Technology roadmaps
A prioritized technology plan your leadership can fund
A sequenced roadmap of projects, owners, costs and dependencies across software, infrastructure and operations, reviewed quarterly as the business changes.
For companies with more technology work than capacity, who need to decide what happens first and why.
- Horizon
- Twelve to eighteen months, by quarter
- Detail
- Owner, cost range and dependency per item
- Review
- Updated quarterly with leadership
- Now Risks and quick fixes
- Next quarter Foundations and access
- Two quarters Core system changes
- Later Growth initiatives
Sequenced
By quarter and dependency.
Costed
Ranges per item.
Reviewed
Updated every quarter.
The business problem
Without a roadmap, technology work is ordered by whoever asks loudest.
Every department has a request, every vendor has a proposal, and the backlog grows faster than it is delivered. Budgets are set without knowing what the work will cost, and urgent fixes keep displacing the projects that would prevent them.
- More technology requests than the team or budget can handle
- No shared view of what is planned, in progress or waiting
- Budgets approved without cost estimates for the work
- Dependencies discovered halfway through a project
- Risk items from an audit sitting unaddressed
- Leadership cannot see how technology spending supports business goals
Outcomes
What a roadmap should change.
- 01
One agreed order of work
Priorities decided once, with reasons, instead of renegotiated every week.
- 02
Budgets based on estimates
Cost ranges per item so spending can be planned by quarter.
- 03
Dependencies visible
Work sequenced so each project has what it needs when it starts.
- 04
Progress leadership can follow
A quarterly review of what was delivered, what moved and why.
Contents
What the roadmap covers.
Current state
- Systems and vendors inventory
- Known risks and gaps
- Open requests by department
- Current spending
Plan
- Initiatives by quarter
- Owner per initiative
- Cost and effort ranges
- Dependencies and prerequisites
Governance
- Prioritization criteria
- Quarterly review cadence
- Change process for new requests
- Success measures per initiative
Fit
Who this service is for.
A good fit when
- Technology requests exceed the capacity to deliver them.
- Annual or quarterly budgets need to include technology work.
- An audit or assessment produced findings that need to be sequenced.
- Leadership wants one plan across software, infrastructure and operations.
Probably not yet when
- The current environment is unknown. An IT audit should come first.
- A single decision needs to be made. That is technology consulting.
- Nobody will own the roadmap after it is delivered.
Process
How a roadmap is built.
The roadmap starts from business goals, not from the backlog.
- 01
Goals and constraints
Business priorities, budget limits and deadlines for the next year.
- 02
Current state
Systems, risks and open requests collected from each department.
- 03
Prioritize and sequence
Initiatives scored on impact, risk and effort, then ordered by dependency.
- 04
Deliver and review
The roadmap presented to leadership and reviewed every quarter.
Prioritization
Priorities decided with criteria, not volume.
Each initiative is scored on business impact and the effort it requires. High-impact, low-effort work is scheduled first; high-effort work is sequenced once its prerequisites are in place. The criteria are agreed with leadership before scoring begins.
Criteria agreed first
Impact, risk and effort are defined with leadership before any item is scored.
New requests have a path
A simple intake process decides where new work fits instead of interrupting the plan.
| Low effort | Medium effort | High effort | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High impact | Do now | Plan next | Sequence |
| Medium impact | Do now | Plan | Review |
| Low impact | Batch | Defer | Drop |
Engagement models
How the work is contracted.
Roadmap project
A twelve to eighteen month roadmap delivered and presented.
- Fixed scope
- Leadership presentation
- Best for annual planning
Roadmap with quarterly reviews
The roadmap plus a review and update every quarter.
- Quarterly review sessions
- Updated plan each time
- Best for changing businesses
Audit and roadmap
An IT audit followed by a roadmap built on its findings.
- One engagement
- Findings sequenced
- Best when the current state is unclear
FAQ
Questions about technology roadmaps.
Answers are written for this service. Where a figure depends on your situation, we say so instead of publishing an average.
What does a roadmap cost?
Cost depends on the size of the organization, the number of systems and departments involved and whether quarterly reviews are included. It is quoted as a fixed scope.
How long does it take to build?
It depends on access to people and information. The timeline is agreed at the start and usually includes a draft review before the final presentation.
Do we need an IT audit first?
Not always. If the current environment is well understood, the roadmap can start directly. If not, an audit is recommended first or combined with the roadmap.
Will the roadmap only include ZitDevs services?
No. The roadmap covers the work that needs to happen, whoever delivers it, including your internal team and other providers.
How precise are the cost estimates?
Estimates are given as ranges with the assumptions behind them. They are refined as each initiative is scoped in detail.
What happens when priorities change?
The quarterly review exists for that. New requests go through the agreed intake process and the plan is updated.
Tell us what is competing for your technology budget.
Describe your goals, your current systems and the requests waiting. ZitDevs will propose how to build the roadmap and who needs to be involved.
The form is preselected for technology roadmaps.