Make a Product Development Timeline

A product development timeline lays out the stages a new product goes through, from the first idea to the day it goes on sale. It shows roughly how long each stage takes, which ones wait on others, and whether the launch date is realistic. Founders use one to plan the work and show it to investors, and product teams use one to keep design, engineering, suppliers and marketing working toward the same date.

This guide is written with physical products in mind, where prototypes, testing and manufacturing set the pace. For an app or other software, see Make a Software Project Timeline. To show several products over the next few quarters, see Make a Roadmap Timeline.

What to include

Products and industries differ, but most new products pass through the same stages:

• Idea and research: talking to potential customers, looking at what already exists, and deciding whether the product is worth making.
• Concept and requirements: settling what the product must do, who it's for and what it can cost.
• Design: sketches, detailed design and the choice of materials.
• Prototyping: building early versions and improving them, which usually takes more than one round.
• Testing: putting prototypes in front of users, plus any safety or regulatory testing the product needs.
• Suppliers and tooling: getting quotes, choosing a manufacturer and preparing the production setup.
• Pilot run: making a small batch to catch problems before the full order.
• Production: the first full run, plus the time it takes to ship and receive it.
• Launch: the marketing build-up and the date the product goes on sale.

Plan in weeks or months, not days. A timeline is the overview; Timeline vs Schedule explains how it differs from a day-to-day task list.

An example

Here is how a made-up kitchen gadget might be laid out over a year, with a launch in December. Your own stages may run much shorter or longer:

Prototyping and testing are the stages most likely to repeat, because a failed test sends you back for another round. Everything after them waits, so it's worth leaving some slack before you commit to a launch date.

Building one in Preceden

Create a timeline and pick the Gantt Chart layout under Choose an initial layout. It lists each stage's name down the left, so the plan reads from top to bottom in order. Creating Gantt Charts with Preceden has more on that layout.

Add each stage as an event. You don't have to work out every end date yourself: type a duration such as 8 weeks as the end date and Preceden adds it to the start date. Supported Date Formats lists everything Preceden reads.

If several teams are involved, rename the starting layers by clicking their names in the list below the timeline, then use the Add Layer button above the timeline to add more, such as one each for design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing. Choose each event's team from the Layer menu. Make a Swimlane Timeline has more on laying out a plan this way.

Link the stages that wait on each other

The pilot run can't start until the tooling is ready, and production waits on the pilot. Open the later stage, check Dependent, and choose the stage it starts after from the menu. Its start date then follows that stage's end date. Dependent Events explains how it works.

If testing takes a month longer than planned, change that one stage and every dependent stage after it moves too, as long as they end with a duration rather than a fixed end date. You can see straight away whether the launch date still holds.

Mark the key dates

Under More Options in the event dialog, check Make this event a milestone on the dates the plan turns on, such as the design sign-off, a trade show and the launch. Preceden draws a milestone as a full-height vertical line, so every stage can be read against it. Make a Milestone Timeline has more on choosing them.

Keep it current

Pick a Percent Complete value (also under More Options) on each stage as the work moves along. To see the plan against today, click the Appearance button above the timeline, open the Axis section and check Display a line on today's date. Anything unfinished to the left of the red line is behind.

To show your team or investors, share a link to the timeline so they always see the current version, or click Share and download it as an Image or PDF to add to a pitch deck. Print Your Timeline covers both.

The free plan allows up to 10 events on each timeline, which is enough for the stages above. If you break prototyping or testing into separate rounds, our paid plans lift the limit.