Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Roadmapping section base
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
James Lott committed May 15, 2018
1 parent 6aa6170 commit 18a3997
Showing 1 changed file with 54 additions and 0 deletions.
54 changes: 54 additions & 0 deletions starting-a-project.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
## Roadmapping

#### In a nutshell

Roadmapping is the process of establishing one or more concrete, achievable goals and
laying out each of the tasks which must be completed in order to accomplish each goal.
To have a useful roadmap, it is important that these goals and the tasks which need to
be done to accomplish them are explicitly documented, and easily accessed by all members of the team.

It is important that the tasks which compose a goal in a roadmap be tracked; It should be
known at all times whether or not a task is completed, if it's actively being worked on,
and who is working on it if it is.

Examples of good roadmap goals:

- Implement a MVP
- Implement all API endpoints
- Complete 5 user tests

Roadmap goals to avoid:

- Complete the project
- Find users for user testing

#### Why Bother

Like any other activity which demands time and effort from the team members of a project, it is important
to understand the value prospect of roadmapping. This section describes some of the important and tangible benefits of roadmapping a project.

###### Make work distributable

When a goal is broken down into a step-by-step process which is accessible to the entire team,
then each team member can take on a step, allowing multiple steps to be worked on by different
people at the same time.

###### Make onboarding simpler

When the current project goal and the tasks is consists of are documented, it becomes simpler to
take on new contributors. New contributors can simply be pointed to the location in which all of
this information is documented, and select a task to begin working on. This simplicity lowers
the barrier of entry for people to get involved with a new project.

###### Make project progress trackable/measurable

Documenting the tasks which need to be accomplished to fulfill the current project goal is the
first step toward having a process for documenting the in-progress and completion status of each
such task as well. This allows for a concrete measurement of progress toward a goal; how many tasks
are done vs how many are not can help quantify how close the team is to accomplishing the overall goal.

###### Make collaboration easier

When individual tasks are being tracked as part of a roadmap, this makes it easier for teammates to
collaborate. Teammates can avoid duplicating effort by knowing who is working on what, and have a shared
understanding of what needs to be worked on next.

0 comments on commit 18a3997

Please sign in to comment.