Roadmapper : a Tool for Supporting Communication in Software Product Roadmapping

Abstract

Software product roadmaps are practical tools that provide direction for product development. Software product roadmapping combines the reasoning why something is done with what should be done, often in the form of items to be delivered when constructing a software product. Successful roadmapping activities require collaboration from multiple stakeholder groups, such as business, development and management. However, aligning company goals, business strategy and development efforts is far from trivial. To this end, we conducted an action research study investigating how information exchange should be supported in software product roadmapping. As our results, we contribute the open-sourced Roadmapper tool and provide insights on how information exchange should be supported in software product roadmapping. Roadmapper supports information exchange in software product roadmapping by allowing different parties to clarify their views and making them understandable to other stakeholders, facilitating the discussion when they meet. Thus, Roadmapper visualises a common situational picture of software product development and acts as a group memory - helping to remember what the other stakeholders think about the matter.