8 Comments
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Mike Konwiak's avatar

Very illuminating. Helps explain why certain roadmaps worked and some didn't at previous companies, and how I can best approach in the future.

Maarten Dalmijn's avatar

That was exaxtly what I was hoping to achieve!

Nicolas Biot's avatar

Brilliant Maarten, as always

Maarten Dalmijn's avatar

Thanks! Curious to hear what resonated the most.

Nicolas Biot's avatar

I like the way this quadrant shows that the duality between the red roadmap and the blue roadmap is not binary.

The red curve you drew on this quadrant to illustrate the ideal positioning is very telling. It’s very smart and, in my opinion, easy for an executive committee to grasp.

Neural Foundry's avatar

This breakdown is brilliant. The plasticity-stability analogy from neural networks maps perfectly to product planning, haven't seen that connection made before. The "penguin principle" nails why so many organizations default to red roadmaps without realizing it's a survival mechanism, not strategy. What stood out most is how front-loading decisions creates the exact opposite of predictability when dealing with uncertainty. Seen this play out alot in companies trying to scale agile frameworks.

Benedikt Kantus's avatar

So refreshing to read this from someone who understands how software engineering and products really work!

Maarten Dalmijn's avatar

Thanks for the kind words!