The road to hell is paved with good intentions; the roadmap is written in features.
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions points to the common disconnect between someone’s intent, and the result of their actions. Good intentions, and good actions, do not guarantee good outcomes.
Roadmapping features has the same disconnect between intent and results. Good intentions, and good features, do not guarantee good outcomes.
Each feature makes sense, and is good by itself.
The problem is that the goal isn’t a feature, a whole series of features, or even projects. The goal is the outcome. Roadmaps full of features don’t track the progress towards an outcome, they track progress on features.
Roadmaps based on features present a linear path. Each feature unlocks the next. This, then that, and then that, until the project is complete.
Customer feedback isn’t baked into the process. Will all of the good features lead to good results? Probably not!
The opposite of roadmapping features, is roadmapping outcomes. This requires getting clear on where things are, where they need to end up, and the mechanisms that drive change.
The only feature that comes out of an outcome based roadmap is the first one. The first attempt to change the system. After that? Depends on the outcome of the feature!
Outcome based roadmaps are built on mechanisms that can drive change, and feedback loops. The features are unknown because the impact of each feature is unknown.
A roadmap built of features is like a road to hell, paved with good intentions.
