Roadmaps to Get Your Agile Transformation Out of the Ditch

Do your Agile efforts and teams seem to be stuck in the weeds? Do your teams product goals seem just as far away sprint after sprint? It could be because you're lost in the wilderness and you need a map to find your way out.

Teams without a good Roadmap find it more comfortable to focus on easy tasks than to take on audacious goals. Simply, the ability to Identify and solve the right problems at the right time gets lost in the shuffle between management and development teams.

Mathew McConnell shows how Roadmaps are a powerful tool for focusing energy on solving the the right problems at the right time. When you can create a good roadmap for your stakeholders up, down, and across your organization, it will focus everyone on making the right decisions to deliver big things.

Pro-tip: You don't have to be the product owner or boss to inspire or even draft a roadmap. Agile is a team sport. Take advantage of being part of the team to lead the team to success.

In this talk, we'll cover:
- Why Product Roadmaps are important
- Who creates the roadmap (Hint: YOU)
- How to get started (or restarted) on a roadmap
- What belongs in your roadmap

Mathew McConnell, CBAP, PMP, CSM, CSPO

Mathew McConnell is a Consultant for Fusion Technology, LLC and the President of International Institute of Business Analysis, Pittsburgh Chapter. Matt has spent 15 years helping teams deliver a range of technical public and private sector programs in supply chain, cybersecurity, retail, and ecommerce. Originally trained as a Business Analyst, Matt has applied the lessons of communicating software requirements to the broader problem of achieving business-IT clarity: sometimes as a Product Owner, sometimes as a Scrum Master, sometimes as a BA, sometimes as a PM, but always with an agile mentality. Matt started off with a bachelor's in foreign language but found along the way that coaching business and IT to become cross-fluent with each other was far more fulfilling. Since that realization, he's earned an MS in Technical Management from the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins and maintains several certifications in business analysis, project management, and agile. Matt is active in the International Institute of Business Analysis, Project Management Institute, and other professional development organizations.