It’s quite simple, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra
If you, your team or your organization are unclear about what you should be working on, a roadmap might be just what you need. Simply put, a roadmap is a strategic plan that describes the steps one needs to work towards to achieve future goals.
My key focus, as the Enterprise Architect is to identify “Where are we going?” and “What should we be focusing our efforts on?” To do this, I have created many roadmaps and have taken many people on the journey of creating them.
The top reasons we do roadmaps include:
- To provide alignment and direction for your team
- Communicate your plans with other business units
- Set expectations
- Used to justify and prioritize investments
- Identify new desired capabilities to work towards
- Improve and grow current capabilities
- Provide focus on what’s important
The process can be quite fun and extremely rewarding! Based on my experience, the process of developing the roadmap is the most important part. During the process, relationships are built, and the alignment needed to execute the roadmap are created.
Depending on the scope, the roadmap process can take anywhere from a few weeks to months. No matter how long it takes, the effort is well worth it!
Additionally, A good roadmap is a living document that must be continually updated or risk becoming obsolete. So, make sure you have a business partner and people responsible to keep it current.
In summary, if your team is “spinning their wheels” or unable to focus, a good roadmap is the answer. It will provide your team, direction, focus, and alignment, allowing them to move forward and get more done. Good luck and feel free to use my Get Started with Roadmapping Presentation.
Raising IT 