A practical checklist for roadmapping

The advice here is unglamorous, which is probably why it gets skipped. Run through this the next time roadmapping comes up.

The projects that go badly are rarely the ones with the hardest technical problems. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

The checklist

• A roadmap is a statement of intent, not a promise
• Sequence by value and dependency, not by loudest request
• Review it quarterly or it becomes fiction
• Someone is named as the owner
• There is a date to review it again

Why this earns attention

A roadmap is a statement of intent, not a promise. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

How to tell if yours is fine

Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. Three things worth confirming about roadmapping before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• A roadmap is a statement of intent, not a promise — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.