The Art of Agile Development, 2nd Edition

Roadmaps

AUDIENCE

Product Managers

Our stakeholders know what to expect from us.

Ultimately, accountability is about providing good value for your organization’s investment. In a perfect world, your business stakeholders will trust your team to do so without close supervision. This is achievable, but it usually takes a year or two of delivering reliably first.

In the meantime, your organization is going to want to oversee your team’s work. Stakeholder demos help, but managers often want to know more about what you’re doing and what to expect. You’ll share this information in your roadmap.

Agile roadmaps don’t have to look like traditional software roadmaps. I’m using the term fairly loosely, to encompass a variety of ways that teams share information about their progress and plans. Some roadmaps are detailed and to the point, for sharing with managers; others are high-level and glossy, for sharing with customers.

Agile Governance

The type of roadmap you provide depends on your organization’s approach to governance. How does your organization ensure teams are working effectively and moving in the right direction?

The classic approach is project-based governance. It involves creating a plan, an estimate of costs, and an estimate of value. The project is funded if the total value sufficiently exceeds the total costs. Once funded, the project is carefully tracked to ensure that it proceeds according to plan.

This is a predictive approach to governance, not an Agile one. It assumes ...