Smartsheet Roadmap: Build It With Gantt, Timeline View and a Dashboard

8 min read ยท 2026-10-25

A Smartsheet roadmap is a sheet where each row is an initiative or milestone with a start date, an end date, an owner, a status and a lane, shown on a timeline through Smartsheet's Gantt view or timeline view. Parent rows group the work into themes or quarters, dependencies link initiatives that must happen in order, and a dashboard gives leadership a one-screen summary. Because it is one sheet, everyone sees the same dates, and owners can update their own rows.

Below is a six-week plan to set one up and run your first review, the exact columns to create, step-by-step instructions for the Gantt view, timeline view and dashboard, a filled-in example for a product launch roadmap, who owns what, and how to present it. It is written for project managers, PMO leads, product managers and ops leads whose teams already work in Smartsheet. Menu names below come from Smartsheet's help center; check them against your plan, since some views depend on it.

The roadmap at a glance

Goal: Within six weeks, the team has one Smartsheet roadmap sheet with owners and dates for every initiative, a timeline and a leadership dashboard, and a working monthly review where owners update their own rows. Duration: 6 weeks

  1. Scope and structure (Week 1)

    Decide what the roadmap covers and how it is organized.

    • Agree the time span (often four quarters) and the audience: the team, leadership or both.
    • Choose your lanes, such as product areas, teams or strategic themes.
    • Decide the level of detail: initiatives and milestones only, with tasks kept in project sheets.
    • Name the sheet owner and the lane owners who will update rows.

    Milestone: A one-page scope note with time span, lanes, level of detail and owners, approved by the sponsor.

  2. Build the sheet (Weeks 1-2)

    Create a clean sheet with the right columns and hierarchy.

    • Create a new sheet and add the columns listed in the setup section below.
    • Set Lane, Status and Type as dropdown (single-select) columns so values stay consistent.
    • Set Owner as a contact list column so you can filter by person and send update requests.
    • Use indent to create parent rows for each lane or quarter, with initiatives as child rows.

    Milestone: A sheet with all columns, dropdown values and parent rows in place, tested with five sample rows.

  3. Gantt, dependencies and baselines (Weeks 2-3)

    Turn the sheet into a timeline with real dates and links.

    • Select Gantt view in the toolbar so bars appear next to the columns.
    • Open Edit Project Settings from a column header in Gantt view and turn on dependencies if initiatives must happen in order.
    • Add predecessors for linked initiatives and check the bars move as expected.
    • Add milestones as rows with a zero-day duration or a single date, so they show as diamonds.
    • Set baselines from the Baselines button once the plan is approved, so later slips are visible.

    Milestone: Every initiative shows a bar, every milestone shows a diamond, linked work has predecessors, and a baseline is set.

  4. Timeline view and dashboard (Weeks 3-4)

    Give each audience a view it can read in a minute.

    • Open timeline view, choose Months or Quarters in the timescale dropdown, and use Group by on the Lane column to create swimlanes.
    • Use conditional formatting on the sheet so status shows as a color on rows and bars.
    • Create a report that filters to milestones and at-risk items in the next 90 days.
    • Build a dashboard with a timeline or report widget, a chart of status by lane, and a short rich text summary.

    Milestone: A timeline view grouped by lane, an at-risk report and a dashboard reviewed by the sponsor.

  5. Load, review and approve (Weeks 4-5)

    Fill the roadmap with real data and get sign-off.

    • Ask lane owners to enter their initiatives, dates and dependencies by a fixed date.
    • Hold a review meeting to check overlaps, capacity conflicts and missing dependencies.
    • Resolve conflicts with the sponsor and update the baseline once the plan is approved.
    • Share the sheet with editors and the dashboard with viewers, using the right permission levels.

    Milestone: An approved roadmap with every row owned and dated, shared with the right access for each audience.

  6. Run the review rhythm (Weeks 5-6)

    Keep the roadmap current without chasing people.

    • Set an automation workflow that sends an update request to each owner before the monthly review.
    • Hold the first monthly review using the at-risk report, not the full sheet.
    • Log changes to dates or scope in a Change note column or a comment on the row.
    • Collect feedback on the views and adjust columns or filters once.

    Milestone: First monthly review held with all owners having updated their rows, and the dashboard current on the review date.

The columns to set up

Smartsheet's Gantt view needs two date columns that are not filled by column formulas, typically Start and End. Everything else is up to you, but a short, consistent set of columns makes filters, reports and dashboards much easier later.

Keep the primary column as the initiative name, since it is what shows in views and reports. Avoid free-text status columns: one person writes on track, another writes OK, and your charts stop working.

  • Initiative (primary column): short name, like Pricing page redesign.
  • Lane: dropdown with your themes, teams or product areas.
  • Type: dropdown with Initiative and Milestone.
  • Start and End: date columns used by the Gantt view and timeline view.
  • Duration and Predecessors: created when you turn on dependencies in project settings.
  • Owner: contact list column, one person per row.
  • Status: dropdown with Not started, On track, At risk, Late and Done.
  • Quarter: a formula column based on the start date, useful for grouping and reports.
  • Change note: short text that explains the last date or scope change.

Example: a product launch roadmap in Smartsheet

Picture a software company planning the launch of a new reporting module over two quarters. Product, engineering, marketing and customer success all have work to do, and leadership wants one view of it. The product operations manager owns the sheet.

Here is how the parent rows, lanes and milestones could look. Each bullet is a parent row with its child rows summarized.

  • Product (owner: product manager): discovery and specs in Q1, beta scope frozen by the end of Q1. Milestone: beta scope approved.
  • Engineering (owner: engineering manager): build in Q1-Q2, beta release in early Q2, general availability later in Q2, with build linked as a predecessor to beta. Milestone: GA release.
  • Marketing (owner: product marketing manager): messaging in Q1, launch campaign starting two weeks before GA, linked to the GA milestone. Milestone: launch campaign live.
  • Customer success (owner: CS lead): training and help articles ready one week before GA. Milestone: support team trained.
  • Leadership view: a dashboard with the timeline grouped by lane, the four milestones and a chart of status by lane.

Gantt view vs timeline view

Both show work on a calendar, but they suit different jobs. Gantt view sits next to the sheet's columns and supports dependencies, critical path and baselines. It is the better choice for the person who owns the plan and needs to see how a slip in one initiative pushes others.

Timeline view is a cleaner picture for readers. You group items into lanes with Group by, choose a timescale from days to years, and can turn on lane summaries that show the earliest and latest date in each lane. It is often the better view to share in a meeting. Check that your Smartsheet plan includes timeline view before you build your process around it.

Who owns what

A shared sheet only stays accurate if ownership is clear. One person should own the structure: columns, views, automations and the dashboard. Lane owners own the content of their rows and update them before each review.

Use sharing permissions to protect the structure. Give lane owners Editor access and keep Admin rights with the sheet owner, so columns and project settings do not change by accident. Leadership can get viewer access to the dashboard only.

  • Sponsor (head of product, PMO director or COO): approves scope and priorities, settles conflicts between lanes.
  • Sheet owner (PMO lead, product ops or project manager): owns columns, views, automations, the dashboard and the review agenda.
  • Lane owners: keep dates, status and dependencies current for their rows.
  • Leadership viewers: read the dashboard and make decisions at the review.

How to present it to leadership

Do not open the full sheet in a leadership meeting. Use the dashboard: a timeline grouped by lane, the milestones in the next quarter, and a short list of at-risk items with what you need from leadership. Keep the full sheet for the working session with owners.

If you need a slide, export or screenshot the timeline view at the quarter timescale and add three lines: what changed since last review, what is at risk, and the decision needed. Compare current dates with the baseline so leaders see slips at a glance instead of discovering them later.

How to keep it current

Automate the reminder, not the judgment. A workflow from the Automation menu can send update requests to owners a few days before each review, or alert the sheet owner when a status changes to At risk. Owners still decide the dates and status.

Review the roadmap monthly with lane owners and quarterly with leadership. Reset the baseline only when the sponsor approves a new plan, and note why. If you reset it every time something slips, you lose the record of what changed.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Putting every task on the roadmap sheet makes it unreadable, so keep initiatives and milestones on the roadmap and tasks in linked project sheets.
  • Using free-text status values breaks charts and filters, so make Status and Lane dropdown columns with fixed values.
  • Turning on dependencies without checking predecessors can move dates you did not expect, so add links one lane at a time and check the bars.
  • Giving everyone Admin access lets columns and settings change by accident, so keep Admin with the sheet owner and give lane owners Editor access.
  • Showing the full sheet to leadership buries the message, so present the dashboard and a filtered at-risk report.
  • Resetting the baseline after every slip hides how the plan changed, so reset it only when the sponsor approves a new plan.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make a roadmap in Smartsheet?

Yes. Create a sheet with one row per initiative, start and end date columns, an owner and a status, then switch to Gantt view or timeline view to see it on a calendar. Add a dashboard for a leadership summary.

How do I add milestones to a Smartsheet roadmap?

Add a row for the milestone and give it only one date, or a zero-day duration when dependencies are on. It then shows as a diamond in Gantt view. Use a Type column so you can filter milestones in reports.

How do I create swimlanes in Smartsheet?

In timeline view, use Group by in the toolbar and pick a column such as Lane. Each value becomes its own lane, and you can group by up to two levels. In Gantt view, use parent rows for each lane instead.

How do I show a Smartsheet roadmap to executives?

Build a dashboard with a timeline or report widget, a status chart by lane and a short text summary. Share it with viewer access. Bring the full sheet only to working sessions with owners.

What is the difference between a roadmap and a project plan in Smartsheet?

A roadmap shows initiatives and milestones across months or quarters for planning and communication. A project plan breaks one initiative into tasks with detailed dates and assignees. Many teams keep one roadmap sheet and link it to separate project sheets.

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