Increasing engagement through visual roadmaps v2

1. Increasing engagement through visual roadmaps Clem Pickering @clem_pickering
2. Road trip @clem_pickering
3. @clem_pickering
4. @clem_pickering
5. Snow @clem_pickering
6. Roman Pichler
7. Background @clem_pickering
8. Gannt charts @clem_pickering
9. Epic boards @clem_pickering
10. Time @clem_pickering
11. Roman’s roadmap template @clem_pickering
12. Nothing @clem_pickering
13. Inspiration @clem_pickering
14. Draw toast @clem_pickering
15. Nodes & Links @clem_pickering
16. Vision-based @clem_pickering
17. Improvement Kata @clem_pickering
18. Sketch-noting @clem_pickering
19. History Maps @clem_pickering
20. Bit more theory @clem_pickering
21. Freeform and adaptable @clem_pickering
22. Visual and engaging @clem_pickering
23. Attention grabbing @clem_pickering
24. Experiments @clem_pickering
25. Experiment One @clem_pickering
26. @clem_pickering
27. @clem_pickering
28. What went well ● Something different, made an impact ● Engaging, got people looking and asking ● Genuinely useful for the team ● Really useful for the PO ● Told a story ● Showed where we were ● Showed the dead-ends ● Fun!
29. What I learnt ● Time consuming to produce ● Steep learning curve on the graphics ● Static - took some updating ● Lost some meaning over time
30. Experiment Two @clem_pickering
31. @clem_pickering
32. What went well ● Something different, made an impact ● Engaging, got people looking and asking ● Easy to pick up technique - team lead could easily sell it to the team @clem_pickering
33. What I learnt ● Harder to get people to engage ● Some scepticism of the format ● Keeping it up to date... ● Dropping the some of the graphics meant it wasn’t as visually interesting @clem_pickering
34. Experimenting with the Audience @clem_pickering
35. “We’re going to build a wall”
36. Step One: Choose a Goldilocks Vision
37. Step Two: Work out your steps
38. Step Three: Create paths towards the goal
39. Step Four: Bring it to life
40. 2 mins: In small groups, choose a topic to roadmap 5 mins: Describe and add the vision Where do you want to get to? Not too big, not too small 10 mins: Use the post-its to plot the steps to get there Split into themes if there’s more than one path Small enough to show progress, large enough to be meaningful 10 mins: Bring it to life Colour Drawings Emphasis @clem_pickering
41. The Gallery
42. Overall Learnings to date Visual = engaging Best when team-owned Adaptable when lo-fi Graphics are fun Not always suitable Apathy for roadmaps Keeping it up to date Graphics are hard
43. TL;DR Create a big visual roadmap and put it on the wall Make it interesting and engaging and use it to show where you’ve come from and guide where you’re heading

Editor's Notes

Introduce myself

I work for a software delivery consultancy called Infinity Works, offices in Leeds, London and Manchester

Hybrid session for you today, starts with a talk to explain a technique I’ve been using over the last couple of years, and then a hands-on workshop to get everyone to try it
A story:
Driving to Cairnryan
Destination Belfast
Anyone know to get there?
High level route plan = A65, M6, A75
No longer need a roadmap for this, at least not in a physical sense, or electronic sense
An analogy for a software project - this is not a fixed map, it simply guides
Overtime, long term trend changes
Road layouts
Tebay Services
Dog ownership
Age of kids
Less planned for, there are reactionary changes
Snow
Devil’s Porridge Museum
Birthday lunch
Roadworks etc
So where did the analogy come from?
Started with the Roman Pichler CSPO course
Talked about roadmaps using the road trip analogy. Talked about guiding but adapting and making decisions
So what led me to think about creating a visual roadmap? Before we come onto that I thought I’d cover some background as to the types of roadmaps I’ve encountered
In the context of complex software projects, MS Project is the work of the devil
False precision
Insane dependencies
Rigid, inflexible
Suggests certainty in a way that stakeholders jump on immediately
Practical, useful, tactile
Flexible
But not that engaging
All of these are very time based, the first one very much so, the second one still often clearly tied to a month precision
Attempts to remove the focus on time - to a degree
Useful questions
Goal-driven
Metrics
No roadmap, nothing
A real possibility of drifting
No purpose, no goal
A treadmill of development
Visual thinking
Mental models
Diversity of approach, and the opportunity to build a shared understanding
Nodes represent parts of the whole, mental objects or containers that describe who, what where and when.
Links represent connections between nodes and can illustrate relationships, flows of information or material.
Together, nodes and links create systems models.
The importance of having a vision, knowing where you’re going, trying to get to
Missing from most roadmaps
Lead people to take steps from where they are towards a goal or vision.
Logically break this down into manageable steps
Grab people’s attention
Convey lots of information
Succinct summary
Tell a story of where you’ve come from
Key decisions, achievements, milestones
The hope was to achieve a roadmap that was:
Linked to the draw toast stuff
Allows people to plot out what needs to be done, unhindered by too much structure
Human beings are visual creatures.

The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text
90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual

Roadmaps should not contain too much information to the detriment of the key message
Signal vs noise
Make people stop, pay attention
No one stops to look at a gantt chart
Project to implement continuous delivery capability and better monitoring
I was acting as development manager for the client, and PO for this project
Started by post-iting key steps in different themes
Three themes of work
Hand-drawn icons for (most) key steps
Visual symbols added for targets, milestones
Indicators for progress
Dead-ends plotted
Time loosely running left to right
Markers to show where we were and where we’re hoping to get to
Engaging - Head of Delivery talking CEO through it
Other parts of the business having a look
Different - shock factor
Genuinely useful for the team
Told a story
Useful for the PO (me!)
Showed where we were
Plotted dead-ends
Fun, broke down divides
Time consuming - steep learning curve on the graphics
Static - needed some updating. See time consuming
Lost some meaning over time
Platform team roadmap
Similar technique, added vision step, started with nirvana, then used post-its to plot the steps
Whole team involved
Different
Engaging
Easy to pick up technique - team leader could sell it easily to the team
Team seemed to grasp and like the concept
Harder to get people to engage
Some scepticism of the format, much quicker loss of interest
Dropping the graphics meant it wasn’t as visually interesting, though easier to update
Keeping it up to date...
But first a final analogy, to explain how to do it step by step…
Not that kind of wall

Hadrian’s wall, AD 122
Goldilocks vision:
Not too big (and vague and woolly) “Intact the Roman Empire”
Not too small (and uninspiring) “Construction section one out of stones between milecastles one and two”
Just right (sets clear direction, but tangible and within stretching distance) “Build a wall across the country to protect the Romans from the Barbarians”
Small enough to show progress, large enough to be meaningful

Too big – ”Build wall”
Too small – “Lay brick 3,667”, “Shovel dirt”
About right – “Dig ditch along length”, “Mark sites of forts each mile”, “Construct Fort 1”, ”Build section 1” etc

Would it make sense to a senior stakeholder looking at it?
Group into themes if needed, create the path

Walls
Forts
Stone cutting
Route finding
Think about how you can add graphics, images, colour, logos, icons to make it stand out
Practical exercise
Vote at the end
Team-owned
Visual = engaging
Graphics are fun

Not corporate enough - scruffy, unusual
Apathy
Keeping it up to date
Graphics are hard
Create a big visual roadmap and put it on the wall. Make it interesting and engaging and use it to show where you’ve come from and guide where you’re heading

Increasing engagement through visual roadmaps v2

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Increasing engagement through visual roadmaps v2

Editor's Notes