3 reasons why product teams are saying goodbye to spreadsheet roadmaps
Spreadsheets are where the best-laid plans go to die. Bring them back to life in Coda.
Teresa de Figueiredo
Product Manager at Coda
Product teams · 6 min read
Spreadsheet issue #1: They’re hard to maintain and keep up to date.
Copy and pasting relevant content from the roadmap into a million status updates. That sucks.
Leo Claassen
Senior Product Manager at Snap
For example, Coda’s database tables sync automatically. That means any changes you make in one table will be reflected in real-time in any others—no copy/pasting required! In addition, you can convert your foundational roadmap table into visual formats like a Kanban board or a Gantt chart with just a few clicks. Finally, Coda Packs allow content from other tools (Salesforce, Jira, Asana, etc.) to live alongside your roadmap in a single doc, putting key information and data right at your product team’s fingertips.
Spreadsheet issue #2: There’s no easy way to create an executive summary.
We needed a source of truth for all projects in the CIO org.
TPM, Zoom
After moving their roadmap into Coda, however, they were able to add a high-level summary to the same Coda doc. The Zoom product team synced in information from other platforms, such as Jira and Slack, to create a single source of roadmap truth. Accessible via a single link, this Coda doc also included separate views for different groups of stakeholders. And the best part? The product manager no longer needed to recreate the document every week—the data was all live!
Spreadsheet issue #3: They require constant pings and requests to update.
One of the biggest challenges for leaders is being able to consume the right information to then make the right decision.
Trevor Evans
TPM at Qualtrics
Skip the spreadsheets and build your roadmap in Coda.
While spreadsheets have their place in product, they’re simply not the best tool for roadmaps. They’re difficult to summarize, almost impossible to keep current, and require you to constantly annoy your team for updates. Coda, however, makes roadmap management easy and sets product teams up for planning success. Want to give it a try? Make a copy of our Product Development Roadmap template and dive right in.Related posts
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