Strategy & Roadmapping
Deciding what to do, in what order, and being able to defend it. Most of this job is saying no to reasonable requests from people you like.
Order, not selection
The hard part is rarely spotting a good idea. It is sequencing ten good ideas when you can only fund three this quarter.
Communicate uncertainty
Stakeholders can plan around "probably March, depends on the migration". They cannot plan around a confident date you privately doubt.
Measure the outcome
A shipped feature is not a result. If you cannot say which number should move, you cannot tell success from motion.
Guides in this track
Common questions
Which prioritisation framework should I use?
Whichever one you will actually keep using. Comparability across quarters beats theoretical accuracy. RICE is a reasonable default for a mixed backlog; the frameworks matter far less than scoring together, out loud, with the people who will build the thing.
My roadmap keeps getting overridden by executives. What can I do?
Usually a symptom of an unclear strategy rather than weak influence. When the outcome for the quarter is genuinely agreed and written down, override conversations become concrete trade-offs — "this displaces the activation work, is that what you want?" — which are much easier to have than defending a list.
Should I put dates on the roadmap?
Put dates where you have real confidence and say so; leave them off where you do not, and say that too. Blanket refusal to give dates reads as evasive and costs you credibility you will need later.