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I'll work on the roadmap idea for sure. Are there any resources I can refer to for this? I've not really done that kind of work before, so I don't know how best

I'll work on the roadmap idea for sure. Are there any resources I can refer to for this? I've not really done that kind of work before, so I don't know how best to go about it. > If your proposal is not accepted, even in some inevitably cut-down form, what is then entirely implicit, with no threats or rashness or backing people into corners, is that it's kinda obvious that your personal point of view and the general company's point of view have diverged. And that's the time to start looking for a new opportunity. I believe this is why you had put the emphasis on saying "I believe this _needs_ to be done". College is not really an option for me in my current situation. Regardless of anything else that happens, I will start to focus a lot more on networking just so I don't get backed into a corner anytime I'm in a hard place.

__d 8y ago
I'm not aware of any resources to help with developing a roadmap. A web search might find something useful, but I don't know. The basic idea is to project what will be needed for the business (new functions, expanded functions, some things might be no longer required) and then figure out how it would be technically best to deliver those, with some anticipation for further future changes. Determining the business requirements is a whole job in itself. Look for upcoming regulatory changes (new federal or state or industry rules you'll need to adhere to), things that competitors are introducing that you don't yet support, and the kinds of things that customers will start to want once they begin using what you provide currently. This is where input from the sales team can be really useful. You'll likely also have some tech debt you will need to clean up, and maybe a couple of big hairy issues that are the root cause of a lot of your reported bugs? Maybe also there's some operational things that cost you a lot of time or effort that could be automated? For each of these items, you need to rough out a plan of how to deliver it. Work out some sort of estimate of the effort required, and then balance that against the value to the business of getting it fixed. That'll give you a priority list which ignores interdependencies, and product architecture. You then need to factor those in, and resort the list such that it will deliver pretty good business value in an order that's technically reasonable. That's your roadmap. You can also have branches of the roadmap which are determined by key business decisions: do we pursue this opportunity or not? Ultimately, you can then present an order of work, and a level of resourcing needed to deliver it, and for each item you can explain why you think it's important and how it fits into the future strategy of the company. The emphasis on "need" rather than "could" or "should" is that roadmaps tend to have a lot of wishful thinking, and blue sky ideas thrown at them, and that's largely a waste of time. Focus on just the things that are absolutely needed to get the customer base, and the revenue, and maintain an acceptable quality of service --- otherwise the whole exercise can be disregarded as a waste of scarce resources just by picking on the one little bit of future-proofing you slipped in there ... For me, the self-discipline required to do the networking is extreme, but it's crucial that you build a network around you that gives you options if and when you decide to move on. That's especially true if you're not lucky enough to have a college degree, which can make more transactional job hunting difficult.

__d 8y ago

I'm not aware of any resources to help with developing a roadmap. A web search might find something useful, but I don't know. The basic idea is to project what will be needed for the business (new functions, expanded functions, some things might be no longer required) and then figure out how it would be technically best to deliver those, with some anticipation for further future changes. Determining the business requirements is a whole job in itself. Look for upcoming regulatory changes (new federal or state or industry rules you'll need to adhere to), things that competitors are introducing that you don't yet support, and the kinds of things that customers will start to want once they begin using what you provide currently. This is where input from the sales team can be really useful. You'll likely also have some tech debt you will need to clean up, and maybe a couple of big hairy issues that are the root cause of a lot of your reported bugs? Maybe also there's some operational things that cost you a lot of time or effort that could be automated? For each of these items, you need to rough out a plan of how to deliver it. Work out some sort of estimate of the effort required, and then balance that against the value to the business of getting it fixed. That'll give you a priority list which ignores interdependencies, and product architecture. You then need to factor those in, and resort the list such that it will deliver pretty good business value in an order that's technically reasonable. That's your roadmap. You can also have branches of the roadmap which are determined by key business decisions: do we pursue this opportunity or not? Ultimately, you can then present an order of work, and a level of resourcing needed to deliver it, and for each item you can explain why you think it's important and how it fits into the future strategy of the company. The emphasis on "need" rather than "could" or "should" is that roadmaps tend to have a lot of wishful thinking, and blue sky ideas thrown at them, and that's largely a waste of time. Focus on just the things that are absolutely needed to get the customer base, and the revenue, and maintain an acceptable quality of service --- otherwise the whole exercise can be disregarded as a waste of scarce resources just by picking on the one little bit of future-proofing you slipped in there ... For me, the self-discipline required to do the networking is extreme, but it's crucial that you build a network around you that gives you options if and when you decide to move on. That's especially true if you're not lucky enough to have a college degree, which can make more transactional job hunting difficult.