Project Roadmap: Free Templates & Complete Guide (2022)

Project Roadmap Templates: They must carry out this role by keeping all parties involved informed and expressing the project’s purpose as a story. The project roadmap template is now available!

A project roadmap enables a project manager to provide stakeholders with an overview of the project in an easy-to-understand format. The ultimate goal is to get all stakeholders on board with no uncertainties about the project milestones, components, budget, or end purpose.

It is simple storytelling in which technical concepts are simplified using real-life examples. At the end of the presentation, the stakeholders, managers, or executing team members should have a clear understanding of the expectations.

As a project manager, you have a lot on your plate, and a project roadmap should not be one of them. As a result, many seasoned project management firms and experts rely on ready-to-use project roadmap templates. Continue reading to learn more about the project roadmap and some professional templates you may use.

What Is a Project Management Roadmap?

The project roadmap provides an easy-to-understand, high-level, and granular overview of critical project components. It is a non-confidential, public-facing resource that project managers may share with a public or professional group to rapidly convey the following:

• a concise summary of the project’s objectives.
• Deliverables for the project
• The project’s task dependencies
• Important project milestones
• Project dangers

Use it to tell the tale of the project before and during its completion. They let you convey high-level plans, set reasonable expectations, and highlight the critical components of the project’s impending work.

The Importance of Developing a Project Roadmap

A project roadmap is a simple way to convey a project’s aims or objectives. Such reports can sometimes be modified to explain project status and progress. The following are the benefits of having a project roadmap for any project:

#1. Dealing with Stakeholder Expectations

A project roadmap template assists you in setting appropriate expectations among project owners and stakeholders. Your supervisors will be able to assist you with sourcing your project needs if you can clearly picture the prices, resources, and timing.

#2. Make it simple to communicate goals and plans.

Project roadmaps are often graphic, with a high-level overview. As a result, it’s a critical document for swiftly relaying critical information to stakeholders.

#3. Encourage quick decisions.

Your project roadmap defines the key deliverables and objectives. Whenever a task prioritising disagreement arises throughout the project, look to the original project roadmap document to determine which work should be prioritised.

#4. Creating New Project Snapshots

The creation of multiple updated versions as the project proceeds is a crucial part of the project roadmap. You may use those updated reports to make a no-brainer presentation regarding the project progress that anybody in the room can comprehend.

#5. Interact with Outside Teams

Typically, project roadmaps do not include any sensitive information regarding the task. As a result, you may share the document with other parties participating in the project.

#6. Functions as a Reminder

Any project has the danger of deviating from its intended path during routine tasks. You should, however, direct your team to consult the project roadmap to bring the status back on track.

The Benefits of a Project Roadmap

For a long time, the project roadmap was undervalued or ignored, but project managers are increasingly emphasising this resource. You gain the following advantages over your competition if you incorporate a project roadmap into your project planning:

• To Create Project Accountability
• Prioritize and coordinate.
• Effective Coordination
• Visualize Roles Clearly
• Clarifying Project Objectives

Typical Project Roadmap Components

Your project roadmap should be one page long. As a result, you must choose the components for the project roadmap carefully. In your project roadmap template, add the following:

• To begin, offer a summary of the project timeline, including non-negotiable deadlines.
• Do not overlook the critical milestones that your team aspires to attain.
• The roadmap should also include a visual representation of the budget and human resource allocation.
• Any task dependencies that you anticipate should also be included here.
• The project roadmap should include important relationships, particularly with external consultants and vendors.
• In a few phrases, provide a high-level summary of the objectives, aims, and priorities.

Some of the top free project roadmap templates are listed here.

1. Aha!

Aha! Product roadmap templates eliminate the time-consuming customising of templates. When you use these templates, you can start presenting project plans, goals, and high-level overviews in minutes. There are now 16 freely printable project roadmap papers that you may customise for your project.

Because not all project roadmap examples are the same, you must use them with caution. Some of them, for example, is appropriate for presenting the high-level business goals of a project. Some, on the other hand, are better suited for product launches, project feature explanations, and so on.

Aha provides roadmap files in Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel formats for download. You can, however, subscribe to the Aha tool if you want a specific tool for project roadmap generation and visualisation.

2. Office Timeline

Another popular source for high-quality project roadmap templates that you can download for free is Office Timeline. The programme helps you convert complicated project management data into concise project roadmaps in Microsoft PowerPoint.

You may confidently deliver the roadmap paper in front of a high-value audience. This tool’s project roadmap has a logical visual framework that is easy to recall.

The following roadmap document templates are available:

• An example of a project roadmap paper
• Design of a product roadmap
• Design of an IT roadmap
• A business strategy roadmap template
• A Template for a Technology Roadmap

Office Timeline does not yet support direct downloading of project roadmap templates for Google Workspace files such as Sheets, Docs, and Slides. However, because Google’s platform is largely compatible with Microsoft Office files, you may quickly open the templates.

3. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a well-known supplier of software-as-a-service (SaaS) for project management and remote communication. One of its most recent products is an easy-to-use and customizable project roadmap for professional project managers.

You may use any of the templates on this web app and keep it updated throughout the project. Because Smartsheet allows you to download the updated template in numerous forms, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, these formats are easily accessible.

Some examples of current ready-made templates are:

• An example of an information technology project roadmap (IT)
• An example of many project roadmap documents
• An Example of a 3-Year Project Roadmap
• A Template for an Agile Project Roadmap

Furthermore, the templates are free to use because you may sample the platform for free and download the documents that you want. You can also acquire a complete membership if you find the platform useful for your projects.

4. Slite

If you are unsure how to begin creating a professional project roadmap for your next project, you may go to Slite and go through its free templates. The templates are visually appealing and simple to alter. You may also use the Slite web tool to collaborate online with a distant collaborator on a template.

It does not, unlike other template websites, allow you to just download a Word or Docs file for self-editing. Instead, it opens the free template in the Slite app editor, where you may customise the project roadmap document with numerous components.

The free template on exhibit includes sections such as the roadmap headline, team mission, project background, quarterly roadmap visualisation through a Gantt chart, and the roadmap summary. As a result, because these components are self-explanatory, they can be quickly customized.

You may also connect files from Google Drive to your roadmap document to augment it with more project materials from the cloud. When you’re through editing, you may print the document or save it as a PDF file.

5. Template.net

Another reliable source for project roadmap sample papers is Template.net. Its free examples might help you establish an efficient strategic project roadmap for your company. It gives users access to a variety of project roadmap papers, ranging from creative graphical designs to agile project management.

However, if you’re seeking high-quality roadmap templates for free, this site might not be for you. The online portal currently only provides two basic project roadmap templates.

Last Words

The project roadmap you offer should provide a high-level overview of the project. It should not only be a thorough analysis of the project’s resources, tasks, or expenses. To visualise this information, the stakeholders have Gantt charts or other project management tools.

You may use any of the project roadmap templates listed above to construct a professional roadmap that will serve as a supplement to the original project plan. When you use templates instead of creating one from scratch, your project roadmap will be simpler and more succinct.

You may use these tools to build stunning Gantt charts for your projects and stay on track.