Why It's Time to Wean Your Organization Off Traditional Roadmaps

Weaning an Organization Off Roadmaps: A Strategic Approach

Many product teams aspire to move away from traditional product roadmaps, but they often face resistance from organizations entrenched in the old ways. These organizations are accustomed to the quarterly product roadmap, making it challenging to envision a transition. Here's a strategic approach to help wean your organization off roadmaps and shift focus to business outcomes.

Gradual Transition

To begin, plan to continue with your existing roadmap process for six to twelve months. However, start making a subtle yet significant change immediately: every time you reference a product roadmap item or discuss it in a presentation or meeting, include a reminder of the actual business outcome that the feature is intended to achieve.

For instance, if you are adding PayPal as a payment method to increase conversion rates, always show the current conversion rate and the target result. After the feature goes live, highlight its impact on the conversion rate. If the impact is positive, celebrate the success. If it falls short, emphasize that while the feature was shipped, the desired result wasn’t achieved. Point out what was learned and discuss alternative ideas to achieve the desired outcome.

Shifting Focus to Business Results

The ultimate goal is to transition the organization’s focus from launching specific features on specific dates to achieving business results. This shift can take up to a year but is essential for long-term success.

Addressing Stakeholder Concerns

For this strategy to work, it’s important to address the two primary reasons stakeholders are drawn to roadmaps:

• Visibility and Assurance: Stakeholders want to know what you are working on and need assurance that the most important items are being addressed.
•  Planning and Timing: Stakeholders need to plan the business and require knowledge of when critical things will happen.

Modern Alternative to Roadmaps

The modern alternative to traditional roadmaps involves:

• Prioritized Business Objectives: Teams work on business objectives prioritized by leadership.
• Transparency in Key Results: Share key results transparently, allowing everyone to see progress and outcomes.
• High-Integrity Commitments: Commit to high-integrity commitments when critical delivery dates are necessary.

By focusing on these elements, you can provide the visibility and assurance stakeholders need while emphasizing business results over specific features.

Conclusion

Weaning an organization off roadmaps is a gradual process that requires clear communication and a focus on business outcomes. By continuously highlighting the intended business results of each feature and transparently sharing the outcomes, you can shift the organization’s focus from rigid roadmaps to dynamic, result-oriented planning. This approach not only addresses stakeholders' concerns but also aligns the entire team towards achieving meaningful business goals.