Project Roadmap Templates To Try: Project managers have a straightforward mission: to see the project and team through to the end with a 100% success rate. They must carry out this role by keeping all parties involved informed and expressing the project’s purpose as a narrative. The project roadmap template is now available! A project roadmap enables a project manager to provide stakeholders with an overview of the project in an easy-to-understand style. The ultimate aim is to bring all stakeholders on board without any uncertainties in their minds about the project milestones, components, budget, and end purpose.
It is simple storytelling in which technical materials are simplified using real-life examples. At the end of the presentation, the stakeholders, managers, or executing team members should have a clear expectation defined. As a project manager, you have a lot on your plate, and a project roadmap should not be one of them. As a result, many seasoned project management agencies and professionals rely on ready-to-use project roadmap templates. Well, continue reading to learn more about the project roadmap and some professional templates you may use.
What Is Roadmap In Project Management?
The project roadmap provides an easy-to-understand, high-level, and granular overview of critical project components. It is a non-confidential, public-facing resource that project managers may share with a public or professional group to convey the following rapidly:
1 – A concise summary of the project’s goals.
2 – Important project deliverables.
3 – The project’s task dependencies.
4 – Important project milestones.
5 – Project dangers.
Use it to tell the project’s story before and throughout its project. They let you convey high-level ideas, establish reasonable expectations, and highlight the critical components of the project’s impending work.
Creating A Project Roadmap Importance
A project roadmap is a simple approach to conveying a project’s goals or objectives. Such reports may sometimes be modified to describe project status and progress. The following are the benefits of having a project roadmap for any project:
Managing Stakeholder Expectations
A project roadmap template assists you in setting appropriate expectations among project owners and stakeholders. In addition, your supervisors can assist you in sourcing your project requirements if you can picture the prices, resources, and timing.
Convey Goals And Plans Easily
Project roadmaps are often in graphic formats with a high-level overview. As a result, it’s a critical document for swiftly relaying critical information to stakeholders.
Encourage Quicker Decision-making
Your project roadmap covers the key deliverables and goals. Whenever a task prioritization dispute arises throughout the project, refer to the original project roadmap document to understand which work should be prioritized.
Create New Project Snapshots
A primary responsibility of the project roadmap is to create various updated versions as the project evolves. Then, you may use those updated reports to make a no-brainer presentation regarding the project progress that anybody at the level can understand.
Communicate With External Teams
Typically, project roadmaps do not include any sensitive information regarding the task. As a result, you may communicate the document with other parties participating in the project.
It Acts As A Reminder
Any project has the danger of deviating from its intended track during routine tasks. You should, however, direct your team to refer to the project roadmap to bring the status back on track.
Project Roadmap Advantages
The project roadmap was undervalued or ignored for a long time, but project managers are increasingly emphasizing this resource. You get the following advantages over your competition if you include a project roadmap in your project planning:
1 – Create Project Accountability.
2 – Prioritize and Align.
3 – Effectively Coordinate.
4 – Visualize Roles.
5 – Define Project goals.
Typical Project Roadmap Components
Your project roadmap should be one page long. As a result, you must choose components for the project roadmap carefully. In your project roadmap template, add the following:
1 – Include an outline of the project schedule, including non-negotiable deadlines.
2 – Do not overlook the critical milestones that your team aspires to attain.
3 – The roadmap should also visually represent the budget and human format allocation.
4 – Any task dependencies you anticipate should also be included here.
5 – Important connections, particularly for external consultants and suppliers, should be included in the project roadmap document.
6 – In a few phrases, describe the objectives, goals, and priorities as a high-level summary.
Below, some of the best free project roadmap templates are listed.
Best Project Roadmap Templates To Try
Project Roadmap Templates to try in 2022.
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1. Office Timeline
Office Timeline is a popular source for high-quality project roadmap templates that are available for free. The tool helps you convert complicated project management data into concise project roadmaps in Microsoft PowerPoint. As a result, you may confidently present the roadmap document in front of a high-value audience. In addition, this tool’s project roadmap has a logical visual framework that is easy to recall. The following roadmap document templates are available:
1 – An example of a project roadmap document.
2 – A template for a product roadmap.
3 – A template for an IT roadmap.
4 – Business/Strategy roadmap template.
5 – A template for a technology roadmap.
Office Timeline does not yet support direct downloading of project roadmap templates for Google Workspace files such as Sheets, Docs, and Slides. However, you may quickly access the templates since Google’s platform is largely compatible with Microsoft Office files.
2. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a well-known software-as-a-service (SaaS) for project management and remote collaboration. One of its most recent products is an easy-to-use and customizable project roadmap for professional project managers. You may use any of the templates on this web app and keep it updated throughout the project. Because Smartsheet allows you to download the updated template in numerous formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, these formats are readily accessible. Some examples of current ready-made templates are:
1 – Information technology (IT) project roadmap example.
2 – A sample project roadmap document with multiple projects.
3 – Example of a 3-Year Project Roadmap.
4 – Template for Agile Project Roadmap.
The templates are free to use since you may sample the platform and download the document you want. You may also acquire a complete membership if you find the platform useful for your projects.
3. Template.net
Another reliable source for project roadmap example documents is Template.net. Its free examples might help you create an efficient strategic project roadmap for your business. In addition, it gives users access to various project roadmap documents, ranging from creative graphical designs to agile project management. However, this site may not be for you if you’re seeking high-quality roadmap templates for free. At present, the website only provides two basic project roadmap templates.
4. Aha!
Product roadmap templates eliminate the time-consuming customizing of templates. Using these templates, you can start presenting project plans, goals, and high-level overviews in minutes. There are now 16 freely printable project roadmap documents that you may customize for your project. Because not all project roadmap examples are the same, you must use them cautiously. For example, some of them are appropriate for presenting a project’s high-level business goals. On the other hand, some are better suited for product releases, project feature explanations, etc. Aha provides roadmap files in Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel formats for download. You may, however, subscribe to the Aha tool if you want a specific tool for project roadmap development and visualization.
5. Slite
If you are unsure how to begin creating a professional project roadmap for your next project, go to Slite and create using its free templates. The templates are aesthetically appealing and simple to customize. You may also use the Slite web app to collaborate online with a distant collaborator on a template. Unlike other template websites, it does not allow you to download a Word or Docs file for self-editing. Instead, it opens the free template in the Slite app editor, where you may customize the project roadmap document with numerous components.
The free template on show includes segments such as the roadmap headline, team mission, project background, quarterly roadmap visualization through a Gantt chart, and the roadmap summary. As a result, since these parts are self-explanatory, you may quickly customize them. You may also connect files from Google Drive to your roadmap document to augment it with other project files from the cloud. Finally, when you’re through editing, you may print the document or save it as a PDF file.
Conclusion: Project Roadmap Templates
The project roadmap you present should provide a high-level overview of the project. It should thoroughly analyze the project’s resources, tasks, or expenses. The stakeholders have Gantt charts or other project management software to visualize this information. You may use any of the project roadmap templates listed above to create a professional roadmap that will supplement the original project plan. Using the templates instead of creating one from scratch will make your project roadmap simpler and more concise.
