Date-based roadmaps lie. Why Now/Next/Later is more honest — and how to structure it for stakeholder meetings.
Category · Project Management
Date roadmaps lie.
A roadmap with fixed dates per feature suggests a certainty that doesn't exist in product development. It becomes a promise that has to be broken the moment assumptions change — and they always do.
Now/Next/Later replaces calendar dates with time horizons: Now is in progress and thought through, Next is prioritised but still open in the detail, Later is direction without commitment.
How to structure it.
We frame roadmap entries as goals and problems to solve, not as finished solutions — the further right, the coarser. For stakeholders the translation is decisive: communicate "Now" as a commitment, mark "Later" as a statement of intent. That keeps the roadmap honest and still plannable.
When a date does matter.
Now/Next/Later is no free pass against deadlines. Trade fairs, contracts, regulatory deadlines are hard points in time and belong clearly named. The point isn't to abolish dates but to invent none where there are none.