Roadmap Dissemination — Where The Rubber Hits The Road

This is the continuation of my previous blogs on roadmapping:

• Roadmaps and Roadmapping: What and Why
• Successful Product-Technology Roadmapping
• How To Manage The Initiation Phase For Successful Product-Technology Roadmapping
• Get Down To Business: Developing Your Product-Technology Roadmap

Once the roadmap is developed, the next step in the process is its communication and implementation. If you thought the hard work is behind you, think again. This phase can be one of the most challenging activities for an organization, especially if the recommendations require complex cultural and leadership changes.

Conversant has defined a conversational model which they referred to as the cycle of value. The cycle of value promotes establishing a shared purpose, ownership, accountability and building a foundation for learning and improving. This model also fits well with the steps required for a successful dissemination of our roadmap.

The cycle of value has 3 distinct phases:

• Align — conversations are focused on building a shared purpose and understanding;
• Act — conversations are centered for successful launch of initiatives and clarification of accountabilities;
• Adjust — conversations are all about reviewing results, learning and improving;

Lets examine these phases from the perspective of disseminating our roadmap. You can read more about the cycle of value and other conversational tools in the Communication Catalyst: the Fast (But Not Stupid) Track to Value for Customers, Investors, and Employees by Mickey Connolly and Richard Rianoshek.

Align

The goal of this phase is to create a shared purpose and vision for our roadmap: know-why, know-what, know-how and know-when. With that, it not only requires communication of the roadmap, but also the validation and critiquing by all stakeholders. The communication methodology should enrich the roadmap by enabling collection and processing of the insights gathered during discussions. In addition, this phase should also include:

• Evaluation of risk vs. return;
• Deciding among the alternative strategies;
• Agreement on the prioritization of activities and projects;
• Plan for change;

Act

Once the alignment is achieved, next step is to put in motion the needed projects and activities as agreed by the roadmap. This includes:

• Initiation of relevant projects and partnerships;
• Commitment of resources and budget;
• Agreement on the performance measures, targets and key milestones;
• Announcement of clear owners and accountabilities;

Adjust

The value of your roadmap is directly correlated to whether its information is kept current and up to date. However, keeping the roadmapping process alive is one of the challenges that an organization faces. As such, investigate ways to incorporate your roadmap review/update process to your business strategic planning or budgeting cycles. Also, identify clear owners, frequencies and method of review/update cycle that will be used for keeping your roadmap current.

Adjust phase should include concise summary of accomplishments, challenges/disappointments, new insights, changes in the competitive landscape as well as the review/status of the critical success factors for successful roadmap implementation that were previously identified. Based on the review, any needed updates to the roadmap should be initiated and followed with dissemination of the roadmap as discussed. Below is the visual summary of the roadmapping process steps I have laid out: initiation, development and dissemination.

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