A project roadmap displays what your team is working on and how the project strategically aligns with your company goals. It gives an outline of the milestones you will achieve once you are done with the project. However, the structuring of such a model can be confusing. How do you make it clear and scalable, if need be? Can you prove you are on top of what is important to your stakeholders? In this article at the Digital Project Manager, Galen Low shares a guide to help create a precise project roadmap.
Compose a Project Roadmap
A project roadmap should highlight the main achievements you will accomplish from the project and not go into granular details of the day-to-day activities. “It focuses on the “why” more than the “how” or the “what”, and it keeps things at a level that anyone can understand,” explains Low.
Things to Include
- Program and project goals
- Timeline and milestones
- The list of project deliveries and achievements
- Risks and dependencies
Different from Other Project Documents
- While a Gantt chart or project plan provides a detailed view, the roadmap provides the highlights and is not necessarily in prioritized order.
- A project charter is a static representation or gist of the project’s goals, budget, timeframe, and roles. On the other hand, the roadmap is a live, contextual document.
- A product roadmap is about the features, releases, and user risks, but the project roadmap is about consequences.
- Though a strategic plan has almost the same content as a roadmap, the plan is suited for more top-level views.
Value
As a project manager, most of your day would go into people management. Since no one has the time to sit and read the entire project plan every day, the roadmap allows people to quickly get an update of their task alignment. Additionally, your stakeholders need to be reminded of the reason they are involved in the project.
How to Make One
- Discuss the ‘why’ in the introduction of the document to engage the stakeholders.
- Share ‘how’ you would accomplish those goals.
- Jot down the deliverables and milestones the stakeholders can expect from the project.
- Reveal the risks and dependencies associated with the project and how you intend to resolve them.
- Desrcibe how the roadmap adds value to the company goals.
To view the original article in full, visit the following link: https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-roadmap/
