(^100) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Roadmaps: What Have We Done for You Lately?
Kathy MacDougall
Erie, Colorado, U.S.
gooD CoMMUnICATIon InSIDE AnD oUTSIDE ThE PRojECT TEAM is a
key factor in the success of any project. An important communication tool
for all projects is the official project roadmap. The project plan helps your
immediate project team chart a course for change at the task level. By contrast,
the project roadmap allows the broader stakeholder community to understand
the change that will happen at a higher level. The project roadmap is a vehicle
that helps to communicate the planned changes, the timeframes for specific
changes, and the impact these changes will have on the business.
So how does one go about creating a project roadmap? First, enlist the input
of top project stakeholders. What features are important to them? What’s the
priority level of each of these features? Are there things happening within
the business that will make it important to have particular features ready by
a specific date? Capture the voice of the customer and use this as the founda-
tion for a draft roadmap.
Next, create a draft of the roadmap that shows a list of high-level features
grouped into a realistic timeframe (quarterly works well typically). For each
feature, describe the business value (e.g., reduce time to place an order by
two minutes; reduce cost to place an order by $10) on the roadmap. If the
business value cannot be described, you should question the validity of
including the feature in the project. In short, items without tangible business
value shouldn’t appear on your roadmap, and they warrant further scrutiny
in the form of a cost/benefit analysis.