Make a Roadmap Timeline

A roadmap timeline shows where a product, project or organization is headed over the next few quarters or years: the big pieces of work, roughly when each one happens, and the dates they lead up to. It sits a level above a project plan. A plan lists tasks and who owns them. A roadmap shows the shape of the work, so people can see what comes first, what runs in parallel and what is still a long way off.

Product teams use them to share what they are building next. They are just as common for IT rollouts, implementation plans, strategic plans, research programs and grant proposals.

Roadmap vs project timeline

A roadmap covers a longer stretch of time in less detail. Its items are initiatives or themes ("Mobile app", "Self-serve billing") rather than tasks, and their dates are usually months or quarters rather than days. It changes when priorities change, not every time an estimate moves.

When you need the day-to-day detail, a schedule or a Gantt chart is the better fit. Timeline vs Schedule explains the difference.

What to put on a roadmap

Pick the time horizon. Two to four quarters ahead is common for a product roadmap. A strategic plan may run three to five years.
Group the work into lanes. Use one lane per team, product area or goal. Pick one way of grouping and stick to it.
Add each initiative as a span of time. Give it the month it starts and the month it should finish. Rough dates are fine, since a roadmap is a forecast.
Mark the dates everything works toward. Releases, launches, funding decisions and board meetings are milestones.
Leave out the small stuff. An item that takes a week or two belongs in the project plan, not the roadmap.

Building a roadmap timeline in Preceden

Create a timeline and choose the Multiple Layers layout. Each layer becomes a lane, with its name on the left. Rename the starting layers for your teams or goals, and click Add Layer above the timeline to add more.

Then add an event for each initiative and choose its lane from the Layer menu:

Month-level dates work well, like July 2027 to September 2027. End dates are inclusive, so that event runs to the end of September and fills the third quarter. Supported Date Formats lists everything else Preceden accepts.
For a release or launch, give the event a start date only, open More Options and check Make this event a milestone. Preceden draws it as a line through every lane. Make a Milestone Timeline has more on using them well.
Percent Complete, under More Options, shades in how far along an initiative is, which helps when the roadmap doubles as a status report.

To color each lane, see Make a Swimlane Timeline, which uses the same layer setup. For an overview of what Preceden can do for roadmaps, see our roadmap maker page.

Show it in quarters

Preceden picks the axis units for your date range on its own. To label the axis by quarter instead, click Appearance, open Scale, and set Units to Quarters. Then open Date Format and set Quarter Format to Numbers (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4).

If your organization's year starts in April, July or October, set Fiscal Year Start to that month. The axis then labels each year as a fiscal year, like "FY 2027-2028". Those are the only start months besides January, so a fiscal year that begins in any other month can't be matched exactly. Appearance Settings - Date Formats covers both settings.

Keep it pointed at today

A roadmap is read from today forward. Two settings help with that:

Under Appearance > Axis, check Display a line on today's date to draw a red line at today. Anything to the left of it should be done or under way.
Under Appearance > Scale, set Date Range to Range relative to today and choose how many units to show on each side, such as 1 quarter before today and 4 after. The window is worked out from today's date each time the timeline is shown, so the roadmap keeps opening on what comes next. It needs Units set to something other than Automatically optimize.

Update it as plans change

When an initiative moves, hold Shift and drag it left or right, or drag the handle at either end of its bar to change just the start or end date.

If one initiative cannot start until another one finishes, open it and set Dependent, above the Start Date field, so its dates follow the earlier one when it slips. See Make an Event Start When Another Event Ends. A dependent event's dates can't be changed by dragging; they follow the event it depends on.

Because a roadmap keeps changing, a link usually works better than a file. Share a link or embed the timeline on an internal site, and people always see the current version. For a meeting, Presentation Mode shows the timeline on its own, and you can export a PDF or a PowerPoint slide for a deck. On a Pro plan you can invite collaborators to help keep it up to date.