After reading this article you will know how to:
Plan your strategic roadmap
The Plan page is part of the Roadmap module and is used for... well planning... planning your roadmap. Its one of only 2 pages on the platform where you can see all goals, past, present and future. Incidentally, the other page you can see all objectives is Explore.
In the top horizontal bar is the filter set for the page, view visual roadmap button, prioritise button and the add goal button. Use the filters to quickly identify what your team is working on, what other teams are working on and who and which teams are responsible for which goals.
Next up are the swim-lanes. In Plan you can view your organisation's goals together, grouped by status, to help you plan and develop your roadmap. To view a visual representation of your roadmap, click the visual roadmap button.
To move a goal across swim-lanes, you can either click the edit goal button, update the status and save or you can drag and drop the goal across swimlanes to the relevant status.
When using the drag and drop, drag the card over another in the lane and wait for the card at the bottom to grey out slightly. This indicates the card being dragged can be dropped. If dropping a card in the Committed swim lane, the goal start date will update to the next quarter. If you drop a card in the in-progress lane, the goal due date will update to the current quarter's last day. If a goal is dragged back into backlog, the period it was scheduled for will be removed from the goal.
Goals that are committed will be updated to in progress on their start date, so when planning, schedule your prioritsed goals and update the status to committed. If you're working with multi-quarter goals, its best to update the goal status manually to maintain the custom dates you have applied to the goal.
How the goal status works
You'll notice the buttons available to interact with your goals are different in each of the swim-lanes, and so is the data displayed. This is because each swim-lane holds goals with a specific status. There are 4 goal status:
Backlog
Backlogged goals are the ideas for the future. Unfortunately, some may not make it to the main stage, but that's life. While a goal is in Backlog it has no start date or due date and you can't add outcomes to it (on this page), and really, its unnecessary to spend time planning and considering outcomes given the goal may never be committed. You can edit the goal, post to the goal's channel, vote for the goal, or delete it. The goals are sorted by create date, oldest at the top.
Goals created using the Quick Actions are automatically set to Backlog. In the Roadmap, Goals and Explore modules, you can choose the status of a goal when you are creating it.
Committed
To update an goal from backlog to committed a quarter, or period of time, needs to be assigned to the goal. This gives the goal a start date and due date. Committed means the goal has been prioritised and scheduled for an upcoming performance period. Once committed you can still edit the goal, you can (and should) add outcomes, post to the goal channel or delete the goal. The goals are sorted by start date, next start date at the top.
In Progress
A goal with committed status will be updated to in progress automatically on the goal's start date. The goal is now in play! You can view all goals that are in progress in the Goals module and we recommend working on them there, or on the Goal detail page (click on any goal title to access the goal detail page). When in progress you can edit the goal, add outcomes, post to the goal channel or delete the goal. The goals are sorted by due date, next due date at the top.
Complete
A goal with in progress status will be updated to complete automatically on the goal's due date. Once complete you can't edit the goal. You can post to the goal channel, or view the goal details on the goal detail page. We take the stance that the period the goal was scheduled for has closed. The goal may not have been achieved, and the reasons why should be discussed in your retrospective meetings. If needed, create another goal for the next period to finish off what needs to be.
What is the roadmap?
By clicking the View Roadmap button the roadmap will be displayed.
The roadmap provides a great visual of your goals mapped over time. You can quickly get a grip of which goals are committed and in progress and how some goals roll up to strategic, multi-quarter goals. The roadmap displays goals that have the status of committed, in progress or complete in horizontal bars (they need a start date and due date). The bars are mapped against the months the goal is scheduled for, from start date to due date.
You can scroll through the roadmap to look at future and past periods, and if you click on the bar, you will be taken to the goal detail page for the underlying goal.
I love it when a good plan comes together, don't you..?
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.