Roadmap Principles (dummy)

A roadmap is not a contract. It is a current best guess at the shortest path between what users need and what we can ship.

The four filters

Before a project lands on the roadmap, it should pass four questions:

1. Who is this for, and how many of them are there?
2. What changes in their life if we ship it?
3. What is the smallest version we would still feel good about?
4. What will we learn, even if it fails?

If we cannot answer the first two in one sentence each, the idea is not ready.

Horizons

• Now — in flight, already staffed.
• Next — committed for the coming quarter.
• Later — shaped enough to discuss, not yet committed.

Anything past “Later” is a note, not a plan.

The goal of a roadmap is not to eliminate surprise. It is to make sure the surprises are worth having.