Create a feature launch roadmap

Our Features Launch roadmap is a great way to communicate high-level plans with go-to-market teams without having to create multiple different views or share specific dates.
By creating a Feature launch roadmap or enabling time horizons on an existing high-level objectives roadmap or release timeline roadmap, you can:

• create a high-level, date-based roadmap in just a few clicks
• easily tailor your dates to different levels of granularity for each audience
• create a high-level release calendar for go-to-market teams

In this article:

• How to create a Feature launch roadmap
  • Add features to your roadmap
  • Remove features to your roadmap
  • Rearrange feature timeframe and order
  • Display time horizons on your roadmap
  • Switch between a weekly, monthly, or quarterly format
  • Switch between duration vs. release date
  • Add milestones to your roadmap
• How to zoom into your Features launch roadmap
• How to organize your Features launch roadmap
• How to share and export your Features launch roadmap
• When to use a Features launch roadmap
• Learn more about using Features launch roadmaps

How to create a Feature launch roadmap

Create your roadmap

1. Click the + button next to your Teamspace or folder name.
2. From the dropdown menu, select Create Roadmap.

1. Select Feature launch from the left menu.
2. Click Choose roadmap.

Add features to your roadmap

1. When you create your timeline roadmap, any features with a date range assigned will be added to your roadmap automatically.
2. To add an existing feature to your timeline, click into the appropriate section of your timeline, begin typing the name of your feature, and select it from the drop-down menu which appears.
3. To create a new feature and add it to your timeline, click into the appropriate section of your timeline, type the name of your new feature, and click Create new.
4. When time horizons are turned on, dragging and dropping a feature around your roadmap will automatically update that feature's timeframe. 

You can choose which entities you will work with in the roadmap by clicking Item type in the roadmap header and selecting the entity from the drop-down menu. You can turn on/off secondary or tertiary items on all roadmaps. You will then see which items you are displaying in the header. 

Remove features to your roadmap

1. Click on a feature to display the feature detail view.
2. In the Timeframe field, click on either end of a time frame to open a calendar popup.
3. Click Clear. As soon as at least one-half of the timeframe has been cleared, the feature will disappear from your roadmap.

Rearrange feature timeframe and order

1. Drag and drop the ends of each feature card to adjust the start and stop dates of the timeframe field.
2. Drag and drop feature cards to adjust the order in which they are displayed.
3. Drag and drop a feature card to automatically update its timeframe field.

Note: Whenever you change the feature timeframe or release an email notification is sent to owners and/or followers when the option is enabled in Labs ().

Display time horizons on your roadmap

Note: Turning on time horizons is only a change in visualization. It won't affect the timeframes you've assigned to your features.

1. Click the Settings menu in the top right corner.
2. Under Timeline Settings, toggle on Time horizons. This will round up specific dates on your roadmap into broader time horizons, and automatically align your cards into the correct column.
3. Select Duration to visualize duration or End date to visualize anticipated release date.
4. Click Save roadmap in the top right corner before sharing your roadmap.

When time horizons are turned on, dragging and dropping a feature around your roadmap will automatically update that feature's timeframe.

Switch between a weekly, monthly, or quarterly format

To change your timeline granularity, simply select a different option from the dropdown menu in the top navigation bar. Your features will automatically rearrange into the correct position based on their timeframe. Don't forget to click Save before sharing!

Switch between duration vs. release date

Tip: Sharing with go-to-market teams? Eliminate confusion about when features will be available to customers by using the End date option.

When Time horizons are toggled on, you have three options:

• Visualize your features' duration (how long your team plans to work on or deliver the feature) by using Duration.
• Visualize your features' anticipated release date by using End dates.

You can switch between these two modes by selecting  Configure in the top right corner, then under Timeline settings, select the visualization you prefer. Don't forget to click Save before sharing!

When you switch visualization modes, your features will be rearranged into the appropriate columns - but this is only a change in visualization, and will not affect the features' assigned timeframe.

Add milestones to your roadmap

1. Click above the top of your roadmap to place a milestone. Adjust the date via the drop-down calendar field if necessary.
2. When adjusting a feature's timeframe, a guideline will appear when the timeframe approaches near a milestone.

How to zoom into your Features launch roadmap

In the bottom right corner of any timeline roadmap, you will see -100%+ indicating the current level of granularity. Click the minus button to zoom out and click the plus button to zoom in.

If using a trackpad-enabled device, you can zoom in and out of a timeline roadmap by pinching.

How to organize your Features launch roadmap

1. Click Group in the top left of your roadmap and select Swimlanes to organize your roadmap horizontally.
2. Click  Configure to open up the configuration menu.
3. Toggle Time horizons to display your features organized into broader time horizons.
4. Select Feature visualization to decide whether time horizons are rounded by duration or end date.
5. Toggle Effort to display story points on each feature card.
6. Click on the People section and select which avatar you want to visualize on each feature card - Owner, Teams, or Custom Member field.
7. Enterprise plans: Toggle Objectives to display any objectives associated with that feature.
8. Toggle User impact score to display the user impact score of a feature on its card.
9. Toggle Tags to display associated tags of a feature on its card.
10. Toggle + Insights to display the + Insight icon on all feature cards. Clicking this icon will enable contributors/makers to directly submit insights on the feature either on behalf of a user/company or workspace member.
11. Toggle Comments to display the comment icon on the feature cards. Clicking on this comment icon will navigate any user to the feature comment section.
    
12. Enterprise plans: Toggle Enable dependencies to monitor your delivery process for possible conflicts.
13. Toggle Show subfeatures to display associated subfeature cards.
14. Toggle Show hidden cards to display feature and subfeature cards that have been manually hidden from contributors.
15. Toggle Allow submitting ideas to display the Submit idea button on the roadmap header. Clicking on this Submit idea will enable the user to create a new note either on behalf of the user/company or space member.

How to share and export your Features launch roadmap

1. After making any configuration changes, click Save. You will see a confirmation once your roadmap changes have been saved, and the Save button will now read Share.
2. Click the next to the share button.
3. Click Print to print your roadmap.
4. Click Export as PNG to generate a PNG of your roadmap.

When to use a Features launch roadmap

Features launch roadmaps are good for:

• Sharing upcoming releases with go-to-market teams or large audiences: time horizons help your colleagues communicate your plan to customers without overcommitting your team to specific dates.
• Showing the timeline of a feature separately from any timelines concerning larger releases or objectives.
• Tracking progress internally towards time-bound milestones.

Features timeline roadmaps might not be good for:

• Planning with your product team: time horizons are meant to be broad - your delivery team needs the nitty-gritty details and deadlines!
• Discussing features that are bundled into releases. Since this view is very granular, it requires more maintenance. If your features are associated with releases, consider a Releases timeline roadmap - changing a release's timeframe will dynamically update the timeframe for all of its associated features.

Learn more about using Features launch roadmaps

• Guide: Choose the right roadmap for your audience