Program roadmap template

When you’re on a road trip, you need a map to tell you which new restaurants, cities, and attractions to stop at. This is exactly how program roadmaps operate—they show where a program is, where it’s headed, and the techniques and action items teams are using to move their program forward. With a program roadmap template, you can encourage teams to create their own standardized program roadmaps. And when team roadmaps all look the same, it's easier to build an overarching roadmap for the whole company. 

What is a program roadmap?

A program roadmap is a high-level overview of the program. Usually, program managers use this strategic roadmap to structure and connect the program to business strategy, company goals, and large milestones—showing how it contributes to the company’s high-impact initiatives. Program roadmaps help teams visualize the big picture details of the program—what work they’re currently managing, and what upcoming projects they have planned. Once they develop the program roadmap, program managers can use it to build strategic plans and prioritize work—by determining which components of their program fit into company-wide projects, and focusing their resources there.

What is a program roadmap template?

A program roadmap template is a saved outline of a general program roadmap. This helps to make sure that each program roadmap is consistent. So when you go to look up information about a different program in another department, you know where to find it. 

For example, if the product marketing team wants to look at upcoming deliverables for the engineering team, they can reference the engineering program roadmap. By building their roadmap based on an organization-wide program roadmap template—and therefore structuring it in the same way—it’s easy to find the section with their deliverables. Essentially, program roadmap templates make it easier for you to get all the information you need without asking a colleague or sorting through endless files.

Program roadmap template vs. project roadmap template vs. product roadmap template

A project roadmap template outlines a project plan. Usually this is mapped out over phases (with set time frames) and shows actionable ways to complete projects. On the other hand, a product roadmap template outlines your product team’s vision, showing the development of the product over time and the product strategy—how the team is planning to complete the product. 

Program roadmap templates operate in the same way as the other two—they show where the program is and where it’s headed—but these templates focus on entire programs instead of a single project or product. Often, a project, product, and program roadmap are all used in conjunction with one another.

Why use a program roadmap template?

There can be hundreds, even thousands, of programs in larger organizations. It’s hard enough to keep track of all the work that gets done inside these programs, let alone oversee how they’re structured. That’s where a program roadmap template can help. If each program uses the same template to create their roadmap, then you know every roadmap will stay consistent. This makes it easier for anyone in the company to access, share, and review another program’s roadmap—plus it ensures teams are prioritizing work in the same way. 

In addition, you can use program roadmap templates for:

• Program launches: When you’re launching many new programs at once, you can use a program roadmap template to create roadmaps for each. This gives stakeholders a high-level overview, so you can get the buy-in and resources you need to develop new programs.

• Agile teams: Programs who use the Agile methodology will often use roadmaps to plan out their work in advance. You can use a program roadmap template to ensure that each program who uses Agile has the same Agile roadmap template, no matter which department they’re in.

How to use a program roadmap template

Technically, you can draw out your program roadmap on a piece of paper or build it in an Excel spreadsheet. But that would be hard to repeat or make into a template. Creating your program roadmap template with digital project management software gives you more capabilities. Once you create your template, you can add dependencies, change assignees, and easily share it across the company. It’s completely customizable, so you can build it to fit your specific company program needs and business goals. 

Here are some helpful sections to get you started:

• Resources: Include team members, the program values, and the program vision. You want this to be a quick, at-a-glance view of your program and how it fits into company goals.

• Business objectives and initiatives: It helps to have the bigger vision of the company close at hand to guide your work. You can use these business-wide objectives and initiatives as a touchpoint to make sure you’re always working on the most impactful projects.

• Program goals: In addition to listing the company-wide objectives or goals, connect to any specific program-centric goals you create.

• Deliverables: This is where your program will list deliverables and their associated project plans or roadmaps. 

• Department specific sections: Each program will have different things they need to include in their roadmap. For example, if you’re on a product development team, you might have a section for phases so you can show the development’s progression.

To further bring your program roadmap template to life, try viewing it in different ways, including:

• Kanban boards: Use this layout for Agile program roadmap templates that follow sprints and require “swimlanes” (horizontal categorization) to designate what’s on deck, in progress, and completed. Or, use Kanban boards for any program that benefits from a more actionable style. 

• Gantt chart: This layout is useful if you need to create your program roadmap as a timeline. For example, if your program’s roadmap operates over a year, you can design your template in phases or quarters and view it in a Gantt chart to see which initiatives are mapped out for when.

• Create color-coded sections: Depending on the use case, this can be helpful for visual differentiation and to showcase separation between different initiatives. For example, if your program roadmap template is used for IT product management, you might color-code the different sections to highlight how the program is supporting various IT projects across departments. In this case, you can choose one color for operations and one for internal employee requests.

Integrations for Asana templates

Connect your program roadmap template to your favorite apps and use our built-in integrations to create the perfect, custom template for your program.

Integrated features

• Board View. Board View is a Kanban board-style view that displays your project’s information in columns. Columns are typically organized by work status (like To Do, Doing, and Done) but you can adjust column titles depending on your project needs. Within each column, tasks are displayed as cards, with a variety of associated information including task title, due date, and custom fields. Track work as it moves through stages and get at-a-glance insight into where your project stands.

• Timeline View. Timeline View is a Gantt-style project view that displays all of your tasks in a horizontal bar chart. Not only can you see each task’s start and end date, but you can also see dependencies between tasks. With Timeline View, you can easily track how the pieces of your plan fit together. Plus, when you can see all of your work in one place, it’s easy to identify and address dependency conflicts before they start, so you can hit all of your goals on schedule. 

• Approvals. Sometimes you don’t just need to complete a task—you need to know if a deliverable is approved or not. Approvals are a special type of task in Asana with options to “Approve,” “Request changes,” or “Reject” the task. That way, task owners get clear instructions on what actions they should take and whether their work has been approved or not. 

• Project status updates. Say goodbye to sorting between multiple tools to find project status information or sitting through another meeting that could have been an email. Project status updates in Asana aren’t just easier to use—they’re also directly connected to the work your team does. This makes it easy for team members to access additional project information, like your project plan, communication plan, project goals, milestones, deliverables, and more. Ultimately, project status reports reduce your manual work, centralize information, and keep everyone up to date. 

Recommended apps

• GitHub. Automatically sync GitHub pull request status updates to Asana tasks. Track progress on pull requests and improve cross-functional collaboration between technical and non-technical teams, all from within Asana.

• Jira. Create interactive, connected workflows between technical and business teams to increase visibility around the product development process in real time—all without leaving Asana. Streamline project collaboration and hand offs. Quickly create Jira issues from within Asana so that work passes seamlessly between business and technical teams at the right time. 

• Figma. Teams use Figma to create user flows, wireframes, UI mocks, prototypes, and more. Now, you can embed these designs in Asana, so your team can reference the latest design work in context with related project documents. And, unlike screenshots, live embeds update in real time to reflect changes made in a design file, eliminating the overhead that comes with finding the right files and updating images.

• Google Workplace. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

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