Quarterly roadmap template — editable, free
A quarterly roadmap covers one calendar quarter and ends in a review that says what happened. This one holds nine items across four themes at month resolution, with the quarter-end review on the timeline as a milestone, and a leadership view that shows the quarter and hides owner and status.
| View | Groups by | Visible fields |
|---|---|---|
The quarter (timeline) | Theme | Name, Owner, Status, Start, End |
Leadership (timeline) | Theme | Name, Theme, Start, End |
By theme (board) | Theme | Name, Status, Owner, End |
All items (table) | Nothing — one flat list | Name, Theme, Status, Owner, Start, End |
What makes a quarter the default planning unit?
It’s long enough for something substantial to ship and short enough that people can remember what they said at the start of it. That second property is the one doing the work: a quarter is the longest horizon over which a team can be held to an account it will actually recognise.
Which is why the review belongs on the roadmap, not in somebody’s calendar. This template puts the review on the timeline as a milestone, on the day the quarter closes. A quarter that runs out without one never gets reconciled, and the next planning session starts with nobody agreeing on what happened.
What is in this template?
Nine items across four themes — activation, retention, platform and revenue — at month resolution. One item spans the whole quarter on purpose. When a single-sign-on project sits across all three months, the useful reading is that it has no room to slip inside the quarter, and that reading is only available if you drew it at its real length.
Four views are saved. The leadership view is the same nine items at quarter resolution with owner and status hidden; change a date on the month view and it’s already current, because nothing was copied to make it.
Which meeting does this feed?
Two different ones, and they want different things. The monthly decision meeting wants the diff — what moved, what was dropped, what you need decided — and roadmap review meeting is specific about running it so something gets decided rather than described.
The end-of-quarter reconciliation is a different hour with a different audience, and roadmap for a quarterly business review sets out the window and the field list that meeting needs — two quarters back as well as two forward, because the question is what you said in April.
For the longer horizon above this one, an annual roadmap template organises by where the money went rather than by theme. For a window that doesn’t follow the calendar at all, a 90-day roadmap template starts whenever you start.
Common mistakes
Planning the quarter to full capacity. Three months of work in three months of calendar means the first slip is unrecoverable, and there’s always a first slip.
Leaving the review off the roadmap. A quarter that ends when the work ends never gets reconciled, and the next quarter starts without anyone saying what happened in this one.
Starting every item on the first of the month. Real work starts when the thing before it finishes; a template that lines everything up on month boundaries hides every dependency you have.
Treating the quarter boundary as a deadline. Something crossing into the next quarter is normal. Compressing it so it doesn’t is how a quarter ends with four things nearly done.
Questions
How many items belong in a quarter?
Eight to twelve for a single team, and fewer than you expect. Count the items that need somebody senior on them; if that number is above three, the quarter is already oversubscribed.
Should the quarter match the financial year?
Match whatever the review cycle uses, because the point of the boundary is that somebody reconciles against it. A roadmap quarter that ends a month before the business quarter produces two reviews and one confused audience.
What happens to items that cross the boundary?
They cross it. Mark them so the review knows they were never meant to land, and carry the original start date instead of resetting it.
Related
- Annual roadmap templateFour calendar quarters grouped by where the money goes, with confidence on every item and a board view.
- Roadmap review meetingBring the diff and the decisions, not the board, and cancel the month there is nothing to decide.
- Roadmap for QBRTwo quarters back and two forward, shipped work left in place, and no owner column.
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