A product roadmap's value is in the planning process and aligning the team on a vision, not in rigidly adhering to a delivery schedule. The co-founder of Artist argues that becoming a feature factory focused on checking boxes off a roadmap is a dangerous trap that distracts from solving real customer problems.

In early stages, the key to an effective product roadmap is ruthlessly prioritizing based on the severity of customer pain. A feature is only worth building if it solves an acute, costly problem. If customers aren't in enough pain to spend money and time, the idea is irrelevant for near-term revenue generation.

When a product team is busy but their impact is minimal or hard to quantify, the root cause is often not poor execution but a lack of clarity in the overarching company strategy. Fixing the high-level strategy provides the focus necessary for product work to create meaningful value.

The term "product strategy" can create silos, suggesting it's separate from the business's main goals. Instead, frame it as the "product plan" for executing a unified business strategy. This reinforces a "one team" mentality across all departments.

To build a successful product, prioritize roadmap capacity using the "50/40/10" rule: 50% for "low delight" (essential functionality), 40% for "deep delight" (blending function and emotion), and only 10% for "surface delight" (aesthetic touches). This structure ensures a solid base while strategically investing in differentiation.

A product leader should actively manage development by allocating effort into three buckets: future big bets, core foundation (stability/tech debt), and growth/optimization. The resource allocation isn't fixed; it must dynamically shift based on the product's maturity and immediate business goals.

Robinhood is shifting its planning process to focus on what will be announced at its next public product keynote. Instead of setting abstract internal goals, this aligns the entire company around concrete, customer-facing deliverables and creates a powerful, immovable deadline for shipping.

A single roadmap shouldn't just be customer-facing features. It should be treated as a balanced portfolio of engineering health, new customer value, and maintenance. The ideal mix of these investments changes depending on the product's life cycle, from 99% features at launch to a more balanced approach for mature products.

A simple but powerful framework for any product initiative requires answering four questions: 1) What is it? 2) Why does it matter (financially)? 3) How much will it cost (including hiring and ops)? 4) When do I get it? This forces teams to think through the full business impact, not just the user value.