When two teams are working on a common project, we all embark on an adventure. Often, it is an adventure of endless back-and-forth conversations, lot of confusion, to eventually reach the light at the end of the tunnel. But is this the only way?
Fortunately, there is a better way. Imagine a world where…we could simplify our work by improving communication between both teams from the start? Or we could better coordinate resources and improve collaboration down the road… just by drawing a simple project roadmap?
What is a project roadmap?
In project management, a project roadmap is a simple visual representation of the project’s ambitions and goals. In such, it gives an overview of the project’s plan by clearly organizing goals and deliverables on a timeline. It may also list and date the steps involved to reach completion. In short, it’s like a treasure map for project managers!
In order to make a great roadmap, it must include:
- Goals and objectives
- A timeline of the schedule
- Milestones and deliverables
- Possible risks and dependencies
Therefore, your project roadmap is NOT the place for lengthy description like in the project plan. It is thus more of a visual summary of your project plan.
What is the roadmap for?
A project roadmap helps you and your client find direction to a common task.
It all starts with the creation of the master document that will define your project: the project plan. That plan is created by answering questions on the phone, online, or just by filling in a questionnaire.
Once you obtained answers to that questionnaire, you can start writing a detailed project plan. Next, a timeline will be created to make it comprehensible at-a-glance. The resulting roadmap will ensure you and your client have the same vision for the project and the same goal in mind, therefore significantly improving your chances of success later.
How do you create a roadmap?
In order to create your map, you must first mine for data. Ask simple questions about the client, his services, audience, and upcoming products. Answers to a questionnaire like this one can provide a goldmine of information, in very little time, avoiding back-and-forth emails. For example, a questionnaire such like this one tells us about:
The company:
First we will learn more about the company’s vision, recent events, and current situation. Other documents such the business plan, a business model canvas, a manifest, or user surveys can also be very informative.
Priorities:
Secondly, you will find out what is most important to your client: what are his priorities? And how does he define those priorities? Is it through business analysis, user surveys, competition, or a simple hunch?
Solutions:
Once you know what is important, you can propose a strategy and solution. If there isn’t any solution in sight, then you can still propose to do some research to make a more informed decision.
Timing:
In most cases the questionnaire will also define the important milestones, releases or deliverables, and ultimately the deadline of your solution.
Resources:
Furthermore, you will learn how much time and budget you have at your disposal. You may also learn about other parameters such as staff and facilities.
KPI:
As a business, you need to constantly evaluate your success at reaching your company’s targets. Are you achieving your key business objectives? Perhaps the responses to your questionnaire can also answer that question. In addition, it can help define your future Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).
Failure mitigation:
Sometimes solutions can be tricky to find. But answers to that questionnaire might just be what we need to find measures that will prevent failure. Other times, projects must abort. Wether it is due to a lack of resources or a new goal in sight, it may still be time to salvage components or features of this assignment to be reused with future projects.
Summary:
All the information above is very valuable in project management. It will directly feed how a project is handled, and how a solution is found.
Therefore, just answering a few questions can make the difference between completing a project, and nailing it. A good brief or a good pitch make a roadmap mostly -if not totally- completed.
This is why at Graphility, we invite clients to complete our client worksheet. Taking the time to answer the questions in our worksheet as throughly as you can will allow us to customize the best solution to your particular request. We will be ready to start working more productively, creating a great project plan, and a useful project roadmap for your assignment.
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References and further reading:
What is a project roadmap? extracted from https://business-docs.co.uk/document-templates/roadmap-document-templates/what-is-a-project-roadmap/
10 essential elements for the perfect project plan, extracted from https://www.wrike.com/blog/essential-elements-perfect-project-plan-infographic/
Projects Management Basics: 6 steps to a foolproof project plan, extracted from https://www.wrike.com/blog/foolproof-project-plan/
KPI examples, extracted from https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples
What is a KPI?, extracted from https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/articles/what-is-a-key-performance-indicator
Project management requires a roadmap, extracted from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-management-requires-a-road-map.html