Software Roadmap: A Pivotal Tool in the Software Development Journey!

Do you know why it is important to have a roadmap while developing a custom software? If not, then this blog will help you learn the importance and benefits of a software development roadmap. 

As every software product requires a defined & strategic plan, key priorities, clear responsibilities, streamlined work processes, and allocation of tasks, having a software development roadmap can meet all the expectations.

What Exactly is the software development roadmap?

In simple words, a custom software development roadmap is the overview of the process for developing software, from defining requirements to gathering basic information and deploying custom software. A high-level software development roadmap helps in achieving a project goal. It can be considered as sharing the strategy for developing activities with the involved members of the team and making the communication effective. Moreover, a software development roadmap helps in tracking the progress of the project. 

Although, if you are outsourcing a software development company, then you don’t need to worry about creating a roadmap. A dependable and reputable software development team holds profound knowledge in creating a  software development roadmap based on specific business requirements and long-term goals.

Types of Software Development Roadmaps

Software roadmaps are created in different variations. They are important to better understand the specific purpose of the project. Here are the types of software roadmap that most of the developers use in developing custom software for business.

Internal Roadmaps:

An internal roadmap is addressed to the in-house team of the company. Such a type of roadmap is developed to align the business strategy, testing plan, and outcomes.

External Roadmaps: 

This type of roadmap is developed for the stakeholders/customers that involve processes involved to achieve the milestones and the deliverables that will be provided by the team.

Status Oriented Roadmap:  

This type of software roadmap shows the work progress of the team along with the project status. It allows the team to work on the planned functionalities and streamline the entire custom software application development process. The main objective of creating a status-oriented roadmap is to prioritize the processes.

Theme Oriented Roadmap:

The theme-oriented roadmap is created to deliver a planned value. The development team uses this type of roadmap to divide the project into quarters as per the yearly long-term objective.

Outcome Oriented Roadmap:

Outcome oriented roadmap is about the consequences of the project. This is useful for the clients who are seeking a strategic plan to eliminate the existing issues such as reducing the application’s launch time, instead of focusing on the specific features.

Platforms and Tools Available for Creating Software Development Roadmaps:

There is a wide range of platforms and tools available for creating software development roadmaps that offer several solutions to accomplish projects. These tools are-

• Asana: Asana is one of the popular tools for project and task management that shows versatility with roadmap planning.
• Trello:  Trello is a flexible tool for creating visual product roadmaps with dependency and timeline features.
• Jira: Jira is the primary tool for tracking and related issues. It offers capabilities to create a roadmap using plugins for the development team 
• Aha!: Aha! is known as the comprehensive software product management tool that also helps with roadmap visualization.

Benefits of  Creating Software Development Roadmaps:

• Efficient  development plan
• Focused & custom features
• Data-driven decisions
• Ease of communication and collaboration
• Scalability
• Reduced complexity
• Historical tracking
• Integration
• Reduced complexity

The Last Line 

A well-defined custom software development roadmap acts as a guide to ensure the project is on the right track from start to finish. By ensuring clarity, fostering team collaboration, and setting milestones, software development roadmaps play an integral role in the success of the custom software development projects.