How is the product backlog different from the product roadmap?

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product development journey

The product backlog is a detailed breakdown of the product roadmap. While the roadmap communicates high-level goals and direction, the backlog includes task-level details about their execution.

The roadmap supports business teams and managers, while the product backlog is for developers. The roadmap focuses on metrics and goals, while the product backlog outlines tasks and action items .

What does the product backlog look like?
Here is an example of a product backlog. We have considered the features of an online multiplayer game. Each feature is assigned a story point, and the backlog items are ordered based on their priority, with the highest priority item (priority=1) at the top.

User Story Story Point(s) Priority
As a player, I want to invite my friends so we can play together
As a player, I want a practice mode so I can learn how to play.
As a player, I want to have [ As a player, I want resources that increase my hero's health and mana owner/ partner/ shareholder email list regeneration]( As a player, I want to compare heroes so I can choose the most suitable one for me)
can help identify these parameters by connecting strategic goals to everyday tasks.

Backlog prioritization techniques
You can follow any of the following techniques depending on the value you decide to prioritize.

Kano Model : Plotted on a graph, the Kano model compares customer satisfaction with implementation investment. It helps teams prioritize features that are likely to satisfy customers and make the investment.

MoSCoW Model : Short for must-have, should-have, could-have, and won't-have, which helps teams prioritize essential features over clutter.

Cumulative voting : Each stakeholder receives 100 points—or dollars—that team members can spend on features of their choice. The features that pay the most are prioritized.

Backlog Ranking : Instead of listing all the items and prioritizing them, this method ranks one user story against another and makes individual decisions about priority.

Least effort first : If the team needs quick wins, the product owner prioritizes the easiest or simplest tasks.

Cost of Delay : With this method, tasks with the highest opportunity cost are prioritized. If delaying the development of a feature by two weeks would incur a cost, such as a lost business opportunity or a product vulnerability, it is prioritized in the backlog.

Managing a product backlog can be challenging, with so many factors influencing prioritization and so many techniques. Here are some common challenges product teams face.