The document discusses flow-based roadmaps and options thinking for effective planning in various sectors, including manufacturing, scientific research, and product development. It emphasizes evaluating risks and benefits through metrics, defining structured processes for options management, and understanding the value of information in decision-making. The importance of readiness and support for teams, along with cadence for reviewing options, is also highlighted.

1. Using Flow-based
Roadmaps & Options
Cat Swetel & Matt Barcomb
@catswetel @mattbarcomb

2. How we’ll spend our time
Flow-based roadmapping
Options thinking
Example metrics

3. How it usually starts

4. How it usually ends

5. Planning for
mass construction
How much will it cost?
When will it be done?

6. Planning for
research & development
Should we start?
Should we keep going?

7. Routine
manufacturing
Complex
manufacturing
Physical
product dev.
Spectrum of
knowable stuff
Scientific
research
Mass
construction
Software
product dev.
Enterprise
ERP impl.
How knowable is the domain
Known responses to unknowns
Relationship between
cause & effect

8. Shift the focus
Primarily focus on
understanding benefit.
Evaluate risk and
opportunity costs.
Learn just enough about
costs to choose to start.

9. Team
A
Team
B
A starting structure

10. Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Support
Readiness & Support

11. Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Infras
On
Horizon
Coming
Soon
Up
Next
Current
Goal
In
Use
Time-based flow

12. Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Infras
On
Horizon
Coming
Soon
Up
Next
Current
Goal
In
Use
HBD
Here be dragons!

13. Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Infras
On
Horizon
Coming
Soon
Up
Next
Current
Goal
In
Use
HBD
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
Define explicit policies

14. Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Infras
On
Horizon
Coming
Soon
Up
Next
Current
Goal
In
Use
HBD
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
things we do
now and again
for reasons
12 22
Limit work in progress

15. Cadence and
Roadmap structure
Your business
Your industry
Your market

16. But what goes IN
a flow-based roadmap?
Projects
Features
OPTIONS!
MVPs
Epics

17. Framing
an option
Option
Name:
Testable
Customer
&
Problem
Hypothesis:
Measurable
Organizational
Benefit:
Results
&
Measures: Starting/Stopping
Triggers:
Assumptions
&
Dependencies:

18. Your roadmap
as options
Like a sales
funnel
Farther down
in the funnel,
greater
investment

19. Your roadmap
as options
IDEATION
PROTOTYPE
PILOT
PRODUCTION
-­‐Not
yet
validated
-­‐Future
-­‐Validated
-­‐Now

20. Information
Value of
Options

21. Tomorrow’s
Core Business
Today’s Core
Business
Keep the
lights on
Focus
Low risk
Big investment
Lots of small,
high risk/high
reward bets
Pay less to
obtain
information
early

22. 70 / 20 / 10
Time:
70% core business
20% related
projects
10% unrelated to
core business

23. Options
MVPs/Projects are options
triggers: starting/stopping heuristics (context, events,
rules of thumb)
information value of options
Options:
start/stop
heuristics

24. Starting or Stopping Triggers
- duration - seasonality
- stakeholder feedback - govt. policy
- major biz activity - competition shift
- media/PR event - market shift
- technology shift - employee shift
- major social incident - better options

25. Cadence for
Reviewing
Options

26. Roadmap metrics:
cost of delay
How much would you pay for
more time?
How long will the option
have value, and at what
rate does the value decay?

27. Roadmap metrics

28. Roadmap metrics
Cycle Time and/or
Lead Time
Lead
Time
Cycle
Time
Team
A
Team
B
Readiness
Infras
On
Horizon
Coming
Soon
Up
Next
Current
Goal
In
Use
HBD
DISCLAIMER:
This
is
just
an
example.

29. Roadmap metrics:
churn
VALIDATED
INVALIDATED
NOT
YET
VALIDATED

30. Roadmap metrics:
risk and experimentation

31. Transitioning to flow-based roadmaps
Starting a flow-based roadmap
Framing options
Information value of options
Metrics and measures for roadmaps
What we covered

32. Questions?
Cat Swetel Matt Barcomb
@catswetel @mattbarcomb