The Purpose of a Roadmap: Creating Consensual Reality

The purpose of a roadmap is to create consensual reality, helping people understand the options, timing, and high-level dependencies for product implementation. Roadmaps involve both internal and external stakeholders, such as partners, contractors, and customers. Customers, especially in B2B contexts, often want to see roadmaps as it creates a joint journey and ensures alignment. Roadmaps can be categorized into three swim lanes: committed items with a high degree of certainty, items in design and investigation, and aspirational items with higher uncertainty. Prioritization plays a crucial role in roadmaps as it reflects what matters most and requires negotiation to balance trade-offs.