/roadmap-update

name: roadmap-update
description: Update, create, or reprioritize your product roadmap. Use when adding a new initiative and deciding what moves to make room, shifting priorities after new information comes in, moving timelines due to a dependency slip, or building a Now/Next/Later view from scratch.
argument-hint: "<update description>"

Roadmap Update

> If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md).

Update, create, or reprioritize a product roadmap.

Usage

/roadmap-update $ARGUMENTS

Workflow

1. Understand Current State

If **~~project tracker** is connected:

• Pull current roadmap items with their statuses, assignees, and dates
• Identify items that are overdue, at risk, or recently completed
• Surface any items without clear owners or dates

If no project management tool is connected:

• Ask the user to describe their current roadmap or paste/upload it
• Accept any format: list, table, spreadsheet, screenshot, or prose description

2. Determine the Operation

Ask what the user wants to do:

**Add item**: New feature, initiative, or work item to the roadmap

• Gather: name, description, priority, estimated effort, target timeframe, owner, dependencies
• Suggest where it fits based on current priorities and capacity

**Update status**: Change status of existing items

• Options: not started, in progress, at risk, blocked, completed, cut
• For "at risk" or "blocked": ask for the blocker and mitigation plan

**Reprioritize**: Change the order or priority of items

• Ask what changed (new information, strategy shift, resource change, customer feedback)
• Apply a prioritization framework if helpful — see **Prioritization Frameworks** below for RICE, MoSCoW, ICE, and value-vs-effort
• Show before/after comparison

**Move timeline**: Shift dates for items

• Ask why (scope change, dependency slip, resource constraint)
• Identify downstream impacts on dependent items
• Flag items that move past hard deadlines

**Create new roadmap**: Build a roadmap from scratch

• Ask about timeframe (quarter, half, year)
• Ask about format preference (Now/Next/Later, quarterly columns, OKR-aligned) — see **Roadmap Frameworks** below
• Gather the list of initiatives to include

3. Generate Roadmap Summary

Produce a roadmap view with:

Status Overview

Quick summary: X items in progress, Y completed this period, Z at risk.

Roadmap Items

For each item, show:

• Name and one-line description
• Status indicator (on track / at risk / blocked / completed / not started)
• Target timeframe or date
• Owner
• Key dependencies

Group items by:

• Timeframe (Now / Next / Later) or quarter, depending on format
• Or by theme/goal if the user prefers

Risks and Dependencies

• Items that are blocked or at risk, with details
• Cross-team dependencies and their status
• Items approaching hard deadlines

Changes This Update

If this is an update to an existing roadmap, summarize what changed:

• Items added, removed, or reprioritized
• Timeline shifts
• Status changes

4. Follow Up

After generating the roadmap:

• Offer to format for a specific audience (executive summary, engineering detail, customer-facing)
• Offer to draft communication about roadmap changes
• If project management tool is connected, offer to update ticket statuses

Roadmap Frameworks

Now / Next / Later

The simplest and often most effective roadmap format:

• **Now** (current sprint/month): Committed work. High confidence in scope and timeline. These are the things the team is actively building.
• **Next** (next 1-3 months): Planned work. Good confidence in what, less confidence in exactly when. Scoped and prioritized but not yet started.
• **Later** (3-6+ months): Directional. These are strategic bets and opportunities we intend to pursue, but scope and timing are flexible.

When to use: Most teams, most of the time. Especially good for communicating externally or to leadership because it avoids false precision on dates.

Quarterly Themes

Organize the roadmap around 2-3 themes per quarter:

• Each theme represents a strategic area of investment (e.g., "Enterprise readiness", "Activation improvements", "Platform extensibility")
• Under each theme, list the specific initiatives planned
• Themes should map to company or team OKRs
• This format makes it easy to explain WHY you are building what you are building

When to use: When you need to show strategic alignment. Good for planning meetings and executive communication.

OKR-Aligned Roadmap

Map roadmap items directly to Objectives and Key Results:

• Start with the team's OKRs for the period
• Under each Key Result, list the initiatives that will move that metric
• Include the expected impact of each initiative on the Key Result
• This creates clear accountability between what you build and what you measure

When to use: Organizations that run on OKRs. Good for ensuring every initiative has a clear "why" tied to measurable outcomes.

Timeline / Gantt View

Calendar-based view with items on a timeline:

• Shows start dates, end dates, and durations
• Visualizes parallelism and sequencing
• Good for identifying resource conflicts
• Shows dependencies between items

When to use: Execution planning with engineering. Identifying scheduling conflicts. NOT good for communicating externally (creates false precision expectations).

Prioritization Frameworks

RICE Score

Score each initiative on four dimensions, then calculate RICE = (Reach x Impact x Confidence) / Effort

• **Reach**: How many users/customers will this affect in a given time period? Use concrete numbers (e.g., "500 users per quarter").
• **Impact**: How much will this move the needle for each person reached? Score on a scale: 3 = massive, 2 = high, 1 = medium, 0.5 = low, 0.25 = minimal.
• **Confidence**: How confident are we in the reach and impact estimates? 100% = high confidence (backed by data),