Improvement Roadmap

4 MINUTES READ

Variants include Maturity Models.

Our long-term continuous improvement effort can be complicated and a never-ending journey. A map can always be helpful in such situations to find the destinations and plan the best routes. A business roadmap is a map that displays business-related information rather than natural geographical information. There are different types of business roadmaps including: product, marketing, project, customer experience, change, and improvement roadmaps (which we’ll cover in this article).

An improvement roadmap is a kind of business roadmap that is used to achieve improvement. It is used to guide through the implementation of a long-term transformation journey. It helps to understand where we are now as well as where we want to go. That’s why it is important that the final destination is clear enough and attainable. Improvement roadmaps are often used to summarize a company’s strategic planning in a comprehensive and integrated manner. Yet, they are useful in change management and organizational development projects.

Improvement Roadmap Methods — There are many ways to construct improvement roadmaps

There are many ways to construct improvement roadmaps, some are long and complicated. They should be, however, simple to create and easy to follow. You may present them in a timeline or a milestone format, or simply in a table or matrix. It should be noted however that it is normally presented on one sheet of paper that shows all the details. An improvement roadmap in its simplest format contains the following four sections.

Improvement Roadmap Four Sections — An improvement roadmap in its simplest format contains only four sections

It’s important to know that the final milestone in each improvement category is the final destination or the big goal you want to achieve. It represents the end of your journey and the achievement of the improvement goal. Also note that each milestone or intermediate target can be considered a project or sub-project for which you have to create an action plan.

After setting your goals and creating the improvement roadmap, an action plan per improvement category or per project shall be created. Action plans help breaking down big goals into smaller and workable activities. They shall outline all activities and their durations, the order in which they will be accomplished, the responsible person or team for completing each of them, and any other information that you feel may help achieving the improvement goals.

Improvement Roadmap Action Plan — An improvement roadmap may have one or more action plans

Constructing an Improvement Roadmap

With your team, present the topic and define the purpose of the improvement roadmap.
Establish the categories in which you want to set your improvement goals.
For each improvement category, analyze the current situation and where you want to be in the next two or three years.
Set improvement targets and milestones for each improvement category.
Establish performance metrics for each improvement category.
Initiate improvement projects and action plans to help you achieve your improvement goals.
Implement the improvement projects and action plans and apply ongoing measurement.
Change the routes as needed throughout your journey keeping the final destination in mind.