A public roadmap tells your users: “Here’s where we’re going, and your input matters.” It reduces the most common support question — “When will you add X?” — and builds trust by showing that development decisions aren’t made in a black box. Heedback’s public roadmap is a Kanban-style board that connects directly to your feature boards, so user votes flow naturally into your planning process.

This guide covers enabling the roadmap, configuring columns, connecting feature requests, and customizing the experience.

Prerequisites

Before setting up your public roadmap, make sure:

You have an active Heedback organization with a Pro plan.
Your account has admin or owner permissions.
You have at least one feature board with some posts — the roadmap pulls items from your boards.
Your portal is configured under Settings > Portal.

Enabling the Public Roadmap

Navigate to Settings > Portal in your dashboard.
Find the Roadmap section and toggle it to Enabled.
Once enabled, a “Roadmap” link appears on your public portal’s navigation.
Click Save to apply the change.

That’s it for the basic setup. The roadmap page is now live and accessible to anyone who visits your portal. By default, it shows a Kanban board with three columns.

Configuring Kanban Columns

The default columns are Planned, In Progress, and Completed, but you can customize them to match your workflow:

Go to Roadmap > Settings in your dashboard.
You’ll see your current columns listed in order. Each column has a name and a color.
Rename a column by clicking its title — for example, change “Planned” to “Under Consideration” if that better reflects your process.
Add a column by clicking the ”+” button. Common additions include “In Review,” “Beta,” or “Shipped.”
Reorder columns by dragging them left or right. The leftmost column represents the earliest stage.
Remove a column by clicking its delete icon. Any items in that column will need to be reassigned.

Keep the number of columns between three and five. Too many stages confuse visitors and make the board feel cluttered.

Connecting Feature Board Posts

The roadmap doesn’t exist in isolation — it’s powered by your feature boards:

Open any feature board post from your dashboard.
In the post’s sidebar, find the Roadmap Status dropdown.
Select the appropriate column: Planned, In Progress, Completed, or whichever columns you’ve configured.
The post immediately appears on the public roadmap under that column.

To remove a post from the roadmap, set its Roadmap Status back to “None.” The post stays on your feature board but disappears from the public view.

This connection means you manage everything from one place. Vote counts, comments, and status changes on feature board posts are reflected on the roadmap automatically.

User Voting on Roadmap Items

When visitors browse your public roadmap, they can interact with items directly:

Vote: Each roadmap item shows its vote count from the linked feature board post. Visitors can upvote items they care about without leaving the roadmap.
Comment: Clicking a roadmap item opens its detail view, where visitors can leave comments and see the discussion thread.
Track: Users who vote on an item will be notified when its status changes — moving from “Planned” to “In Progress” triggers an update.

This interactivity makes the roadmap more than a static list. It’s an ongoing dialogue between your team and your users about what matters most.

Customizing the Roadmap Appearance

A few options let you tailor how the roadmap looks and feels:

Portal branding: The roadmap inherits your portal’s logo, colors, and font settings from Settings > Portal > Branding.
Item display: Each roadmap card shows the post title, vote count, and assigned labels. Tags from your feature boards carry over.
Filtering: Visitors can filter the roadmap by board or by tag, which is helpful if you have multiple products or areas.

Tips and Best Practices

Don’t put everything on the roadmap. Only include items you’re reasonably confident about. A roadmap full of “maybe” items sets false expectations.
Update statuses regularly. A stale roadmap is worse than no roadmap. Block out 15 minutes weekly to move items across columns.
Celebrate completions. When an item moves to “Completed,” link it to a changelog entry so users see the full story.
Use it in conversations. When a user asks about a feature, link them to the roadmap item. It’s more convincing than “it’s on our list.”
Pair with your changelog. The roadmap shows what’s coming; the changelog shows what shipped. Together, they tell a complete product story.

Feature Boards: The source of roadmap items. User votes and comments on boards feed directly into the roadmap.
Changelog: Announce shipped roadmap items with polished release notes.
Customer Portal: The roadmap lives on your portal alongside your knowledge base and feedback boards.
Widget: While the roadmap isn’t embedded in the widget directly, you can add a Custom Link block pointing to it.