Large Solution Roadmapping Competency

This competency will ensure that you can:

1. Understand the elements of a large solution roadmap
2. Create a large solution roadmap collaboratively
3. Evolve and maintain a large solution roadmap to keep it up to date

Which roles would benefit from mastering this competency?

Solution and Product Management, Solution Train Engineers, Business Owners other Large Solution Leadership Roles.

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Learning about Large Solution Roadmapping

Large solution roadmapping serves as a crucial bridge, connecting that overarching strategy and vision to tangible execution.

A large solution roadmap forecasts the work, milestones, epics, and capabilities. The example large solution roadmap in Figure 3 shows a multiyear view of desired epics and capabilities for a specific solution. In this example, the roadmap depicts milestones as diamonds, while a solution release is shown with a small box. As the time horizon extends, items are less defined and more uncertain. For example, the first year is forecast in quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4), which may or may not align with PI boundaries. The second year is shown in six-month increments (H1 and H2). Anything beyond that is scheduled in years (Y3 and Y4) to reflect the higher uncertainty.

Critical Activities for Effective Large Solution Roadmapping

Effective large solution roadmapping requires committing to the three critical activities, which include not only the initial creation of a roadmap but also the commitment to continuous maintenance and evolution. These are outlined briefly below and covered more deeply in the applying section of this competency

Step 1: Facilitate a Large Solution Roadmap Workshop: Organizations often lack a unified roadmap for large solution development, resulting in fragmented individual projects or ART roadmaps that are not fully aligned. This can cause inefficiencies and missed dependencies. A crucial first activity is to hold a workshop that consolidates these plans into a single, integrated roadmap, ensuring all components work together towards shared objectives.

Step 2: Visualize the large solution roadmap: A large solution roadmap should be presented clearly, concisely, and in a manner accessible to all stakeholders. This might include various views tailored to different audiences (e.g., a high-level strategic view for executives, a more detailed view for ARTs). Tools that support collaborative roadmapping and dependency mapping are highly beneficial.

Step 3: Continuously evolve the large solution roadmap: Regular, fixed-cadence reviews of the large solution roadmap are essential. These reviews involve key stakeholders from all levels, ensuring that the roadmap remains relevant and responsive to changing conditions. The cadence of large solution events is intended to be the primary method for maintaining a responsive roadmap. Effective roadmapping integrates continuous feedback loops from various sources, including customers, end-users, market analysis, and internal development teams. This feedback informs adjustments to the roadmap, ensuring that the solution continues to meet evolving needs.

Benefits of Large Solution Roadmapping

Collaborative planning and continuous communication: Effective large solution roadmapping necessitates extensive collaboration across all organizational silos. It requires continuous communication and synchronization among Solution Management, Product Management, System Architects, and across all Agile Release Trains (ARTs). This integrated approach is crucial for the early identification of dependencies, collective risk mitigation, and the clear definition of integration points.

Adaptability and responsiveness: Given the complexity and scale of large solution development, roadmaps must be inherently adaptable to accommodate shifts in market conditions, technological advancements, and evolving customer needs. They should be viewed as dynamic guides rather than static, unchangeable plans. This flexibility is crucial as it acknowledges the inherent uncertainty of the future, allowing for continual review and adjustment. By enabling future modifications to downstream plans, roadmaps support the discovery of optimal solutions as circumstances evolve and ensure that all stakeholders are kept informed throughout the process.

Incremental delivery and value realization: The roadmapping process should support and encourage incremental value delivery. Breaking down large solution initiatives into manageable, shippable increments allows for early feedback, continuous learning, and tangible progress. This approach de-risks development and ensures that investments are continually aligned with value realization. It also creates an opportunity to align learning from the various value streams of the large solution more frequently within the roadmap.

Applying the Roadmapping Large Solutions Competency

A Large Solution Roadmapping Workshop that brings together stakeholders from across the various value streams has proven to be a very useful approach. This workshop collaboratively establishes a commonly accepted large solution roadmap and develops a realistic integrated view across all the elements of the large solution. As shown in Figure 3, a large solution roadmapping planning board is used during the workshop for visualizing how the work is forecasted across the elements of the large solution, such as the Value Streams and ARTs.

The workshop includes the following four steps, which are described below. NOTE: At the end of this section, a link is provided to a downloadable workshop for SPCTs that includes the presentation slides and facilitator guidance is available.

1. Align on the Inputs for Creating a Large Solution Roadmap

First, members from the various value streams that make up the large solution, along with large solution leaders, gather and align on the key inputs outlined below.

• The Solution Vision, which defines the overarching purpose and strategic direction. It should encompass both the current state and the desired future state of the solution. 
• An agreement on the planning horizon ensures a suitable timeframe for a large solution roadmap, which can range from a few months if trying to identify a roadmap for an upcoming critical milestone to multiple years for large solutions in defense or aerospace.
• Strategic Themes, OKRs, and KPIs are useful for discussing what should be included on the roadmap and identifying unnecessary work. They represent differentiating business objectives and measurable targets for success, ensuring roadmap items align with current and future needs. 
• Known Epics, Capabilities, and Enablers that affect the value streams and ARTs of the Large Solution are vital. 
• PIs and Milestones help structure the roadmap around fixed, cadenced timeboxes (typically 8-12 weeks) during which ARTs and Solution Trains deliver integrated value. Milestones mark significant integration points or releases.

2. Draft the Large Solution Roadmap

Organize the attendees into small cross-value stream groups to collaboratively draft the large solution roadmap, defining options, timelines, milestones, epics, and capabilities, with representatives from every value stream. They consider all inputs and identify cross-value stream capabilities. After drafting several options, the groups present them for feedback. Everyone then consolidates viable options into a single, agreed-upon large solution roadmap, which is taken forward to the next steps in the workshop.

3. Create the Value Stream Forecasts

Next, representatives from each value stream forecast the work they need to perform in order to support the deliverables on the draft large solution roadmap. This involves identifying potential risks and negotiating necessary adjustments to ensure alignment with the overall large solution roadmap. This step ensures that each individual value stream understands its role in delivering the larger solution and can plan its work accordingly, taking into account any dependencies or potential challenges.

4. Align on an Integrated Large Solution Roadmap

In the final step, it is time to consolidate all the information from the previous steps to align on an integrated, large solution roadmap. This step resolves any remaining challenges and aligns the large solution roadmap and value stream forecasts to ensure that all components are aligned and can meet the shared vision and objectives of the large solution.

The outcome of this step is an agreed-upon large solution roadmap, including the roadmap planning board, which serves as the main visualization for continuous evolution and adaptation. This planning board is a great tool to help maintain a responsive roadmap by providing a unified view for all stakeholders. 

Utilize Large Solution Events to maintain the Roadmap

Given the time and effort invested in creating a large solution roadmap, it is crucial to utilize cadence-based events to keep the roadmap up to date as delivery progresses. Regularly scheduled, facilitated events such as Pre-Planning and Large Solution Syncs align all the interconnected ARTs (Figure 4).

The emphasis on integration and managing cross-ART and Value Stream dependencies is far more pronounced in large solution development. Failure to effectively manage these can lead to significant delays and rework. Large Solution Sync events should be working sessions; they are intended to help track against the roadmap and keep it up to date enough for the ARTs to continue executing in a state of flow. 

PI Planning turns the roadmap’s forecast into committed plans for the upcoming PI (Figure 5). The forecasted part of the roadmap continues to evolve through the regular cadence of events.

Refine and Update the Roadmap Continuously

In addition to the sync events, Solution Managers, Architects, and teams can utilize the techniques below to continuously refine and update the roadmap.

Implement a large solution backlog refinement process: This is a continuous process involving Solution and Product Management, Solution and System Architects, and key ART representatives to break down large solution epics into capabilities, ensure alignment with strategic themes, and prepare them for implementation by ARTs. This includes estimating effort and prioritizing tasks based on business value and readiness to develop them.

Utilize visualization tools: Implement physical or digital boards to visually represent cross-ART and cross-value stream dependencies. These tools should clearly highlight critical paths to delivery and identify dependencies and potential bottlenecks. Ideally, they also integrate with existing planning tools to ensure real-time updates.

Dependency and risk management: Proactively identifying and managing dependencies between ARTs and Value Streams is paramount for successful large solution delivery. The roadmap should explicitly highlight these dependencies, and a robust risk management process, including regular ROAMing (Resolved, Owned, Accepted, Mitigated) of identified risks, should be in place to address potential impediments before they impact delivery.

Continually add new roadmap milestones: Over time, new milestones will emerge, such as those connected to market events and rhythms or mandatory deadlines driven by regulation, security, or compliance. As these surface they should be added to the large solution roadmap. Schedule workshops with Solution and Product Management to review and prioritize market-driven features and enablers and map key market release dates, industry conferences, and seasonal demands to the roadmap timeline. Establish a clear process for identifying, documenting, and prioritizing mandatory requirements from legal, compliance, security, and architecture teams. Regularly review the roadmap with relevant compliance and security stakeholders to ensure all mandatory items are adequately addressed.

Mastering the Roadmapping Large Solutions Competency.

Large solution roadmapping is a critical competency for organizations building complex, integrated systems. By following the practices described above, organizations can navigate the complexities of multi-ART and multi-Value Stream development, ultimately delivering significant business value.

Even with careful planning and a well-defined event cadence, unexpected challenges can still arise. Here are some common scenarios where organizations might need to significantly reset or redo their large solution roadmap and rerun the large solution roadmapping workshop. 

• Significant market disruption: A new competitor emerges with a groundbreaking product, a major technological shift occurs (e.g., a new AI opportunity), or a sudden change in customer behavior (e.g., a global pandemic impacting demand). These events can render the existing large solution vision and strategic themes obsolete, necessitating a complete re-evaluation of the roadmap.
• Major regulatory or compliance changes: New government regulations or industry standards are introduced that fundamentally alter the requirements for the large solution. This could require a substantial rearchitecture or re-prioritization of capabilities, leading to a reset of the roadmap.
• Unforeseen technical challenges or discoveries: During incremental delivery, a critical technical impediment is discovered that makes a core assumption of the roadmap unfeasible or significantly more complex than anticipated. This could be a scalability issue, a security vulnerability, or an integration problem that requires a fundamental shift in the technical approach.
• Acquisition or merger: The organization acquires another company or is acquired, resulting in a new strategic direction, a different product portfolio, or the need to integrate disparate systems. This would likely require a complete overhaul of the existing large solution roadmap to align with the new organizational structure and objectives.
• Failure to achieve key business objectives: Despite following the roadmapping process, the large solution consistently fails to meet its defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or deliver the expected business value. This would trigger a deep dive into the underlying assumptions, strategic themes, and solution epics, potentially leading to a significant adjustment or reset of the roadmap to address the underperformance.
• Evolving organizational strategy: The overall corporate strategy shifts due to new leadership, a change in market focus, or a re-evaluation of core competencies. This can trickle down to the large solution roadmap, requiring a reset to ensure alignment with the new overarching strategic direction

Assessment Questions for Large Solution Roadmapping

This self-assessment provides a simple method for evaluating your progress towards the desired outcomes of this competency.

1. Does your large solution roadmap clearly communicate key milestones, epics, and capabilities?
2. Are cross-ART and cross-Value Stream dependencies explicitly mapped and actively managed?
3. Do you regularly hold collaborative workshops to create and update the large solution roadmap?
4. Is the large solution roadmap easily adaptable to market changes and new discoveries?
5. Are mandatory requirements (e.g., regulatory, security) and market events integrated into your roadmap?
6. Do sync events consistently refine the large solution roadmap and address emerging information?
7. Do you utilize data and feedback loops to continually refine the roadmap?

The Road to Harmonized Solutions

Having mastered the art of organizing around value, Automotive Dynamics Inc. (ADI) turned its attention to the next crucial challenge: large solution roadmapping. Their previous success in streamlining their EV line, born from a fundamental shift in their organizational structure, had laid a solid foundation. Now, they needed to ensure that their diverse development efforts, across multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and value streams, were strategically aligned and adaptable to the ever-changing market.

ADI’s journey into large solution roadmapping began with a renewed focus on collaborative planning. They understood that fragmented efforts and misaligned objectives, once a significant pain point, could only be overcome through continuous communication and synchronization. Solution Management, Product Management, System Architects, and representatives from all ARTs came together in facilitated workshops, much like the “Large Solution Roadmap Workshop” described in the competency guidance. Here, they collaboratively drafted the large solution roadmap planning board, defining options, timelines, milestones, epics, and capabilities. This integrated approach was crucial for the early identification of dependencies, collective risk mitigation, and the clear definition of integration points across their complex EV system.

The leadership at ADI recognized that roadmaps, especially for large solutions, needed to be dynamic guides rather than static plans. They embraced the principle of adaptability, regularly reviewing and adjusting their roadmap to accommodate shifts in market conditions, technological advancements (including the integration of AI as an enabler), and evolving customer needs. Regular Pre-Planning and Large Solution Syncs became integral to their process, ensuring that the runway of the ARTs remained up to date and that new information was consistently integrated. These working sessions focused on refinement, dependency mapping, and incorporating market events and rhythms into their plans.

Furthermore, ADI implemented a solution-level backlog refinement process, continuously breaking down epics into capabilities and ensuring alignment with strategic themes. They utilized advanced dependency mapping and visualization tools, which proactively identified non-obvious dependencies and predicted potential risks across their ARTs and value streams. This allowed them to address impediments before they impacted delivery, further enhancing their predictability in large solution delivery.

By embracing the principles of strategic alignment, collaborative planning, and adaptability, ADI was able to deliver significant business value through cohesive, large-scale solutions while also promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Their transformation from a fragmented organization to a unified entity is characterized by a clear vision, predictable execution, and a strong ability to navigate the complexities of large solution development..

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Last Update: 13 February 2026