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Glossary
Roadmap & strategy

What is Now-Next-Later Roadmap?

A Now-Next-Later Roadmap is a visual product planning framework that organizes work into three broad buckets: Now (current focus), Next (upcoming priorities), and Later (long-term vision). Unlike traditional timeline roadmaps, it focuses on strategic themes and problems to solve rather than specific delivery dates, allowing teams to remain agile and responsive to feedback.

When to use it

This format is ideal for fast-moving teams that need to communicate strategy without committing to rigid deadlines that often become inaccurate. It helps solve the problem of stakeholder over-expectation by shifting the conversation from specific delivery dates to the value being delivered. Use it to provide clarity on priorities while maintaining the flexibility to pivot based on new data or customer feedback.

Example

A SaaS team prioritizing 4 features for the second half of the year might use this to manage stakeholder expectations. In the Now column, they place a high-priority SSO integration and a critical bug fix for the dashboard. The Next column contains a planned Zapier integration and a new reporting module currently in design. Later includes long-term vision items like a mobile app or AI-driven analytics. This setup allows the team to stay focused on the SSO release today while showing stakeholders that the mobile app is on the horizon but not yet scheduled.

How Planet Roadmap helps with Now-Next-Later Roadmap

Planet Roadmap has a Kanban-style roadmap view that lets you organize initiatives into Now, Next, and Later columns to communicate high-level strategy without fixed dates.

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FAQ

How do you determine what moves from 'Next' to 'Now'?
Items move to 'Now' once they have been fully scoped, the problem is validated, and resources are available to begin immediate development. This transition usually happens during sprint planning or quarterly reviews once the current 'Now' initiatives are nearing completion.
Can a Now-Next-Later roadmap be used for external customers?
Yes, it is one of the most effective formats for public roadmaps because it manages customer expectations by showing intent without promising specific release dates. It allows users to see that their requested features are on the radar without the risk of the team missing a hard deadline.

Related terms

RoadmapProduct StrategyThemeInitiativePublic RoadmapInternal RoadmapKanbanProduct BacklogRICE ScoreMoSCoW Method

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