Q2 Roadmap Prioritization Plan

Product Context

• Product: Team collaboration SaaS
• ICP: 10–200 person tech companies, team leads
• North Star Metric: Weekly active teams completing >= 1 project
• Decision: Select Q2 roadmap themes and top 8 initiatives within 2 weeks
• Team Capacity: 6 engineers, 1 designer
• Hard Constraints: Must complete SSO launch; platform migration dependency in May
• Candidate Pool: 15 initiatives to evaluate

Step 1: Establish Prioritization Criteria

To rank the 15 candidate initiatives, use a weighted scoring framework aligned with the North Star metric (weekly active teams completing >= 1 project). The following criteria should be used:

Scoring Scale

• 5 — Transformative / trivial effort / no risk
• 4 — Strong positive impact
• 3 — Moderate impact
• 2 — Minor impact
• 1 — Negligible or negative

Step 2: Map Hard Constraints

Before scoring, lock in non-negotiable commitments:

Locked Initiatives

1. SSO Launch — Must ship. This is a hard constraint. Allocate engineering time first.
2. Platform Migration Prep — Dependency lands in May. Any initiative that requires the new platform cannot start before migration is complete. Plan accordingly.

Capacity Budget (Rough Allocation)

Assuming Q2 = 13 weeks, 6 engineers, 1 designer:

• Total engineering weeks: ~78 eng-weeks
• SSO Launch (estimated): ~12–16 eng-weeks (2–3 engineers for 4–6 weeks)
• Platform migration buffer: ~8–10 eng-weeks (stabilization, integration work post-May)
• Remaining for new initiatives: ~52–58 eng-weeks
• Design capacity: ~13 designer-weeks (minus ~3 weeks for SSO = ~10 weeks available)

This means the top 8 initiatives must fit within roughly 52–58 eng-weeks and 10 designer-weeks after accounting for SSO and migration work.

Step 3: Score All 15 Candidates

Create a scoring spreadsheet with each initiative as a row and the five criteria as columns. For each initiative:

1. Have the PM (or a small group of PM + eng lead + designer) independently score each criterion 1–5.
2. Calculate weighted score: (North Star Impact x 0.30) + (Strategic Alignment x 0.20) + (Effort & Feasibility x 0.20) + (Risk & Dependencies x 0.15) + (Revenue/Retention Signal x 0.15)
3. Rank by weighted score.

Example Scoring Template

Step 4: Apply the North Star Lens

After initial scoring, stress-test the top candidates with these questions:

1. Activation: Does this help new teams complete their first project faster?
2. Frequency: Does this bring existing teams back to complete projects more often?
3. Team Size: Does this help teams grow (more members = stickier)?
4. Completion Rate: Does this remove friction in the project completion flow?

Any initiative that scores high overall but has weak North Star linkage should be deprioritized unless it is a strategic necessity (like SSO).

Step 5: Identify Q2 Themes

Group the top-scoring initiatives into 2–3 coherent themes. Themes help communicate the roadmap internally and externally. Examples based on typical collaboration SaaS priorities:

Suggested Theme Framework

• Theme 1: Enterprise Readiness — SSO launch, admin controls, audit logs, permissions. Rationale: Unlocks 50–200 person companies in the ICP.
• Theme 2: Project Completion Velocity — Initiatives that directly improve the rate at which teams finish projects (workflow improvements, templates, notifications, integrations). Rationale: Directly drives the North Star metric.
• Theme 3: Team Activation & Growth — Onboarding improvements, invite flows, team setup experience. Rationale: More active teams = more teams completing projects.

Assign each of the top 8 initiatives to a theme. If an initiative does not fit any theme, reconsider its inclusion.

Step 6: Stack Rank and Sequence the Top 8

After scoring and theming, select the top 8 by:

1. Sort by weighted score (descending).
2. Check cumulative capacity: Add eng-week and designer-week estimates top-down. Stop when you hit the budget ceiling (~52–58 eng-weeks, ~10 designer-weeks, excluding SSO and migration).
3. Check dependencies: Anything that depends on May platform migration must be sequenced for late Q2 (June). Anything that depends on SSO must wait for SSO to ship.
4. Resolve ties: If two initiatives have similar scores, prefer the one with lower risk, shorter cycle time, or stronger revenue signal.

Sequencing Framework

Step 7: Validate with Stakeholders

Before finalizing, run the proposed roadmap through three validation checks:

7a. Engineering Feasibility Review

• Present the top 8 + SSO + migration to the engineering team.
• Ask: "Can we commit to delivering these 10 items in Q2 with 6 engineers?"
• Adjust scope or sequence based on technical feedback.

7b. Customer & Sales Signal Check

• Cross-reference the top 8 against: top customer requests, churn reasons, deal-blocking features.
• If a high-revenue-signal initiative was scored out of the top 8, reconsider.

7c. Leadership Alignment

• Present themes + top 8 to leadership/founders.
• Frame as: "Here are the Q2 themes, the top 8 initiatives, and how they drive weekly active teams completing projects."

Step 8: Define Success Metrics for Each Initiative

For each of the top 8 initiatives, define:

Step 9: Communicate the Roadmap

Internal Communication

• Share a one-page roadmap summary: themes, top 8 initiatives, timeline, and what was explicitly deprioritized (and why).
• The "not doing" list is as important as the "doing" list — it prevents scope creep.

External Communication

• For customers/prospects: share themes, not specific features, to maintain flexibility.
• For enterprise prospects waiting on SSO: provide a specific ship date commitment.

Two-Week Decision Timeline

Risk Mitigation Plan

What This Plan Does NOT Cover

• Specific initiative names or descriptions: You will need to apply this framework to your actual 15 candidates.
• Detailed sprint planning: This is a quarterly roadmap prioritization, not a sprint plan. Break initiatives into sprints after the roadmap is locked.
• Technical architecture decisions: Engineering will need to determine implementation approaches for each selected initiative.
• Pricing or packaging changes: If any initiative has pricing implications, that requires a separate workstream.

Summary

1. Score all 15 initiatives against 5 weighted criteria anchored to the North Star metric.
2. Lock SSO and platform migration buffer as non-negotiable capacity commitments.
3. Select the top 8 initiatives that fit within remaining capacity (~52–58 eng-weeks, ~10 designer-weeks).
4. Group into 2–3 themes for coherence and communication.
5. Sequence by dependency (migration in May) and risk (SSO first).
6. Validate with engineering, customers/sales, and leadership.
7. Define success metrics per initiative.
8. Communicate clearly — including what you are NOT doing.
9. Complete the entire decision process in 10 working days.