Now Next Later Roadmap Template: How to Build One

Build a Now Next Later roadmap template with three horizon columns, problem-framed cards and objective tags that a team can fill in and keep current.

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At a Glance

Overview

A Now Next Later roadmap template is the empty structure your team fills in: three columns, a card format, a way to show objectives and a short legend explaining what the columns mean. Getting the template right matters more than it seems, because the template decides what people write. A card with a "due date" field invites dates. A card with a "feature name" field invites features. A card that asks for a problem, an objective and the current evidence produces the roadmap the Now Next Later framework describes.

Janna Bastow's original version was minimal. The first ProdPad roadmap after the switch away from timelines was "simply some boxes you could add to one of three columns," named Current, Near Term and Future, and she notes that "you could have done it in Trello" (The Birth of the Modern Roadmap). The features added over the years show what a template needs: links from initiatives to the ideas and experiments beneath them, labels tying initiatives to objectives, filters for different audiences, and views that can be published for executives, sales or customers.

The template has to serve two readers. The team needs enough detail on Now items to act, and room in Next and Later to record what discovery has learned. Stakeholders need to understand the board quickly; Bastow's aim for the first version was something "a stakeholder could understand in about ten seconds" (Why I Invented It). A good template reconciles both by varying detail across the columns and by keeping the top level of every card short.

This skill is tool-agnostic. The same template works on a physical wall, a virtual whiteboard, a shared document, a spreadsheet or a dedicated roadmapping tool. Choose the tool your team already opens every day; a template in a tool nobody visits goes stale. The steps below describe the structure, which you then build in whatever tool you pick.

The output is a template with column definitions, a card schema per column, an objective legend, a completed-items area and a note on how often it is updated, plus one worked card per column so new contributors can copy the pattern.

How It Works

The columns are defined by confidence. ProdPad's glossary describes Now as validated initiatives the team is actively working on, Next as the space where "opportunities get sharper" through discovery, and Later as "the big bets" the team has not yet shaped into something workable (ProdPad glossary). Put a one-line definition at the top of each column so nobody reads them as quarters. Names can vary: ProdPad's conversion guide lists alternatives such as Current, Near Term and Future, or Doing, Discovering and Dreaming, and notes that some teams bridge from timelines with labels like "This quarter," "Next quarter" and "The future."

Cards describe problems. The conversion guide describes a two-level structure: initiatives name the problem or opportunity, and ideas beneath them are candidate solutions. The template's card should therefore lead with a problem statement, often a question, and hold candidate ideas as a nested list or linked items. This keeps the headline stable while solutions change during discovery.

Detail scales with confidence. Bastow describes Now items as "clearly defined, much more detailed, and completely spec'd out," Next items as "broken down less finely, with fewer specifics," and Later items as problems without "details about exact solutions yet" (Why I Invented It). The template can enforce this through different card fields per column: an owner, scope and success measure in Now; the problem, open questions and current evidence in Next; a problem statement and the objective it serves in Later.

Objectives make the board readable at a glance. Bastow's tip is to "make it visual and obvious on your roadmap" by tagging each initiative with a colored label for its objective. The template needs a legend listing the objectives and their colors, and every card needs at least one tag. Dependencies can be a short note on the card linking to what it depends on, which is how Bastow suggests showing them (Mind the Product podcast).

Two more areas round it out. A completed area shows recently finished initiatives, which ProdPad recommends for public roadmaps because it demonstrates delivery (The Public Roadmap). A metadata block states when the roadmap was last reviewed and who owns it, so readers can judge freshness. The columns do not need to be the same size, and the template should not imply they should.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Choose the tool your team already uses

List where your team already works: a whiteboard tool, a wiki, a spreadsheet, a project tool with a board view. Pick the one with the most daily use and the ability to share a read-only view. Avoid tools that force a timeline onto every item, since they pull the board back toward dates.

Step 2: Create and define the three columns

Create three columns, named Now, Next and Later or your agreed alternatives. Under each heading, write a one-line definition based on confidence, adapted from the ProdPad glossary. Add a separate completed area to the side.

Step 3: Design the card schema per column

Define the fields for each column. Now cards: problem statement, objective tag, owner, scope summary, success measure. Next cards: problem statement, objective tag, evidence so far, open questions, candidate ideas. Later cards: problem statement and objective tag. Leave out any date field except an optional one for real external deadlines.

Step 4: Build the objective legend

List current objectives or OKRs with a color or icon each. Place the legend where every reader sees it. Make the objective tag a required field on every card so untagged work stands out.

Step 5: Add a metadata block

Add a small block with the owner, the date of the last review, the next review and a link to the graduation criteria. This tells readers how current the board is and where to look when they want to know why something moved.

Step 6: Write one example card per column

Fill in one realistic card in each column, showing the level of detail expected. New contributors copy examples more readily than they follow instructions. Remove the examples once the board has real content, or keep them in a separate guide.

Step 7: Populate it with real work and test it

Move your current initiatives onto the template. Show it to someone outside the team and ask what they think is happening now, what comes next and what is uncertain. If their answer is wrong, adjust the definitions or card fields before rolling it out.

Step 8: Set up views for different audiences

Create filtered or duplicated views for audiences with different needs: a full internal view, an objective-level view for leaders and a customer-safe view that leaves out sensitive items. Link all views to one source so they stay in sync.

Best Practices

• Put column definitions on the board itself. Readers bring timeline habits, and a visible definition stops Next being read as next quarter.
• Lead every card with a problem. A problem-first field order keeps solutions flexible, as the conversion guide recommends.
• Vary card fields by column. Different fields per horizon make the detail gradient automatic.
• Make objective tags mandatory. Bastow's colored labels show the "why" behind each item at a glance (Why I Invented It).
• Keep one source of truth. Separate copies for each audience drift apart; filtered views of one board do not.
• Keep it short. The ProdPad glossary suggests the whole roadmap should fit in "a scroll or two."

Common Mistakes

• Adding a due date field to every card: A date field gets filled in, and the board turns into a timeline. Allow dates only for real external deadlines.
• Using feature names as card titles: Feature-titled cards commit to solutions before discovery. Title cards with the problem and list features as candidate ideas.
• Equal detail across columns: Full specs on Later cards waste effort and suggest readiness that is not there. Use lighter card schemas further right.
• Building in a tool nobody opens: A template in an unused tool goes stale within weeks. Use the tool where the team already works.
• Hiding the last-updated date: Readers cannot tell a current roadmap from an abandoned one. Show the owner and review date on the board.

References

• Examples: Worked examples and scenarios
• FAQ: Frequently asked questions
• Parent Method: Now Next Later Framework

Related Skills

• Now Next Later Categorization: Sorting Work Into Horizons
• Communicating Now Next Later Roadmaps to Stakeholders
• Reprioritizing Roadmap Items Across Now, Next and Later
• Defining Graduation Criteria Between Roadmap Horizons
• Now Next Later Framework for SaaS Product Roadmaps
• Now Next Later vs Timeline Roadmap: Choosing a Format

Sources

• Janna Bastow: Why I Invented the Now-Next-Later Roadmap
• Janna Bastow: The Birth of the Modern Roadmap
• ProdPad Glossary: What Is a Now-Next-Later Roadmap?
• ProdPad: How to Convert a Timeline Roadmap to Now-Next-Later
• ProdPad: The Public Roadmap
• Mind the Product podcast: Roadmaps are dead. Long live roadmaps

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