Product tree exercise

The Product Tree framework offers a visual, collaborative approach to roadmap planning. This method uses the metaphor of a tree to represent your product's growth and priorities:

• Trunk: Represents your core product functionality
• Branches: Different product areas or capabilities
• Leaves: Specific features or enhancements

To run this exercise, gather representatives from different departments: product, engineering, design, sales, and customer success. Draw a large tree outline on a whiteboard or use a digital collaboration tool. Provide participants with sticky notes to write potential features or improvements.

Ask everyone to place their feature "leaves" on the branches where they believe they belong. This creates a visual representation of how your product might evolve. Features placed closer to the trunk typically represent near-term priorities, while those further out might be longer-term opportunities.

Once complete, facilitate a discussion about the balance across the tree. Are some branches overloaded while others are empty? This might indicate areas receiving too much or too little attention. Does the distribution align with your strategic priorities?^[1]