As a PM how do you effectively present your roadmap to your execs? Need tips and tricks pls!

I never present it to more than one person at a time. That way they have all the attention and can ask as many questions without feeling some type of way (or wanting to show off) in front of other execs

To get executive support for my roadmaps, I work with executives on a more individual basis. Understand what part of the P&L each executive owns (and which metrics mean the most success for them) and how your roadmap work will pave the way for success in their area of the business. Your roadmap story will need to change as you talk to different parts of the business and some executives may be more important to gain support from than others (think who has more influence in the org, with the CEO or who has the biggest budget for resources).

Once you have support and are on the same page with the biggest influencers, it will be easier to get your roadmap initiatives approved by a broader executive team (whether you present them or have someone higher up advocate for you).

I have found it helpful roadmap to link toward initiatives, either Product or company. Using this even with a simple Jira plan you can tell a story of how the work you’re planning feeds to overall initiatives and goals of the product and company. I have found this helps with buy in from the various stake holders so they can see the bigger overall picture.

I’m at a company now that has never had a formal roadmap. I’ve laid out that the first thing we need is to be ultra clear on the company and product vision. You can’t build a map to an unknown location. An acceptable roadmap has a business case for each initiative in prioritized order. A great roadmap takes it one step further and maps out how you are going to reach your goals.

I've found executive levels care less about individual features, and more about the product vision and strategy to meet the goals. If you align on your strategic objectives ( improve onboarding, reduce cost, attract new customer base, etc), it gives the teams more empowerment to decide the best features to meet those goals. If your leadership team wants input into individual features, they may be getting into the weeds too much. Kind of depends on your culture a bit though.

I follow a laddering approach. Present to my immediate manager, build some feedback, and then look for opportunities to pitch that to leadership. My company doesn't have a structured roadmap unless it's a top down initiative, so I use this method to build my case for doing what I plan to do. I am eager to hear what others in a less chaotic environment do.

Good presentation and I practice my speeches. Plus, I use google and YouTube a lot to find new and better ways to improve.

I always go back to excel and white-paper each prezzo - it helps clarify my thinking and keeps out of Jira which is weedy. Start with high level objectives ("hit $xM in revenue by 2023" "enable faster customer onboarding" etc), then to the right list the 2-3 epics in support of each goal with high level description, desired outcome and t-shirt sizing.

This way my manager or skip level intuitively feel more comfortable to challenge or ask questions and I can adjust and make notes on the fly.

Long-term/strategic roadmaps are meant to be malleable, so anything more polished is a disservice to that goal. It would be like showing a customer a Figma prototype on the first conversation.

Wooh y’all sound like some awesome Product Managers. So not there yet….