love to say in product management, it depends.

Featureless product roadmaps tend to work best when there are:

1. Shared product vision: Does your team have a clear, shared vision of where the product is headed? A featureless roadmap is about aligning everyone on the same strategic goals. Without a well-communicated product vision, you'll struggle to shift away from features and keep everyone focused on outcomes.

2. Product team credibility: Your team's credibility is crucial when moving to a featureless roadmap. Do stakeholders trust that your team can deliver on broad, outcome-based goals? Without this trust, it's hard to secure buy-in for an approach that doesn't come with the guaranteed comfort of a feature list.

3. Good rapport with product development: Lastly, you need a strong, collaborative relationship between your product managers, designers and engineers. In a featureless roadmap, the specifics of how you solve a problem are left to be figured in tandem by these individuals as they come. You need to trust them to experiment, prototype, and iterate, knowing they'll land on the best solutions.

If you're missing any of these ingredients, it might be better to stick with feature-based roadmaps—at least for now. Transitioning to a featureless approach requires careful management of expectations and strong internal communication. Remember, it's not all or nothing. You can start with a hybrid approach, using themes for longer-term planning and features for the immediate term.

Objection handling: But what about the features?

"But what about the features?" This is a common objection. Executives love features—they're tangible, they look good in sales presentations, and they're easy to market. So, how do you manage this?

The key is to reframe the conversation. Features still exist in a featureless roadmap—they're just not the focus. When stakeholders push for specifics, you can say:

Yes, we're building Feature X, but it's part of a broader goal to solve Problem Y. This allows you to deliver the comfort of features without losing focus on outcomes.

Another objection might be the fear of uncertainty—teams like to know exactly what's being built.

A featureless roadmap doesn't mean throwing everything into chaos. By organizing around outcomes, you give your team clear direction on the why, while giving them the flexibility to determine the how.

A Case study: Feature-based vs. Featureless roadmaps

Let's make this concrete and look at how this works in practice. Imagine we're building "Uber but for Tacos" (patent pending). Our traditional and featureless roadmaps might look like this:

See how this approach gives us strategic direction without locking us into specific features? We're not saying "no" to any specific features. We're just framing everything around clear outcomes. Maybe that salsa customization is exactly what we need to boost repeat orders. Or maybe we realize a simpler menu and faster delivery times would move the needle more. The point is, we have the flexibility to figure that out as we go.

Managing change: How to transition to a featureless roadmap

Now, let's talk about actually implementing this in the real world. Because let's face it, theory is great, but if you can't execute, you're just the product management equivalent of that guy at the party who won't stop talking about his next big idea. (We all know that guy. Don't be that guy.)

Transitioning to a featureless roadmap isn't an overnight shift—it requires patience and strong change management. Here's how you can make it happen:

1. Identify key themes: These should be big, meaty problem areas that, if solved, will move your North Star metric. Think "Reduce Friction in Checkout Process," not "Add PayPal Integration".

2. Set clear, measurable outcomes for each theme: These are your success criteria. "Increase conversion rate by 15%" is good. "Make checkout smoother" is not.

3. Generate initiative ideas: Use techniques like impact mapping or user story mapping to come up with potential ways to achieve your outcomes. Get creative here. This is your chance to think big.

4. Prioritize ruthlessly: Not all initiatives are created equal. There is a host of prioritization methods and frameworks. Use them to decide what to tackle first and figure out what will have the most impact.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate: A roadmap is ultimately a communication tool. Make sure everyone understands not just what you're doing, but why.

Remember, start small. Pick one upcoming initiative and try framing it as a theme rather than a feature list.

Wrapping Up

At the end of the day, product management is about delivering value and outcomes that matter, not checking boxes on a feature list. Featureless roadmaps help us stay focused on that core purpose. It's about embracing uncertainty and being willing to pivot based on what we learn.

Now if you'll excuse me, all this taco talk has made me hungry. I'm off to disrupt the local taqueria industry, one burrito at a time. 🌯

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— Sam ✌️

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