Map, Compass and Roadmap

Whenever strategy comes up as a topic, I often sense a certain skepticism. Not necessarily because people are against strategy, but because many teams already feel they know what needs to be done. They have customer needs they want to solve, products they want to improve, technical debt that needs handling, and initiatives already queued up. The question that often follows is: why spend time on strategy, target pictures, capability maps, and gap analyses when we already know what we're going to build?

It's a fair question. I think the answer becomes easier to grasp if we compare it to something most people have experienced before: a hike in the mountains.

You Need to Know Where You Stand

If you're heading for a mountain peak, there's one thing you need to know before you start walking: where are you right now? Knowing your destination isn't much help if you don't know your starting point.

Organizations work the same way. Before we can plan the road ahead, we need to understand the current situation. What's working well? What isn't? What capabilities do we have, and where are the gaps? What challenges are we facing? This is, in practice, what a gap analysis is for. It helps us understand the distance between where we are today and where we want to be.

You Need to Know Where You're Going

Once we know where we stand, we need a destination. On the hike, that destination is the summit. In an organization, we usually call it a target picture.

A target picture doesn't describe every activity we'll carry out along the way. It describes where we want to end up, for instance how we want the organization, the products, the technology, or the customer experience to look in the future. A good target picture provides direction. It doesn't mean we know the entire journey in advance, but it gives us something to navigate toward.

You Need a Map and a Compass

If you've spent time hiking, you know it isn't enough to know where the summit is. You also need something that helps you hold the right course. That's where the map and compass come in.

In strategy work, I think of this as a strategic compass. The compass doesn't tell you what to do next week. It tells you which direction is right. It helps answer questions like: why do we exist, who do we create value for, what matters most right now, how do we prioritize, and how do we know we're moving in the right direction? When we're facing difficult choices, it's the compass that helps us pick a direction.

No One Walks the Whole Trail on a Single Bearing

A common misconception is that strategy means creating a detailed plan for several years into the future. I think that's part of why so many people become skeptical. Reality doesn't work that way.

When you're out hiking, you don't set a bearing at the trailhead and follow it blindly for six hours straight. You walk for a while, then you stop, check the map, check the compass, and assess the terrain. If needed, you adjust course, and then you keep going. Transformation and product development work the same way.

The Roadmap Is the Next Leg of the Journey

This is where the roadmap comes in. The roadmap isn't the destination. It isn't the strategy either. The roadmap is the plan for the next stretch of the journey. It describes what we currently believe are the most important steps, based on our understanding today.

As we make progress, we learn more, and we update the plan accordingly. Some initiatives become more important, others become less relevant, and new opportunities emerge. The roadmap can and should change. The target picture and the compass, by contrast, tend to change far less often.

The Problem With a Roadmap Without a Strategy

Many organizations rely on the roadmap as their primary steering tool. That works, to a point. The trouble starts when the roadmap lacks a clear direction. When that happens, the roadmap risks becoming little more than the sum of every incoming request: a bit here, a bit there, something for customer A, something for customer B, some technical debt, something a leader wants, something that seems exciting right now.

Activity can be high. Pace can be high. But direction becomes unclear. Strategy helps ensure that initiatives point toward the same goal. The gap analysis helps us understand where we stand. The roadmap helps us take the next step. All three are needed.

Delivering and Navigating Aren't Opposites

We still need people who build things. We still need teams that deliver value. We still need action. But before we start moving, it helps to know where we stand, where we're going, and which direction will get us there. Otherwise, we risk moving very fast, in the wrong direction.