Quarterly planning involves breaking down your annual plan into smaller goals, initiatives and tasks that your teams will perform over a quarter to move towards the objectives for the year. It is a regular cadence for your teams to come together and ensure they are aligned and focused on the most important things in the short term, within the context of the longer term picture.
A roadmap is used to provide stakeholders with a clear visual representation of a product's strategy, timeline, and objectives. It helps to align team members, track progress, and provide a clear picture of where the product is headed. It can also be used to communicate product strategy to internal and external stakeholders and to identify areas of focus over different time horizons.
An initiative is a plan of action to develop or improve an existing product or process for your company. It typically involves a goal or set of goals, a timeline, and a budget. It may include research, design, development, product testing, marketing, and launch activities. Initiatives can range from small improvements to the introduction of an entirely new product.
When prioritizing initiatives for a roadmap, it’s important to consider the overall goals of the product, the target audience, and the resources available. Once these factors have been taken into account, initiatives should be prioritized based on the value they provide to the product, the timeline for completion, and the estimated cost. It’s also important to consider any dependencies between initiatives, and how they interact with each other.