There are several ways to create the best product roadmap. However, finding the best example of a public roadmap is complicated. Let’s discover how you can create your perfect public roadmap.

In 2021 more and more startups are joining the "Build in Public" in Twitter and "Open Startup" movement. These two movements initiated by project creators make it possible to display transparency for your users. Your users can see the progress of your project development in almost real time.

The transparency of your product allows your users to have complete confidence and to add a social proof to your product so that they can subscribe with peace of mind and see your product evolve from day to day including new features.

A public roadmap, in order for it to be understood by your users, must be clear and formatted. A public roadmap must also be scalable.

If you are about to build a public roadmap, several solutions exist on the market: Trello Roadmap, Product board and many others. These solutions don't offer the scalable part and your users can't or hardly interact with the features present on your roadmap. With Upfeed, you can collect real feedback from your users and your users can vote for the feedback you have received. 

Prioritize your features according to the number of votes and show your users that you listen to their suggestion by building a product with your users.

Your public Roadmap will be divided into 3 parts:

• In Progress: You plan to build these features
• Planned: You are currently developing these features
• Complete: Functionality is developed and online on your application

If you are an Upfeed user, you can already consult our public roadmap and vote for the new features you want to see on our application.

Let's get to the heart of the subject and be inspired by the best examples of public roadmap.

1.Public Roadmap by Github

Github offers a public roadmap for its users using its own roadmap creation service. Github has always been transparent and announcing a public roadmap is a further step.

In addition to being able to see what features are being developed or will be released online, Github also offers the opportunity to submit new feedback as a user of the platform. This allows them to collect effective feedback.

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2.Public Roadmap by Combin

The Combin roadmap is a slightly more classic example since the roadmap was made on Trello. However it is a very good example to follow to build a public roadmap. The Roadmap is separated into several columns, as we saw in a previous article on how to build a roadmap. 

• About the Roadmap
• Exploring
• In Progress
• Done
• Leaving it for now

‍The feature that is missing again in the Combin Public Product Roadmap is the possibility to add a vote as a user.

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3. Public Roadmap by Grunly

Grunly recently chose Upfeed to launch its public roadmap. Grunly's concept, based on the Open Startup approach, is completely in line with the evolution of projects in 2021. Grunly is a tool that allows you to display your public data in a nice dashboard. Gather data from your Stripe, Chargebee, MailChimp etc... account in one single interface and share it with your users.

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Grunly has chosen Upfeed so that their users can add and vote for their next integrations.

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4. Public Roadmap by Front

Let's go back a bit in 2013, Front decides to display its public roadmap. Founder Mathilde Collin looks back on this choice and explains that she has never regretted having built her public roadmap within Front. Front's CEO even explains that she had more interest than initially expected in building her roadmap and unveiling the next features to be developed. 

Front users were excited about the product development and submitted their suggestions with interest.

"Our "public roadmap” is a freely accessible page where our users can find what we’ve shipped recently, what we are currently working on, and some ideas of what we should be doing next. More importantly, users can voice their opinion and vote for the features they most urgently want to see implemented.” Mathilde Collin, CEO at Frontapp

The advantage of this roadmap built on Trello is that users can actually vote on the cards with Power-ups, however building your public roadmap on Trello is not efficient.

Cons:

• Front users cannot submit features or ideas to the Front team since it is made on Trello

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5. Public Roadmap by Buffer

In 2016, Buffer has introduced its own version of the public transparent roadmap.

Jim Hitch explains in his article the choices of Buffer to build a public roadmap and to show the world what Buffer plans to develop as a feature for next quarter.

In 2021, the Public Roadmap by Buffer  is always kept up to date and users can vote for the features they wish to see on Buffer. 

The roadmap has the merit of being clear, it is divided into 5 parts: 

• About the Roadmap
• Exploring
• In Progress
• Done
• Leaving it for now

Cons:

• Buffer users cannot submit features or ideas to the Buffer team since it is made on Trello.

6. Public Roadmap by Upfeed

We couldn't present the 10 best public roadmaps without presenting our own, that of Upfeed. In France, there is an expression that says "the shoemaker is always the worst shod". 

Luckily we don't follow this example since we can use our own tool to highlight our roadmap. Our users can add new suggestions, vote for those already present, consult our public roadmap, our public changelog.

Want to create your public roadmap today? If you come from this article, send us a message, we will give you a code to get a 30 days free trial. Otherwise, try Upfeed now.

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7. Public Roadmap by Slack

Slack's Roadmap is a bit special because it is intended for developers and not for end-users.

That said, if you take a look at the roadmap, you can immediately see that it hasn't been updated recently. Moreover, developers who need to be aware of this roadmap cannot be consulted since they do not have the possibility to add or vote for features or suggestions.

Cons: 

• The roadmap is for consultation purposes only
• The roadmap is not up to date

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Benefits of a public roadmap

As you can see, many companies have chosen to publicly unveil their roadmap. In 2021 and beyond, transparency is an important criterion to consider.
Gain the trust of your users and leads by showing them that you are developing your product correctly by following your roadmap.

In addition to gaining the trust of your users, new ideas will come on their own as they will love to submit their ideas to you to develop their dream product.

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What are you waiting for to build the product with your users? Try Upfeed for free