Roadmap Patterns

Patterns and templates for creating production roadmaps from research.

When to Use

• •Planning horizons for research-to-production transitions
• •Structuring milestones with measurable deliverables
• •Backcasting from production deadlines
• •Creating stakeholder-appropriate roadmap views
• •Designing milestone dependencies and critical paths

H1/H2/H3 Horizon Planning

Three-horizon framework for balancing certainty with ambition:

H1: Ship Now (0-3 months)

Characteristics:

• •High confidence in scope and timeline
• •Clear success criteria
• •Resources allocated
• •Dependencies understood
• •Ready to execute

What belongs in H1:

• •Validated features from research
• •Critical path items
• •Quick wins for momentum
• •Blockers for later work

H2: Build Next (3-6 months)

Characteristics:

• •Medium confidence
• •Scope defined, tasks rough
• •Dependent on H1 completion
• •May shift based on H1 learnings

What belongs in H2:

• •Extensions of H1 features
• •Optimization work
• •Technical debt paydown
• •Features needing more validation

H3: Plan Later (6-12 months)

Characteristics:

• •Low confidence, high flexibility
• •Themes and directions, not specific features
• •Revisit quarterly
• •Placeholder for strategic bets

What belongs in H3:

• •Exploratory features
• •Major architectural changes
• •Long-term investments
• •"Would be nice" items

Backcast Planning

Work backward from target state to identify the path.

Process

1. •Define target state: What does "production" look like?
2. •Identify final milestone: What's the last thing before launch?
3. •Work backward: What must be done before that?
4. •Map dependencies: Build the chain
5. •Assign to horizons: Place in H1/H2/H3

Template

## Backcast: [Project Name]

### Target State (Production)
[Describe what "done" looks like]

### Final Milestone (Launch Gate)
- What: [Deliverable]
- Requires: [Prerequisites]

### Milestone N-1
- What: [Deliverable]
- Requires: [Prerequisites]
- Enables: [Final Milestone]

### Milestone N-2
[Continue backward...]

### Starting Point
- Current state: [Where we are]
- First step: [Initial milestone]

Stakeholder Views

Different audiences need different views of the same roadmap.

Executive View

Focus: Business value, timeline, top risks Format: One paragraph + key milestones Language: Outcomes, not implementation

## Executive Summary

[Project Name] will deliver [business outcome] by [date]. Key milestones:

| Milestone | Date | Business Value |
|-----------|------|----------------|
| [M1] | [Date] | [Outcome] |
| [M2] | [Date] | [Outcome] |

**Top Risks:** [2-3 key risks with mitigations]

Engineering View

Focus: Technical approach, complexity, risks Format: Table with technical details Language: Technical specifics

## Engineering View

| Milestone | Tech Stack | Complexity | Key Risks | Dependencies |
|-----------|------------|------------|-----------|--------------|
| [M1] | [Stack] | Medium | [Risk] | [Deps] |
| [M2] | [Stack] | High | [Risk] | [Deps] |

**Architecture Notes:** [Key technical decisions]
**Technical Debt:** [Items to address]

Product Manager View

Focus: User value, success metrics, launch type Format: Table with user impact Language: User-centric outcomes

## Product View

| Milestone | User Value | Success Metric | Launch Type |
|-----------|------------|----------------|-------------|
| [M1] | [Value] | [Metric] | Internal |
| [M2] | [Value] | [Metric] | Beta |

**User Journey:** [How this changes user experience]
**Metrics to Track:** [KPIs for success]

Milestone Design Patterns

SMART Milestones

Every milestone must be:

• •Specific: "Deploy caching layer" not "Improve performance"
• •Measurable: "Reduce p99 latency to <200ms" not "Make it faster"
• •Achievable: Realistic given resources and constraints
• •Relevant: Directly supports production readiness
• •Time-bound: "Complete by 2024-03-15" not "Q1 sometime"

Milestone Template

### Milestone: [Name]

**Horizon:** H1 | H2 | H3
**Target Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Duration:** X weeks
**Owner:** [TBD/Name]

**Description:**
[What this milestone delivers in 1-2 sentences]

**Deliverables:**
- [ ] [Specific deliverable 1]
- [ ] [Specific deliverable 2]

**Success Criteria:**
- [ ] [Measurable criterion 1]
- [ ] [Measurable criterion 2]

**Dependencies:**
- Requires: [What must be done first]
- Enables: [What this unlocks]

**Risks:**
| Risk | Probability | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|-------------|--------|------------|
| [Risk] | Med | High | [Action] |

**Resources:**
- [Resource 1]
- [Resource 2]

Timeline Visualization

Mermaid Gantt Template

gantt
    title [Project Name] Roadmap
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD

    section H1 - Ship Now
    Milestone 1     :m1, 2024-01-15, 4w
    Milestone 2     :m2, after m1, 3w

    section H2 - Build Next
    Milestone 3     :m3, after m2, 6w
    Milestone 4     :m4, after m3, 4w

    section H3 - Plan Later
    Milestone 5     :m5, after m4, 8w

Dependency Graph Template

graph LR
    M1[Milestone 1] --> M2[Milestone 2]
    M1 --> M3[Milestone 3]
    M2 --> M4[Milestone 4]
    M3 --> M4
    M4 --> M5[Milestone 5]

    style M1 fill:#90EE90
    style M4 fill:#FFB6C1

Common Anti-Patterns

Avoid these roadmap mistakes:

Release Phases (GitHub-Style)

Map milestones to progressive release phases:

Internal Build → Private Preview → Public Preview → GA
    (Alpha)        (Limited Beta)   (Open Beta)    (Launch)

See references/release-phases.md for detailed phase criteria and feature flag lifecycle.

References

See references/ for:

• •timeline-estimation.md - How to estimate milestone duration
• •dependency-patterns.md - Common dependency patterns
• •release-phases.md - Internal → Private → Public → GA phases
• •validation-ramp.md - Progressive validation gates and kill criteria

See examples/ for:

• •h1-h2-h3-roadmap-example.md - Complete roadmap with release phases and graduation criteria
• •feature-flag-lifecycle-example.md - Full flag lifecycle from creation to cleanup