id: open-agile-roadmap-planning
title: Open Agile Roadmap Planning
description: >-
  A collaborative planning method where a team builds a visual roadmap by
  placing stories on a timeline together, negotiating dependencies and
  priorities in real time. Used in Agile and Lean software teams as a
  alternative to top-down roadmap assignment.
source: Agile planning tradition / Mike Cohn, "Agile Estimating and Planning"
source_url: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/
tags: [agile, roadmap, planning, collaboration, teams]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Lay out the timeline
    description: >-
      A long wall or board is laid out with a time axis — quarters or
      months. The team gathers around it with story cards ready.
  - headline: Place stories together
    description: >-
      Each team member places stories they believe belong on the roadmap,
      explaining the placement. Others may move them, with discussion.
  - headline: Negotiate dependencies
    description: >-
      The team draws dependency arrows between stories, surfacing what
      must come before what. Conflicts are resolved in the open.
  - headline: Mark priorities and risks
    description: >-
      The team marks the highest-priority stories and the highest-risk
      ones, so the roadmap shows not only sequence but attention.
  - headline: Photograph and commit
    description: >-
      The roadmap is photographed and recorded. The team commits to it as
      a living plan, revisiting it each iteration.
outcome: >-
  A shared roadmap that all participants shaped, with dependencies and
  priorities visible, owned by the team rather than handed down.
practice: >-
  The physical placement is the point — people who place cards themselves
  commit to them more than those who receive a slide. Revisit it; a
  roadmap that does not change is not being used.