WordCamp Europe has just concluded, and one term that emerged during the contribution day discussions across a wide range of areas was ‘roadmaps’. As someone who appreciates the power of a roadmap and aligning with it, working towards agreed-upon goals, this couldn’t make me happier. It makes me think curiously whether everyone is using the term in the same way, and I wanted to examine how we could define these terms openly and come to a shared understanding of what they mean.
Basic definitions
The reality is that even in companies, the definition and use of the term ‘roadmap’ can vary significantly. This may be due to frameworks and processes, or it may simply be a matter of personal preference. In order, though, to have them work on an open project, some common understanding has to be reached. We start at the beginning, and it is clear what the vision is and what a roadmap is.
Vision: a high-level, inspirational description of what you hope to achieve in the long term. This is often seen as the “why” and “what” and the ultimate destination everyone works towards.
A roadmap is a practical, time-based plan that involves action and outlines how to achieve a vision through specific steps. It includes milestones, notes, priorities and ties to deliverables.
Why not both?
To answer this, we need both in most projects. WordPress is no exception, and it is similar to other open source platforms; both are essential. To have both, though, you need clear definitions and differences between them.
The vision needs to be clear about where you want to go, broad, inspiring, and strategic. It’s a partner that helps with the roadmap and the plan for getting there. This is detailed, tactical and tied to times.
“A vision gives people a reason to care; a roadmap gives them a way to help.”
— Nadia Eghbal
Combining both is essential. The roadmap gets you towards the vision, but it doesn’t define it. In my opinion, as the wider project has a vision, each team and component also likely has a vision, but these should always align with and add up to support the broad vision. This is why defining roadmaps and visions in isolation is often problematic in larger projects.
Essential duplicity
To look more at why both matter in an open-source project, you can split each into relatively easy formats:
A vision:
- Unites contributors around a shared purpose.
- Inspires commitment over time. A vision doesn’t specifically though allocate that inspiration or fund; that’s the roadmap.
- Clarifies what the project is not. Often more essential than we think.
A roadmap:
- Shows the process. It allows each stage to be broken down into the steps required to achieve it.
- Organizes contributions. Which in turn attracts and allocates people and funding.
- Builds trust and focus. By seeing what is being done at a given point, it can be clear to everyone, whether they are contributor, sponsors, makers, users, supporters, or implementors.
Whilst they aren’t the same, they certainly are companions to each other. A roadmap without a vision is a guess. It’s placing things on a calendar and hoping for delivery. A roadmap that lacks a clear vision is unable to gain focus and often spirals due to a lack of delivery. A vision that serves as a roadmap is uninspiring and fails to clarify or unite.
Defining in open
This is the more complex piece. It’s all well and good to know the difference and want to do this. You then need to take these seeds, grow them into roadmaps and visions, and collectively agree, because that is how open things get buy-in.
A simple process is a first pass from those leading the work, facilitated, distilled, and then shared, reviewed, and iterated. This is typical amongst open source projects. In WordPress, we have had several variations over time, and now we need to determine what works today. Both need to be shared; a roadmap is a document to check and measure against, a living thing.
Beyond defining
As we move forward into the second half of this year, the topic of roadmaps arises. Let’s make sure they are roadmaps. We could collaborate on a project to define what they are for us and share the results somewhere. Having an agreed-upon definition and working from it helps everyone, regardless of their approach to this topic.
“Open source thrives on clarity. A vision tells us why to show up, and a roadmap shows us how to move forward together.”
— Danese Cooper
The reality is we need both vision and roadmaps, and all too often, we easily have a vision. Most likely, WordPress has not only a project vision, but we also need to gather some team visions to unite those working together. If you were to think of this as an adventure, think of them not as side quests but as storyline quest points that lead to the end point.
Roadmaps get us to delivery, and what we need more of is that right now in WordPress across all areas. They also allow us to start thinking about measuring, but they shouldn’t be where we end the measuring. That is another conversation but an essential one. We are at step one on the path to collectively growing our processes.