Business Capability Roadmap

About a Business Capability Roadmap

This page will explain the key parts of a Business Capability Roadmap as part of your Capability Development strategy in your organization. Read about workstreams, activities, timelines, and other elements in a good Project Roadmap.

A Business Capability Roadmap is a simple presentation of Ambitions and Goals alongside a timeline.

A Business Capability Roadmap is NOT the place for detailed plans and detailed information.

What are Business Capability Roadmaps used for?

• To quickly communicate business capability plans & goals.
• To manage stakeholder expectations.
• To generate a shared understanding across the teams involved.
• To communicate plans with other important teams/organizations.

What does a Business Capability Roadmap include?

• Must Have: The Business Capability Goals articulated; at least in the deliverables listed.
• Must Have: A timeline – to show when things will happen
• Must Have: The high-level titles for the big deliverables (don’t get into the detail!!)
• Should Have: The workstreams in separate “Swim Lanes”.
• Should Have: Milestones of key events when you expect them.
• Could Have: Areas of high risk.
• Could Have: Areas where you have dependencies.

Key Characteristics of Business Capability Roadmaps

• It gives a sense of the Business Capability Goals
• Either explicitly in plain words “The goal is …”
• Or in the deliverables listed
• It shows the plans for realizing Business Capabilities in simple terms
• Not too detailed
• Just the high-level titles for each deliverable
• You should not have more than 4 per year for any workstream
• It is on 1 side of the paper (or 1 slide)
• So – keep it simple and focussed!
• It shows Business Capability plans alongside a timeline
• It shows the order of the deliverables; what’s first, and what comes next!
• You can read it and understand it in 3 mins
• Anyone who picks it up can understand what it’s about
• The titles and deliverables are in plain language
• Avoid acronyms and team jargon
• It has your name on it – so people can contact you with questions

Do the DEMO for generating a Business Capability Map yourself.

Creating a Roadmap can have useful side-effects

The process of creating a road map, with key stakeholders of the Capabilities, can be beneficial on its own:

• It ensures that the team and stakeholders understand capacity
• It forces priority decisions
• It promotes a shared understanding in the wider team