Be Open to Change

Long-term business plans in the software world rarely get realized.

5 year forecasts, industry projections, market penetration strategies.

Uh-huh.

One bad month, a cosmic market twist, delayed hiring and Skadoosh.

The plot turns on its head.

The age of COVID has taught us that long-term plans fall prey to the misguided notion that market dynamics stay constant.

They don't.

Your plan is only as good as the strength of assumptions holding it up.

However, that doesn't mean the "act of planning" is useless.

That due diligence informs us on what "could be". A sanity check of sorts. The promised land.

That pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow you're riding gets you out of bed.

It's just that predicting your entire journey that far out doesn't help.

I see these 12-month product roadmaps in the same way.

Thinking about the user problems & themes you want to solve in the short & long term is a very handy exercise.

However, over-specifying features & committing release dates 9 months from now? Not so hot.

New opps, employee churn, prolonged sprints - all of these create hard ripples.

1. Focus on getting the next 30/60 days right.

2. Be open to roadmap revisions.

3. Don't get emotionally invested with your initial plans.