Product Roadmap and Planning Flashcards
6 cards from real CPM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Product Roadmap and Planning flashcards as text
What is the purpose of a 'product backlog' in agile product management?
Answer: An ordered list of all work items that could be done to improve the product
The product backlog is a prioritized list of all potential work items for a product, managed by the product manager to ensure the team always has valuable work to do next.
What is 'capacity planning' in the context of product roadmapping?
Answer: Estimating available team bandwidth to ensure the roadmap is achievable given resource constraints
Capacity planning matches roadmap commitments to the team's actual available bandwidth, preventing over-commitment and ensuring realistic delivery timelines.
What is the difference between a 'milestone' and a 'deliverable' in product planning?
Answer: A milestone marks a significant achievement or checkpoint, while a deliverable is a specific tangible output
A milestone is a checkpoint indicating progress (e.g., 'beta launch completed'), while a deliverable is the specific output produced (e.g., 'beta version of feature X').
Why is 'dependency mapping' important when creating a product roadmap?
Answer: It identifies work items that rely on each other, preventing blockers and scheduling conflicts
Dependency mapping reveals which tasks or teams must complete work before others can proceed, allowing the roadmap to be sequenced to avoid blockers.
What does 'scope creep' mean and why is it a risk in product planning?
Answer: When unplanned features or requirements are added mid-project, expanding scope beyond original plans
Scope creep occurs when additional requirements are added incrementally without adjusting timelines or resources, threatening delivery quality, timelines, and team capacity.
A CPM is building a roadmap but has more high-priority requests than the team can handle. What is the best approach?
Answer: Apply a prioritization framework to rank items by strategic value and resource cost, then sequence accordingly
Applying a systematic prioritization framework ensures that limited team capacity is focused on the highest-value work relative to effort and strategic goals.