Architecting strategy: Visual form and function of roadmaps

Roadmapping is an established management method that supports strategy at innovation, business and sector levels. Roadmaps help to align investments in technology, infrastructure, capabilities and other resources with commercial, organizational and societal goals. The structured visual representation of strategy provided by roadmaps supports dialogue and communication across organizational boundaries. Roadmapping was originally developed for application in large technology-intensive industries such as electronics, aerospace and defense. The underlying principles of the approach are based on systems concepts commonly used to design complex engineered products. However, relatively little research has been undertaken to explore and develop the underlying conceptual basis of the approach, despite growing interest in the academic community, due to the emphasis on its practical origins and application. This paper provides a new perspective on the structure and function of roadmaps, based on well-founded design principles from the discipline of architecture. The conceptual basis of the technique is described, and illustrated with an industrial example, which is then related to perspectives from the field of architecture, strengthening the theoretical foundations of this established method. Based on this cross-disciplinary exploratory study, recommendations for future research are provided.