Skip to content
CoursesLog in
← Statistics glossary

stage of development

Also called: development stage, status

A label showing how far a roadmap item has progressed, e.g. discovery, design, in development, beta, released. It tells stakeholders what is still an open problem and what is already a concrete solution.

Stage of development tells readers of a roadmap how far each item has progressed. Typical labels run from problem to solution:

  • Discovery / considering: the problem is being explored; no solution chosen, and it may never be built.
  • Design / prototyping: options are being shaped and tested; feedback is especially useful now.
  • In development / pre-production: a solution is chosen and being built.
  • Beta / early access: a limited group of customers is using it.
  • Released / generally available: shipped; now check whether the outcome followed.

Some teams use even simpler sets, such as think it / ship it / tweak it, or considering / in development / released.

These labels do three jobs. They set expectations: sales and marketing know which items are real enough to prepare for, and customers can see that early items are still open. They show the difference between themes and features: an item in discovery is still a problem to solve, while an item in development has become a concrete solution. And they convey confidence without percentages: items in beta are far more likely to arrive than items in discovery.

Stage labels are most useful when stages last longer than your roadmap's timeframes, when several audiences read the same roadmap, and when stakeholders tend to treat anything written down as a promise. Keep the set short, define each label once and use it the same way across products.

Example

CatChow's roadmap, Now column:

  • Effortless reorder: one-tap reorder in beta with 300 subscribers; subscription pause in development.
  • Know when food arrives: delivery SMS released two weeks ago (tickets down from 420 to 350 a month so far); courier tracking in design.

Next column:

  • Right food for each cat: discovery, 10 owner interviews planned.

The head of sales reads this and starts preparing a pitch for one-tap reorder, but doesn't mention courier tracking to wholesale clients yet.

Common mistakes

  • Too many stages. Ten labels confuse everyone. Four or five are enough.
  • Undefined labels. "Beta" means different things to different teams; write down what each stage means.
  • Stages never updated. Stale labels are worse than none.
  • Labels read as promises. "In development" isn't a ship date. Pair stages with confidence where needed.
  • Stopping at "released". Release is not the finish line; check whether the outcome followed.

Learn it in the course