Road Maps for New WorkPlaces and Distance Work

             Road Maps Simplified

Strategy and Planning often scare people. As a result, I find most businesses, organizations or groups skip or truncate
the Road Map Process. As a result, they either end up in the wrong place or never get anywhere near their destination.

Road Maps provide an over-all framework for a program or project – the skeleton, if you will, or the map of the general
path of travel. Road Maps are high-level plans and are often confused with project management plans. Stakeholders
often jump directly to the project plan, completely ignoring the Road Map Process. Project plans are the step-by-step
plans in which details are delineated and roles and responsibilities are assigned. They are created after the road map is
created

Road Maps are mandatory of any new product, process or emerging program. They can be long and complicated or
short one-pagers. My advice is KIIS – keep it initially simple. The process will add plenty of complexity along the way.
Short and sweet at the first and highest level keeps more people on track and engaged. If the basics aren’t manageable,
people and process easily get bogged down in the weeds, losing their way..

Better understanding is best illustrated by correlation to our everyday and most common usage of map – real road maps
for traveling. To create a Basic Road Map, you need to start with the following five simple questions everyone asks when
taking a trip:

1.        Where are you starting from
2.        Where is your end place, destination
3.        What routes are available
4.        How will you get there
5.        Who will be traveling

The table below looks at these questions and translates them into a business process perspective.

Once you have listed all of the relevant options, then comes the decision making process.
In order to make the best decision, three more question need to be asked and honestly answered. These are the
influencer and qualifying criteria, the pluses and minuses for each of the BTQs above that enable the decisions –
which of the many options will I choose.

Each one of these Decision Qualifiers and Influencers (DQIs), when overlaid on each of the BTQs will bring forth the
determining selection for the trip.

Basic Traveling Questions (BTQs)

Business Translation

Where you are starting from

What is your “As Is” state

Where is your end place, destination

What is your “To Be” state

What routes are available

List of scenarios

How will you get there

List of options

Who will be traveling

Selection criteria

Another important question is who will be answering the BTQs and be the deciders for the DQTs. This can often be
spread amongst a number of appropriate internal people. But often, to be more effective, the addition of an external
third party is warranted. A third party, or Consultant, brings the following to the table.

A new set of eyes, typically free from internal biases – to give you a more accurate assessment of your ‘As Is’
state
An outside-in perspective – enabling a clearer and more robust picture of your ‘To Be’ state
Expertise and experience in the field - to clarify your options list of 'What' routes and 'How' transport modes
and add new ones you never existed
An arbitrator and advisor you can turn to when mishaps occur such as resolving conflicts between short-term
and long-term goals and confusion or indecision around ‘who’ and ‘what’ is “best”.
A facilitator – roadside assistance to keep you going when you hit those inevitable bumps in the pavement.