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Roadmapping and Prioritisation

Roadmapping and Prioritisation

FoundationsTopic6 lessons~2h 55m

Lessons, in order

01 Prioritisation That Survives ContactPrioritisation frameworks do not rank your work. They make the assumptions behind a ranking visible, so that an argument about priorities becomes an argument about inputs, which is a much … Foundations 30 min 02 Scoring Without Fooling YourselfPutting numbers on guesses does not remove the guessing, it hides it. Every input to a priority score is uncertain by a factor of two or more, and multiplying several such numbers produces a … Foundations 30 min 03 The Roadmap ProblemA roadmap has to do two incompatible things. It has to be stable enough that other people can plan against it, and flexible enough to absorb what you learn, which is the entire point of … Foundations 30 min 04 Now, Next, Later or DatesThe format argument is really an argument about who absorbs uncertainty. Dates move it onto the product team, who will be wrong in public. Now, next and later move it onto everybody else, … Foundations 25 min 05 Capacity AllocationA quarter does not contain a quarter's worth of new work. Support escalations, incidents, security findings, bugs, migrations and the work somebody promised a customer all arrive whether or … Foundations 30 min 06 Dependencies and the Critical PathMost plans are presented as a list and executed as a graph. The list says what you are doing; the graph says what has to finish before what else can start, and only the graph tells you when … Foundations 30 min

About this topic

Ordering work when there is more of it than capacity, committing enough to be trusted without lying about dates, and refusing things in public without damaging the relationship. The part of the job that is most visible and most often mistaken for the whole of it.

#LessonThe question it answers
01Prioritisation That Survives Contact ✅Which frameworks are tools and which are theatre?
02Scoring Without Fooling Yourself ✅What goes wrong when you put numbers on guesses?
03The Roadmap Problem ✅How do you commit enough to be trusted without lying about dates?
04Now, Next, Later or Dates ✅Which format fits which audience, and what does each cost you?
05Capacity Allocation ✅How do you split a quarter between new work, maintenance, debt and the unplanned?
06Dependencies and the Critical Path ✅What do you do about work you do not control?
07Saying No in PublicHow do you refuse an important person and keep the relationship?
08The Escalation You Cannot WinWhat happens when leadership inserts work, and what are your options?
09Replanning Without WhiplashSomething changed. How do you redirect without the team losing faith in plans?
10Quarterly Planning That Is Not TheatreWhat makes the ritual produce decisions rather than documents?
11Communicating the RoadmapHow do you tell six audiences one story?
12Worked: A Contested QuarterOne real planning round, with the refusals and what they cost
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