“WallyWorld Closed for Season” and “We’re out of gas” are four worded sentences that when uttered indicate the sign of a potentially terrible summer road trip. However, the other four worded question that is inevitably asked which may sideline a fun family summer vacation, is “Are We There Yet?” As soon as these four words radiate from the back seat to the front, it is a clear indication that the novelty of the new magnetic board game has worn off or the battery in the iPad has gone to zero percent.
On a recent road trip, this happened within the first hour of the trip. We were going from our home state of Colorado to Nebraska for a volleyball tournament with all 6 kids in the car. They were excited to be going, and after multiple trips carrying luggage and the exciting game of “luggage Tetris” (which using that game as an example shows my age), everyone took their place in the car and we were off. Within minutes, one voice from the back of the car announced that they “really needed to go to the bathroom”. Knowing that the potential outcome of calling this as a bluff could result in a quick detour back home, I quickly obliged and pulled over at a convenience store. The stop resulted in a disembarking of the vehicle by all members, taking turns in the bathroom, and then spending the obligatory amount on food and drinks so as to not look like we stopped at the convenience store only to use their facilities. After 30 minutes, we were back on the road for the next segment of our journey. After one run-through of Taylor Swift’s 1989 album and a follow up discussion on why Taylor Swift is a good role model and Mylie Cyrus is not, a brief pause warranted a few minutes of complete silence. This is the silence that comes right before a tornado hits or a warm day in Colorado right before a 48 inch blizzard. We sat in the front seat ready for the next question which came in the form of a 12 year old’s excitement for getting to the hotel pool and less excitement for sitting next to her brother for another 6 hours.
“Are we there yet?” questioned the 12 year old with an exasperated sense in her voice. At that moment, I knew I had made some major mistakes in this road trip. Not giving an appropriate sense of where we were going or a quick geography lesson to give an idea of where Nebraska was in relation to Colorado were my first mistakes. Add to that the fact that we had not taken into account the magnitude of snacks that would be required to fulfill our first leg of the drive and we had gotten way off course, mentally. Lastly, while I had talked earlier in the trip about the excitement of going to dinner when we got to our destination and the impressive indoor pool that awaited as rewards for our journey, I never reminded the group. The resulting dinner from the hotel self-service pantry and the after-hours sign at the swimming pool was a cruel reminder that I should have kept the crew on a tighter schedule.
Whether you have experienced this with kids yourself or it is a small, distant memory of when you were a kid, we can all relate to this story.
This personal journey mirrors my professional journey of technology roadmapping and the importance of good planning, constantly being well fed (nutrition or information), and a well-thought out and agreed upon roadmap.
The technology roadmap is equally wrought with detours, delays and disappointments if not well thought out, communicated and tied to business strategy. Analogous with the Colorado-Nebraska roadtrip, there are 5 key elements that will yield a successful and smooth journey:
Tie the Road Map to Overall Objectives:
The first step in determining your long-term technology road map is to understand what the ultimate business objectives are of the company, sales and marketing teams, and technology. Building a road map around these objectives will insure that the business objectives are driving the technology investments and not the other way around. This step is possibly the most difficult but most critical part of the process; one that will be agreed upon and supported by everyone “on the bus”. This begins by sitting with each business area and technology group and define what critical elements they need now and in the future to meet their goals. This is done by documenting these thoroughly and identifying overlapping priorities that will help drive the key priorities of the business. Getting senior management buy-in on these goals and confirming them will be critical. Determine first if the technologies that will need to be improved, replaced or omitted are foundational, transitional, or cosmetic. This will help determine what type of lead time will need to be planned for and the level of buy-in you will need to plan the enhancement. Once the first cut at this road map is established, confirm with the business and technology partners that it is “as correct” as it can be with the information given at the time.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate:
As soon as your initial road map is complete and agreed upon, the more important element becomes communicating on a continuous basis. As with the family road trip, giving updates as to where you are, why there have been setbacks or detours along the way and updated timelines and methodologies are critical. Setting periodic check-points ahead of time will avoid the habit of only communicating when there is “need to know” information (which ultimately usually means you are not going to meet a critical goal). That said, even if there are not substantial updates, having these periodic check-ins allows stakeholders to get more clarity where it may not be or acts as a great opportunity to get updates on business objectives should they change during the journey.
Visualize the Journey:
Stories and conversations are excellent ways of communicating the road map and journey, but a visual depiction of the destination and the process to reach the technology goals is substantially more effective. Illustrating for business stakeholders where you will be after 1 year, 2 years, and after helps firstly in understanding where the technology is in relation to the overall road map. Secondarily, this road map (assuming it is agreed upon) acts as the committed itinerary that everyone understands may be compromised if alternative routes are taken. Many of the airlines have a “trip updater” that visualizes the route, the estimated time of arrival, and visual representation of where there have been slight modifications to the route. This gives everyone on the flight clarity and resets expectations where necessary, taking some pressure off of the captain when he has to offer bad news. Personal note here: If anyone has an app for this that I can use on my next family road trip please, please let me know.
Remind Everyone There is Gold at the End of the Rainbow:
Just as I should have done on the road trip, continuing to remind constituents of the benefits of the hard work, time and trade-offs are imperative to maintaining focus on the end goal. The reason many organizations don’t have a technology roadmap, or if they do it is quickly abandoned, is because it is hard to keep the long-term benefits of a roadmap at the top of mind when there are so many short-term initiatives that utilize the same resources. As a helpful analogy, ask your business constituents to think of the long-term technology investments as if they are 401k contributions. Setting aside a certain amount of time and resources to plan for the long-term should happen before determining the time and resources available to focus on short-term initiatives. Just as you would do in your 401k, setting a specific amount aside before determining your spendable income is the only way to insure you are sitting on a beach at 65. We all know it is much more immediately gratifying to buy that new iWatch or implement a new technology than to save for something many years in the future.
Plan for Unplanned Stops and Detours:
All plans will change to some extent. Whether it is the kid that drank more than one energy drink or an immediate business initiative where time is of the essence, things will change and deadlines on the road map will be missed. All stakeholders and decision makers understand that priorities are going to arise in a long-term plan that requires you to add some level of “cushion”. In fact, many constituents will have a hard time agreeing to a plan without some flexibility as it will quickly be off-course the first time a deadline is not met (and will become substantially more off course with each subsequent missed deadline). In creating the technology road map, add some level of flexibility in timing and expectations so that these bumps in the road don’t become a journey ending in “WallyWorld closed for season”.
