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How do I set up my first roadmap? (Quick Start)

Get your roadmap live by enabling the feature, customizing stages, and adding your first items to share what's coming next with customers.

Chelsea Davis avatar
Written by Chelsea Davis
Updated this week

Summary

Setting up a roadmap takes about 5 minutes. You'll enable the roadmap feature, review or customize the default stages (like "Planning" and "In Progress"), add your first roadmap item, and publish it to your LaunchNotes page. Your roadmap will appear as a separate tab alongside your announcements, giving customers visibility into what you're building.

Setting up your roadmap video tutorial:

Steps to set up your roadmap

1. Enable your roadmap

  1. Navigate to Settings > Roadmap in your management portal

  2. Under General Settings, toggle Publish roadmap to ON

  3. Customize the Roadmap name field if you want (this becomes your tab name—some customers use "What's Next" or "Coming Soon" instead of "Roadmap")

  4. Choose your Roadmap display format:

    • Board view (default and most popular): Displays items in columns by stage, similar to a Kanban board

    • List view: Displays items in a linear list format in 1 column

    • Switchable layout: Lets customers toggle between board and list view

      (example photos below)

  5. Optionally toggle Roadmap item timeline default on to show the change history on each item by default

  6. Click Update to save your settings

  7. Your roadmap tab now appears on your published page next to your Announcements tab

Roadmap item timeline example:

Board view example:

List view example:

Switchable layout example:

2. Review and customize your stages

  1. Scroll down to the Stages section on the same page

  2. Review the four default stages: In planning, In Development, Shipping, and Complete

  3. To customize a stage, click the ellipses (...) next to the stage name and select Edit

    1. Add a Name (title) for the stage

    2. Add an optional Description for the stage

    3. Decide whether the stage will be Unpublished or Published.

      1. A Published state means it will show up on your live page.

      2. An Unpublished state means it will just show up in your workspace. This is a good place to put Drafts or anything you're not ready for the public to see yet.

    4. Decide if you'd like to automatically archive a roadmap item after a set amount of time under Archive after interval. Simply leave blank to disable this functionality.

  4. To add a new stage, click + Add Stage and enter a name, optional description, and publish status

  5. Drag and drop stages to reorder them (they appear in this order on your public page)

3. Configure subscriber updates (optional)

  1. Scroll down to the Subscriber Updates section

  2. Toggle Update subscribers when roadmap items change stages to "on" if you want customers to receive email notifications when items move to new stages

  3. In the Select stages dropdown, choose which stages trigger notifications (default is "All stages")

  4. Click Update to save

When this feature is enabled, users moving roadmap items to the selected stages will be prompted to send email updates to subscribers. Below is the prompt:

If the user decides to send the emails, the subscribers to the roadmap item will receive an email like this:

This is an excellent way to keep users informed on the movement of work they care about!

4. Add your first roadmap item

  1. Navigate to the Roadmap tab in your navigation menu

  2. Find the stage where you want to add your first item

  3. Click + Add item under that stage

  4. Enter a Name for the item (like "Mobile app for iOS" or "Advanced reporting dashboard")

  5. Optionally select Affected categories if you want customers to filter by product area

  6. Click Create

5. Add details to your roadmap item

  1. Click into the roadmap item you just created

  2. Add a Heading and description in the rich text editor (works just like the announcement editor)

  3. Optionally set a Projected date for completion

    1. Do not display (default): date will not display

    2. Exact: on your roadmap item "Projected Done" will be set to the exact date you specify

    3. Fuzzy: on your roadmap item "Projected Done" will be set to display the month

    4. Quarterly: on your roadmap item "Projected Done" will be set to display the quarter and year

  4. Verify the Stage assignment is correct

  5. Changes save automatically in real-time

Check out our article What can I include in a roadmap item for more detailed information.

6. Verify the roadmap is live

  1. Visit your published LaunchNotes page (use the View Roadmap link at the top right of Settings > Roadmap)

  2. Click on your Roadmap tab (or whatever you renamed it to)

  3. Your roadmap item should appear in the stage you assigned it to

Notes & important info

  • Roadmaps are available on Premium plans only

  • Published vs. unpublished stages: Only items in published stages appear to customers. Use unpublished stages for early planning before you're ready to share publicly, or for a completed column.

  • Display format affects user experience: Board view works well for showing stage progression visually; list view works better for roadmaps with many items

  • Timeline feature shows transparency: When enabled, customers can see when items were created and when they moved between stages, building trust

  • Subscriber notifications are automatic: When enabled, subscribers to specific roadmap items automatically receive emails when those items move to the stages you've selected

  • Team Owner and Members fields are internal only: These fields help track internal stakeholders but aren't visible to customers on your public roadmap

  • Categories help customers filter: If you have multiple product areas, associating items with categories lets customers focus on what matters to them

  • You can change everything later: Stage assignments, item details, dates, and visibility can all be updated as your plans evolve

Troubleshooting

  • My roadmap tab isn't showing: Verify you toggled "Publish roadmap" to "on" under Settings > Roadmap and clicked Update

  • Customers can't see my roadmap item: Check that the item is in a published stage (not an unpublished one)

  • Can't find where to add items: Navigate to the Roadmap tab (not Settings > Roadmap)—items are added from the Roadmap tab

  • Subscribers aren't getting notified when items move: Check that "Update subscribers when roadmap items change stages" is toggled on and the stage you moved the item to is included in your selected stages

  • Want to keep some items private while planning: Move those items to an unpublished stage. They'll be visible in your management portal but hidden from customers

  • Don't see display format options: This setting may only be available on certain plans—contact LaunchNotes support if you need this feature

Related Articles
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LaunchNotes Jira App - Roadmap Sync
What can I include in a roadmap item?
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