Roadmap

Intro

A roadmap is a plan to progress toward defined goals. In EA, it outlines business or technology changes across disciplines and years.

Key points:

• Communicates sequence, dependencies, and timing.
• Aligns funding and delivery with strategy.
• Common use cases across EA/BPM/Data/App/Tech include capability evolution, application modernization, and process transformation.
• Pitfall: static roadmaps that ignore changing priorities and constraints.

Examples:

• Phased retirement of legacy systems.
• Capability uplift roadmap for customer experience.
• Data platform rollout across business units.

In practice:

Maintain rolling roadmaps; review quarterly to adjust for value, risk, and capacity.

Related terms: Architecture Vision; Application Portfolio Management; Key Performance Indicator

FAQs:

Q: Should roadmaps be detailed or high-level?
A: Both; provide an executive view with deeper plans where needed.

Q: Who owns the roadmap?
A: Architecture and portfolio governance with business stakeholders.

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