Presenting the Project Roadmap

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

  Communications Management  

The project roadmap is not so much a map as it is a vision of where the project is and where it is going. It also might show where the project has been--but that is not as interesting to the executives of the organization as it is to other project managers who are looking for lessons learned. The project roadmap that you want to present to the executives of an organization should show a high level view of the project, where it is going and how it is going to get there.

In order to present this effectively, you need to break down the roadmap and follow this outline.

What’s the Hook?
First off, you need a hook that will help them see why you want to take the trip at all. For example, if you were showing a roadmap of a vacation to kids, they would want to see Disney World at the end. If you are showing a roadmap to the executives that need to sponsor the project, they want to see the return on investment at the end.

While the project manager and project team may only see all the details and drudgery of an implementation, the executives need a hook that helps them see the point of the trip at all. Do not hide the hook or show it at the very end of the presentation like a footnote; this hook should be prominent in the roadmap from the very beginning.

Keep It at a High Level
Now that you have the hook, you need to make sure that the roadmap stays at a …

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