Roadmap

A Roadmap is a high-level timeline that depicts such things as milestones, significant events, reviews, and decision points.

It provides a strategic view of work over time, enabling alignment among stakeholders, guiding delivery efforts, and highlighting key objectives and checkpoints across the lifecycle of a project, program, or portfolio.

Key Characteristics

• High-Level View – Focuses on key outcomes rather than detailed tasks
• Time-Oriented – Organized around dates, phases, or iterations
• Milestone-Driven – Includes reviews, approvals, and decision gates
• Strategically Aligned – Communicates intent and direction to stakeholders

Example Scenarios

• Outlining quarterly delivery objectives for a digital transformation program
• Showing major release cycles and product feature launches
• Mapping strategic initiative phases across multiple departments

Example of a Roadmap

gantt
    title Project Roadmap Example
    dateFormat  YYYY-MM-DD
    section Phase 1: Planning
    Kickoff Meeting         :milestone, kickoff, 2025-04-15, 0d
    Requirements Gathering  :active, reqs, 2025-04-16, 10d
    Initial Review          :milestone, review1, 2025-04-26, 0d

    section Phase 2: Design & Build
    Architecture Design     :design, 2025-04-27, 8d
    Prototype Development   :proto, 2025-05-05, 10d
    Design Approval         :milestone, approval1, 2025-05-15, 0d

    section Phase 3: Implementation
    Feature Build Cycle 1   :build1, 2025-05-16, 15d
    Feature Build Cycle 2   :build2, 2025-06-03, 15d
    Integration Testing     :test, 2025-06-21, 10d
    Go/No-Go Decision       :milestone, go_nogo, 2025-07-01, 0d

    section Phase 4: Launch
    Final QA & Fixes        :qa, 2025-07-02, 7d
    Launch Release          :milestone, launch, 2025-07-10, 0d

Role in Strategic Planning

• Improves Visibility – Aligns teams and leadership on timeline and intent
• Supports Decision-Making – Highlights when input or go/no-go decisions are needed
• Enables Progress Tracking – Serves as a reference for monitoring long-term goals
• Facilitates Communication – Provides a shared visual summary for diverse stakeholders

See also: Milestone, Release Plan, Schedule Baseline, Strategic Alignment, Integrated Master Schedule.