Why you should stop using product roadmaps and try GIST Planning

An updated version of this article is found here: The GIST Framework

Over the years I created my fair share of product strategies, roadmaps and project gantts. I don’t do them anymore. I found a better alternative which I’ll explain below.

First, here’s what I used to do:

This form of planning is a ton of work — just getting all stakeholders to agree is a massive undertaking, yet ROI is very low. The plans quickly go out of sync with reality — the longer they are the more they are wrong. It took me awhile to realize that my fancy roadmaps and project gantts were already outdated the day I published them. Also, it’s a waterfall (different from the famous project waterfall), meaning that there is almost no room for agility — changes at the top cause huge ripple effects of replanning and project cancellations at the bottom. Agile development addressed project waterfall, but didn’t change planning waterfall. And then there’s the impact on innovation and culture. As roadmaps allow only for a few big projects to be funded you have to prioritize and kill many potentially good ideas upfront. In top-down orgs the winner ideas come from management. In bottom-up orgs getting your idea to win became a very big deal, hence pitching, salesmanship and hype are now mandatory product management skills. To me it all felt very mid-20th century.

So, what’s the alternative?

An updated version of this article is found here: The GIST Framework