Roadmap
An ordered statement of what you intend to do next and what you are therefore not doing — a sequence, not a calendar.
A roadmap is an ordered statement of intent: what gets built next, in what order, and — the part that carries all the value — what is consequently not being built. It is a sequencing document. The moment it becomes a set of dated promises, it stops describing priorities and starts generating apologies.
The function it performs is refusal. Anyone can list good ideas; a roadmap is the artefact that lets you say "yes, and it goes after these two" without relitigating the whole thing every time someone asks. Without one, the loudest request wins, and the loudest request is systematically the one from whoever spoke most recently.
Three columns beat twelve months: doing now, doing next, not doing yet. The third column is the one that makes it useful, because it is a public record that a request was heard and ranked rather than lost. Review it monthly, and expect the order to change — a roadmap that never changes is being ignored, and one that changes weekly is a to-do list.
Worked: eleven requests arrive in a quarter. Two are on the roadmap, six go in "not yet" with a note, three are declined outright. Nothing is lost, one person does the ranking, and the team's answer to a mid-quarter request is a document rather than a negotiation.
Also known as
- product roadmap
- delivery plan
Relevant for
- Founders
- The value is in the "not doing yet" column — without it, every new request is negotiated from scratch and the most recent voice wins.
- Business owners
- Give clients a sequence rather than dates: a roadmap that promises months generates apologies, while one that promises order survives a delay intact.