<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"><channel><title><![CDATA[Roadmunk Learning Center]]></title><description><![CDATA[A collection of resources to help you become an expert]]></description><link>https://learn.roadmunk.com/</link><image><url>https://learn.roadmunk.com/favicon.png</url><title>Roadmunk Learning Center</title><link>https://learn.roadmunk.com/</link></image><generator>Ghost 2.9</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2024 18:28:31 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/rss/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus]]></title><description><![CDATA[The refreshed menus, panels, and toolbars in Strategic Roadmaps improve your experience in-app by providing a more intuitive, thoughtfully-prepared UI that promotes feature exploration and simplifies navigation.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/lets-talk-panels-menus/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__664ca2af3ee33f000168e637</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2024 19:00:05 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Small-Card---Panels-5-.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Small-Card---Panels-5-.png" alt="Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus"/><p>After teasing this update for almost a year, we're finally ready to launch our much anticipated overhaul the tooling in Strategic Roadmaps and lay the groundwork for a better roadmapping experience than ever before. These refreshed menus, panels, and toolbars help to improve your experience in-app by providing a more intuitive, thoughtfully-prepared layout that promotes feature exploration and simplifies navigation. </p><p>Want to know what we did and how we did it? Let's talk.</p><h3 id="video-walkthrough-of-refreshed-toolbars-menus">Video Walkthrough of Refreshed Toolbars & Menus</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/ftrongafxe?utm_source=ghost" title="Walkthrough of Refreshed Toolbars & Panels Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h3 id="better-tooling-for-a-wider-range-of-devices">Better Tooling for a Wider Range of Devices </h3><p>One of the key considerations we made when designing this update was that the selection of devices our users work from has changed quite drastically since our last major redesign. Additionally, many users expressed their frustration with having to "jump through hoops" to find a specific feature or tool, often expressing how certain options being buried in other menus or secondary modals can prevent them from using certain helpful features in the app as often as they'd like to. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/beforeafter.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="409" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/05/beforeafter.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/05/beforeafter.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/05/beforeafter.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/beforeafter.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Comparison of the Legacy & Refreshed Tooling in Roadmapping.</span></figcaption></img></figure><p>We solved this issue by taking the existing layout that users were already familiar with and finding ways to retain the pieces they loved while remedying the ones they thought were "far more complex than necessary". We also focused on button placement and size to ensure that users had tools which were logically grouped in the UI, easily recognizable, and didn't require an unnecessarily long mouse drag to get to. Additionally, we built with a consideration for all screen sizes - allowing users to move from an ultrabook to an ultrawide monitor without disrupting their workflows or usage of the tool.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-5.13.51-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1116" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-5.13.51-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-5.13.51-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-5.13.51-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-5.13.51-PM.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Table View in Compact Mode</span></figcaption></img></figure><p>One of the key changes that helps us achieve this goal is the introduction of the <strong>Format Panel for Tables</strong>. By <strong>introducing density controls</strong> and providing a home for our <strong>Column Customization menu</strong> in the UI, we've created a simple way for users to control exactly what they're seeing on the screen and how much of it they're seeing. Combined with our beautiful refreshed Table View, this update brings a much needed lever of customization into this visualization while helping to improve both readability and quality-of-life in the application.</p><h3 id="simple-intuitive-exploration-and-navigation">Simple, Intuitive Exploration and Navigation</h3><p>Since our last major redesign in 2018, we have launched a number of features in Strategic Roadmaps that have helped our users take this tool to the next level; however, this also created some unnecessary and noticeable clutter in the UI. And while a button-heavy UI can work in some cases, there are definitely a number of drawbacks from a UX perspective when you're working to provide a solution that lets users go from 0 to 60 in the shortest possible time.</p><p>This is why we've worked to reduce some of the scattered elements on the screen and introduced a number of key components that help to aggregate common functionality and simplify the navigation experience in Strategic Roadmaps.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-10.03.54-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1048" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-10.03.54-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-10.03.54-AM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-10.03.54-AM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-10.03.54-AM.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The updated Viewfinder in a live roadmap</span></figcaption></img></figure><p>The most obvious example of this comes in the form of our <strong>updated Viewfinder</strong> - a thoughtfully-built combination of our legacy Viewfinder dropdown, Sub-View selector, and View Settings tool. Not only does this menu create a quick and easy way to <strong>navigate roadmap views</strong>, it also eliminates some of the barriers to managing those views by allowing users to <strong>rename, duplicate, or delete any view </strong>from anywhere in their roadmap.</p><h3 id="making-feature-discovery-easier-than-ever">Making Feature Discovery Easier Than Ever</h3><p>Strategic Roadmaps can do so much for you and your team, but as we mentioned above some features were harder to find or more cumbersome to access than others. This is why we've updated the experience in roadmapping to bring some of these great features to the forefront. For example: helpful features that can protect your roadmap, like our <strong>Lock View Formatting</strong> and <strong>Lock Color Palettes</strong> toggles, now live under new menus that will ensure that users can organically discover those features sooner into their roadmapping journey.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-8.40.27-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Toolbars, Panels & Menus" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1047" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-8.40.27-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-8.40.27-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-8.40.27-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-8.40.27-PM.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The updated Integrations Panel on a Jira Integrated roadmap.</span></figcaption></img></figure><p>Additionally, we've made a big shift to the way integrations are showcased in roadmaps through the updated <strong>Integrations Panel</strong>. The new Integrations Panel provides an at-a-glance view of all possible integration options - not just the ones you've already have setup. When the roadmap is integrated with another tool, a quick reference card at the top of the panel allows users to view, re-sync, and manage their integration. On top of all of those changes, we've relocated the popular <strong>Calendar Sync</strong> feature into this panel based on the feedback we received from users who actively sync their calendars from Roadmunk.</p><h3 id="the-big-question-when">The Big Question: When? </h3><p>Hopefully you’re as excited as we are to begin exploring this new update! These changes will be rolled out to users over the coming weeks, with a <strong>majority of users seeing it in one of two main cohorts on May 30th or June 20th</strong>, so make sure to keep an eye on the in-app announcements tab to see when this release will be popping up for you. </p><p>For more information on this update, along with breakdowns of every new feature we're launching with it, please make sure to check out our article on <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/22659496655767-Navigating-the-Roadmap?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io" rel="noreferrer">Navigating the Roadmap</a> in our Knowledge Base. And as always: thank you for reading along, hope you have a wonderful week ahead, and happy roadmapping. </p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Better Way to Explore Your Roadmap Items]]></title><description><![CDATA[In an effort to reduce clutter and make the Item Card a feature-rich and easy to navigate experience, we’re introducing a significant UX overhaul.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/updated-item-card/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__62d562a87110d5003c683001</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jan 2024 09:32:58 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/in-app-item-card.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/in-app-item-card.png" alt="A Better Way to Explore Your Roadmap Items"/><p>When we first launched the Item Card nearly a decade ago, it was a simple way to view all of your top-level item details in one location; however, as we continued to add new features to Roadmunk over the years, we encountered a problem that we never thought we'd run into: we needed more space. </p><p>In an effort to reduce clutter and make the Item Card a feature-rich, easy to navigate experience that helps to elevate your roadmapping experience and focus you in on the details that matter most in the card,<strong> we’re introducing a significant UX overhaul of the Item Card</strong>. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/jt0fqnymfu" title="Item Card - Release Overview Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h3 id="beautifully-redesigned-for-easier-use">Beautifully Redesigned for Easier Use</h3><p>Given the amount of foot traffic the Item Card sees on a daily basis, we realized early on that redesigning it would be no small feat. This is why we began by looking at the core components of the legacy version of the card and determining how we could better group, space, and present these details in a more visually appealing way. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/RMK-item-card-comparison2.png" class="kg-image" alt="A Better Way to Explore Your Roadmap Items" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="751" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/01/RMK-item-card-comparison2.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/01/RMK-item-card-comparison2.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/01/RMK-item-card-comparison2.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/RMK-item-card-comparison2.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A visual comparison between the Legacy Item Card (left) and the Updated Item Card (right).</span></figcaption></img></figure><p>The most notable change we've made to the style of the card was to move from a modal to a panel. This allowed us to increase the amount of information we could show on the item card by using the vertical screen real estate more effectively. In addition to this change, we also removed the shroud over the roadmap behind the card and increased the brightness of the panel's background color to match the experience of other panels across the app.</p><h3 id="easy-to-navigate">Easy to Navigate</h3><p>While we all love a good glow up story, our team also wanted to look into ways we could improve how our users navigate through the card. Instead of having to scroll to locate a specific piece of information, we've grouped your item details into easy to understand tabs which allow for quicker exploration in the card and a lot less scrolling.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/tabs-itemcard.gif" class="kg-image" alt="A Better Way to Explore Your Roadmap Items" loading="lazy" width="1968" height="795" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2024/01/tabs-itemcard.gif 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2024/01/tabs-itemcard.gif 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2024/01/tabs-itemcard.gif 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2024/01/tabs-itemcard.gif 1968w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>In addition to being able to focus in on specific information while presenting your roadmap, we've also added a new tab-related feature which helps you to showcase the roadmap behind the card without interrupting your roadmapping flow. In the new Item Card, you can quickly hide or reveal the Details Sub-Panel (containing the Fields & Activity tabs) using the Collapse button in the top right corner of your card, beside the close button. </p><h3 id="additional-features">Additional Features </h3><p>On top of the amazing visual overhaul the Item Card has received, we've also added some additional features and quality of life improvements which help to elevate the user experience and improve access to important tools or functions:</p><ul><li><strong>Updated Field Styles: </strong>In addition to the new Date Picker that we've previously seen on the Table View, we've also introduced new visual styles for Key Dates, Progress Fields, Multi-Select, and Team Member Fields. </li><li><strong>Additional Details for Linked Ideas: </strong>To save time switching between modules, we've introduced 3 new fields for each linked Idea (Description, Product Area, Component).</li><li><strong>Additional In-Card Actions: </strong>In addition to the common actions you've become familiar with in the item card, you can also <strong>duplicate an item</strong>, <strong>copy an item card's URL</strong>,<strong> </strong>and <strong>update an item without Closing. </strong></li><li><strong>New Create/Update Button: </strong>Whether you're creating a new item or updating an existing one, you now have access to two new additional update options while working in the Item Card: <strong>Save & Create Another </strong>and <strong>Create/Update Without Closing</strong>.</li></ul><p>All of these updates, along with those we didn't have the space to list in this post, help to make the Item Card a feature-rich, easy to navigate experience that helps to elevate your roadmapping experience and focus you in on the details that matter most.</p><p>If you'd like to learn more about all of the changes we've made to the card, make sure to check out our article on <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360062432533?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io" rel="noopener noreferrer">Exploring the Item Card</a> in our Knowledge Base.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Next Steps for Roadmunk]]></title><description><![CDATA[We're rolling out UX overhauls for item cards and table view and two new integrations that users can choose from to improve your roadmapping experience.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/the-next-steps-for-roadmunk/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6515aa227b8a5100015bad54</guid><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:34:48 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/09/LC-card-ux-improvements.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/09/LC-card-ux-improvements.jpg" alt="The Next Steps for Roadmunk"/><p>Major updates for Roadmunk users as we are rolling out UX overhauls for item cards and table view and two new integrations that users can choose from to improve your roadmapping experience.</p><p>If you’ve only got a few seconds and don’t want the details, the core of all this is that our excellent developer team has made a lot of things look nicer and run a lot faster when you are roadmapping, and now you can integrate your data from monday.com and Pivotal Tracker.</p><p>If you want the full breakdown, then this is for you:</p><h2 id="ux-updates">UX Updates</h2><p>As one of the most used areas of the roadmapping module, we take our Table View pretty seriously. This is why we’ve revamped it to adopt a sleeker and more intuitive UI/UX – making data entry and item management at scale a seamless and smooth experience.</p><p>While visually appealing, this update has also given the Table View a much needed performance boost – <strong>up to 15x when working on roadmaps with greater than 1,000 items</strong> (when compared to our legacy table view). Thanks to our developers’ additional optimization work to better handle data at scale, we have also removed our paginated setup in favor of a continuous scrolling experience.</p><p>Additionally, the updated Table View will employ a more visual approach when handling and representing certain fields. Popular field types like ‘<strong>Multi-Select’, ‘Percentage’, and ‘Team Member’ now have far more visually distinct styles in the table</strong>, making these commonly used fields easier to locate on the roadmap.</p><p>We’ve also added <strong>new styles for linked item indicators, error messages, and sub-items </strong>when working inside the table view.</p><p>To sum it up: Roadmunk is faster, better looking, and easier to use when building any size of roadmap. And to make things even better, it’s <strong>available today for all users in Roadmunk</strong>.</p><p>Interested in learning more? Check out our breakdown of the updated Table View <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044965773?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">here</a>.</p><h2 id="new-integrations">New Integrations</h2><p>From the start of October, <strong>Roadmunk can now sync up with monday.com and Pivotal Tracker</strong>, meaning you can quickly populate your roadmaps with data from these tools and roll them up into a bigger portfolio view with data from other sources.</p><p>Both integrations allow you to select the fields and properties you’d like to see and can automatically update on a regular basis so you get the most up-to-date information possible.</p><p>Learn more about how to <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360002744113?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">set up an integration here</a>.<br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Roadmapping with Roadmunk]]></title><description><![CDATA[
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/roadmapping-with-roadmunk/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__64b7e61d8a1e360001d82389</guid><category><![CDATA[Omit from Homepage]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:28:40 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/x8fa8jsp6w" title="2023 demo webinar Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><hr><p/><p/></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Let's Talk: Timeline Views]]></title><description><![CDATA[We're excited to announce some new quality-of-life updates that will help you have a better roadmapping experience in the Timeline view - all based on feedback from users like you! ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/timeline-views/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6413225c6a88fa003d1be766</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:22:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/Timeline@4x.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/Timeline@4x.png" alt="Let's Talk: Timeline Views"/><p>Teams love working with our Timeline roadmap visualization and their feedback about how they use it has driven the development of a number of major features for Roadmunk, including Linked Items, Milestones, and more. In addition to some fixes and back-end improvements, we're excited to announce some brand new quality-of-life updates that will help improve your roadmapping experience in the Timeline view - all based on feedback from users like you! </p><p>Some new changes you may notice include:</p><ul><li><strong>A new right-click context menu for field headers. </strong>No more accidentally opening the field card when you’re trying to re-order your headers.</li><li><strong>New Cascade & Condense layout functions. </strong>Now users can organize items on a per-row basis, without being limited to 30-items per action.</li><li><strong>A fresh approach to drag-and-drop. </strong>Users can now reference their original positions on the timeline as they are moving their items and milestones.</li></ul><p>With all these great updates being released, we thought it would be helpful to break down all the details for you. So, without further ado: let's talk Timelines!</p><h3 id="introducing-right-click-menus">Introducing: Right-Click Menus</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/cascadecondense.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Timeline Views" loading="lazy" width="777" height="389" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/04/cascadecondense.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/cascadecondense.png 777w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>When we were exploring potential enhancements to the Timeline view, we gathered feedback from our users on some of their common pain points. One of the common themes we saw was that many users wished they knew about certain features earlier, because it would have saved a lot of manual effort. For the first time in our roadmaps, we're introducing a <strong>new</strong> <strong>context menu which is available when a user right clicks on either a header or subheader</strong> - providing users with a number of quick actions that help to speed up and improve their roadmap setup. This behaviour will be carried over to Swimlane column & row headers in the near future and a few other places across your roadmaps in the coming months. </p><h3 id="introducing-cascade-condense-functions">Introducing: Cascade & Condense Functions</h3><p>This past summer, our team took the opportunity to evaluate both our Waterfall and String actions in Timeline roadmaps. In looking at the feedback from our users, it was obvious that the String feature did not action the behaviours that users expected and was a cause for frustration for many teams. We decided to remove that feature from Roadmunk immediately and take a different approach to how we handle the layout of multiple items on Timeline, which led us to explore how we can build an improved approach to the String action and also address some of the limitations of the popular Waterfall action. With this update, we are excited to introduce two new actions for the Timeline view: <strong>Cascade Items</strong> and <strong>Condense Items</strong>.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/cascadecondense.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Timeline Views" loading="lazy" width="1241" height="698" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/04/cascadecondense.gif 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2023/04/cascadecondense.gif 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/cascadecondense.gif 1241w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>These tools will replace our existing Waterfall action and the previously deprecated String action in the Timeline visualization, providing users with a quick and simple method for handling the presentation of items in their roadmaps en masse. The new <strong>Cascade Items</strong> feature allows users to apply a waterfall layout to all items within a single header or subheader, while the <strong>Condense Items</strong> feature provides the best fit for items on the roadmap, placing them strategically to reduce the amount of lines & whitespace within a specific header or subheader. Additionally, these actions are no longer tied to the 30-item limit our <strong>Move Item By Date</strong> and <strong>Delete Item</strong> functions, which means that users can apply these actions to item groups of any size in their roadmaps.</p><h3 id="drag-drop-improvements-for-items-milestones">Drag & Drop Improvements for Items & Milestones</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/draganddrop.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Timeline Views" loading="lazy" width="860" height="484" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/04/draganddrop.gif 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/04/draganddrop.gif 860w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Call us Jennifer Love Hewitt circa 2005-2010, because we're seeing ghosts! 👻</p><p>And now that we've done our obligatory "bad <em>Ghost Whisperer </em>joke" for the year, we're excited to say that users will now see a floating preview of where they're dragging their items or milestones to before it lands - providing them with a reference to their objects' original positions on the Timeline as they are moving their items and milestones. Additionally, we've fixed a few bugs and made some slight performance boosts to the drag and drop action with this change which will help to prevent the actual "ghosts" of items from popping back up elsewhere on the roadmap after your item has been placed.</p><p><strong>And that's all for now - </strong>but we have so much more to come! Make sure to check out <a href="https://www.roadmunk.com/roadmap?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">our Roadmap</a> to learn more about what our teams are actively working on and some of the upcoming features you and your team will see in Roadmunk. </p><p>Have a wonderful day and happy roadmapping!</p><p/>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Custom Account Templates]]></title><description><![CDATA[Quickly create roadmaps that align with your team, department, or organization using our new Custom Account Templates feature.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/custom-account-templates/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__63fccb8440804b003d3643e5</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:05:08 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/rm-inapp-custom-templates-copy.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/rm-inapp-custom-templates-copy.png" alt="Custom Account Templates"/><p>For several years now, Roadmunk has offered 35+ pre-built templates which have helped thousands of teams kickstart their projects - giving them a number of roadmaps which inspire design, enable collaborative planning, and standardize fields. We found that as teams grew and organizations expanded their use of Roadmunk, they began to look for ways to create standardized, reproducible roadmaps which could be more tailored to their teams' needs or processes. This is why, in an effort to make our users' lives easier and provide a simpler, smoother way to get everybody on the same page, we are excited to announce that <strong>Custom Account Templates </strong>have arrived in Roadmunk!</p><h3 id="standardize-fields-customizations">Standardize Fields & Customizations</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.23.26-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Custom Account Templates" loading="lazy" width="1859" height="571" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.23.26-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.23.26-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.23.26-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.23.26-PM.png 1859w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>A major benefit of Custom Account Templates is that your organization, whether you are already in an account or just getting setup for the first time, are able to quickly create roadmaps that align with your team, department, or organization. This new feature allows administrators to define the customization & contextualization of the roadmap in advance, so that users creating new roadmaps can simply fill in the blanks and get up and running in no time.</p><h3 id="simplify-portfolio-roadmapping">Simplify Portfolio Roadmapping</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.27.42-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Custom Account Templates" loading="lazy" width="806" height="516" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.27.42-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.27.42-PM.png 806w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>The additional benefit of creating a standard template for your team or organization is that you will be able to quickly aggregate the data without having to go through the process of merging fields or adjusting values manually. Since Custom Account Templates provide users with an admin-defined list of fields upon creation, users can be sure that new roadmaps can be seamlessly incorporated into their teams' existing Portfolio roadmaps. </p><h3 id="start-fresh-or-build-from-existing-roadmaps">Start Fresh or Build from Existing Roadmaps</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.17.18-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Custom Account Templates" loading="lazy" width="1494" height="668" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.17.18-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.17.18-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-27-at-4.17.18-PM.png 1494w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>As an Account Admin in Roadmunk, it's easy to get started with Custom Account Templates. To create a new template from scratch, navigate to the <strong>Templates</strong> list on the roadmapping homepage, and select the <strong>Create Template</strong> button in the top-right corner. If you already have a roadmap that you would like to use as the basis for your template, simply click into the <strong>Settings</strong> gear icon beside the Roadmap Name at the top of your roadmap and select the <strong>Duplicate As Template</strong> option. </p><p>For more details on this feature and how to set up Custom Account Templates for your roadmaps, check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/12729429205911?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">setup guide in the Help Center</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Elevate Your Roadmapping with Our Newest Integrations]]></title><description><![CDATA[With our latest update, you can automate the manual effort and time that goes into keeping your roadmaps up-to-date across even more platforms through four brand new integrations.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/four-new-integrations/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__637b9e74146938003d21ed96</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2022 11:43:38 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/11/lc-spotlight-4integrations.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/11/lc-spotlight-4integrations.png" alt="Elevate Your Roadmapping with Our Newest Integrations"/><p>When building our integrations, our goal has always been to provide reliable & easy-to-use tools which help our users to align their data across multiple platforms and provide their stakeholders with a seamless understanding of their ongoing work. With more teams going remote and diversifying their toolkits to better cope with the realities of hybrid workplaces, we decided it was time to build our next integration...</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><p style="text-align:center;">... then another one... and <i>maybe</i> a few more...</p><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>... until we had<strong> four brand new integrations</strong> built to help teams using Roadmunk connect with tools they may use on a daily basis - allowing them to use that data to build shareable, boardroom-ready roadmaps which showcase the full scope of their work and help to better align all teams across their organization, regardless of which tools they decide to use.</p><h3 id="meet-our-new-integrations">Meet Our New Integrations</h3><p>When deciding on a direction for these new integrations, our team gathered feedback from users across Roadmunk, to figure out where to build next. Thanks to that feedback, we are pleased to announce the following four integrations joining our existing three (Jira, Azure DevOps, & GitHub):</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9835381181975-Setting-Up-the-Asana-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Asana</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10274424095511-Setting-Up-the-GitLab-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">GitLab</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10274425506967-Setting-Up-the-Shortcut-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Shortcut</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10274419193367-Setting-Up-the-Trello-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Trello</a></strong></li></ul><p>Each of these tools is built to provide a unique experience for planning & managing the work that you and your team do on a day-to-day basis. With the powerful roadmapping solution that Roadmunk offers and great features like Portfolio Roadmapping to help consolidate your data from across tools into a single visualization, you can reduce double data entry and build an easy-to-navigate, high-level view of all of the work your team is doing in minutes.</p><h3 id="does-your-roadmap-build-a-narrative">Does Your Roadmap Build a Narrative?</h3><p>Thanks to our ever-growing list of integrations with popular everyday-use tools, you can create beautiful, highly customizable, cross-department roadmaps that tell the <em>whole</em> story.</p><p>Integrating with software already in your teams’ tech stack removes the need to manually reproduce data from the platforms we integrate with - allowing you to visualize and align the work of teams across your organization in minutes.</p><p>On top of that, integrating with Roadmunk and enabling automatic scheduled data synchronizations seamlessly ensures that your data is always up-to-date, and consistent with your source of truth, without having to go through the time-consuming and frustrating process of manually reconciling changes across platforms.</p><p><strong>Some key benefits of setting up Roadmunk integrations are:</strong></p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><ol style="color: #211c18; letter-spacing: -.05rem; font-weight: 400; font-size: 17px;">
<li>Roadmunk is the best way to deliver beautiful, visually appealing roadmaps that can tell a compelling story to your audience. Integrate with the software you and your team use to ensure better product strategy communication.</li>
<li>More flexibility with Roadmunk’s native custom fields, adding additional layers of detail to your existing data which can help to enrich your roadmaps.</li>
<li>Highly customizable visualizations, with support for multiple custom-filtered views, to help you tailor your roadmaps to specific audiences using a single source of truth for your data.</li>
<li>Aggregate data from multiple sources and tools onto a single Portfolio Roadmap for a complete company-wide overview.</li>
<li>Reduce, if not entirely eliminate, manual and duplicate data entry to save time and effort when building visually-stunning, boardroom ready roadmaps.</li>
</ol>
<br><!--kg-card-end: html--><p/><p>To learn how you and your team can setup these new integrations or to get more details on our existing integrations, feel free to check out the <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360002744113?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">helpful guides in our knowledge base</a>.</p><p/><p/></br>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Let's Talk: Portals & Browser Extensions]]></title><description><![CDATA[Multiple Feedback Portals in Roadmunk have launched - allowing for more flexibility than ever when collecting valuable customer insights!]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/portals-vs-extensions/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6345a416b462a7003d42b984</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2022 15:15:45 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/portal-buzz.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/portal-buzz.png" alt="Let's Talk: Portals & Browser Extensions"/><p>It should go without saying that the<strong> </strong>most successful roadmaps are driven by feedback. Having the input of our end users, stakeholders, and customers helps us to better define their pain points and ensure that we're making data-driven decisions which influence our strategy and direction.</p><p>Coincidentally, it was user feedback that helped us to shape and build our newest feature: <strong>Multiple Feedback Portals</strong>. Following the launch of our popular <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/introducing-feedback-portal/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Feedback Portal</a> functionality, many users reached out to let us know how this helped simplify their feedback intake and began asking when they were going to be able to create additional Portals for different audiences, campaigns, or tools. </p><p>We heard your feedback and after some hard work on our part we're finally ready to launch the ability to create multiple Portals in Roadmunk - allowing for more flexibility than ever when collecting valuable customer insights!</p><h3 id="thinking-with-portals-roadmunk-edition">Thinking with Portals: Roadmunk Edition </h3><p>With the ability to create up to 10 Portals in Roadmunk, users can quickly and easily begin collecting Feedback across a number of sources. This Feedback can be pushed into either the General Feedback inbox or into the inboxes of any number of user-specified Product Areas, making it easier than ever for your teammates to review and manage inbound feedback as it's being submitted.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/feedback-portal-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Portals & Browser Extensions" loading="lazy" width="1918" height="994" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/10/feedback-portal-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/10/feedback-portal-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2022/10/feedback-portal-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/feedback-portal-1.png 1918w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>In addition to the ability to create multiple Feedback Portals, we've also given our Portal landing page in the Feedback module a well-deserved refresh. Users are able to get an at-a-glance view of the important details on their organization's Portals and can click into each Portal on the list to view, update, and activate/deactivate their Portal.</p><h3 id="a-fond-farewell-to-our-chrome-extension">A Fond Farewell to our Chrome Extension</h3><p>While we're excited to launch this significant update to Portals, this solution will now replace our previously launched Chrome Extension. In discussions with a number of active and past users of this tool, the idea of being able to generate multiple portals across a number of tools instead of relying on an extension was a simpler, cleaner, and less obstructive solution in their ideal workflows. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/image.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Portals & Browser Extensions" loading="lazy" width="1199" height="679" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/10/image.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/10/image.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/image.png 1199w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>This is why we're sunsetting <strong>Chrome Extension for Feedback Collection </strong>and will be continuing to explore the possibilities of flexible, easy-to-use Portals which can be built into a number of existing tools. Here at Roadmunk, we have our Portals embedded into a few of our daily-use tools and <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500009558902?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">made a great article to walk you through setting up something similar for your team</a>. We've seen firsthand how powerful Portals can be for collecting valuable user feedback and are excited to open up a whole new world of possibilities with the ability to generate Multiple Feedback Portals. </p><p>Looking for more details on how to start collecting valuable user insights with Portals? Feel free to head on over to our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/sections/1500001752201-Feedback-Portal?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> for an in-depth guide on how to quickly setup, manage, and embed your Feedback Portals.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Collect User Feedback & Insights Effortlessly with the Feedback Portal]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Feedback Portal provides a simple, shareable way for your team to reduce manual effort and streamline your feedback collection process.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/introducing-feedback-portal/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6100096351bbc7003b548cc3</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2022 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/feedback-portal-submit.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/feedback-portal-submit.gif" alt="Collect User Feedback & Insights Effortlessly with the Feedback Portal"/><p>Have you ever been blindsided by feature requests or issues that you had no idea about until they crossed your inbox? If you’re part of a product team, you know how challenging it can be not only to gather valuable feedback & insights from disparate audiences, but also to consolidate, prioritize, and communicate that feedback once you’ve managed to collect and process it.</p><p>Luckily, with the release of the Feedback Portal, your feedback collection process can become more streamlined than ever before. With this new feature, you will have access to a frictionless solution which offers your customers, external stakeholders, and internal teams a way to communicate directly with your product team. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/image--7-.png" class="kg-image" alt="Collect User Feedback & Insights Effortlessly with the Feedback Portal" loading="lazy" width="1912" height="886" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/10/image--7-.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/10/image--7-.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2022/10/image--7-.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/image--7-.png 1912w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Using the Feedback Portal is a straightforward process for both you and any contributors that you share your Portal link with. Here's a quick rundown of how to get a Portal setup and ready-to-go:</p><ul><li>Head to the<strong> Portal tab</strong> in the <strong>Feedback</strong> module, and use the Create Portal button (or New Portal button if at least 1 Portal has already been created)</li><li>Set any relevant <strong>Names, Descriptions, Product Areas</strong> and <strong>Components</strong> to direct submitted feedback towards, or just use the <strong>General Feedback</strong> default if you'd rather categorize it yourself.</li><li>Once you’ve saved your settings, you'll be able to see a control panel (shown above) where you can easily copy your unique Feedback Portal link and update all of your Portal's settings.</li><li>As feedback starts to come in, it’ll appear in your Feedback Inbox under the Products or Components you specified during setup and will automatically consolidate under <strong>My Products</strong> if you're setup as an owner for those areas.</li></ul><p>No license is required to submit feedback through your Portal - this means you can start sharing the URL to your Feedback Portal as soon as you're setup and ready-to-go! Users are able to create up to 10 Portals at this time.</p><p>If you have any questions along the way, be sure to check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/sections/1500001752201-Feedback-Portal?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> for even more information on how to use Feedback Portal.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Goodbye Markdown, Hello Rich Text]]></title><description><![CDATA[Easy to use, easy to learn, and easy on the eyes: meet our new Rich Text Description Field for Roadmapping.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/item-card-descriptions/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__628cfe13171164003d0dedd4</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2022 15:53:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/wysigif.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/wysigif.gif" alt="Goodbye Markdown, Hello Rich Text"/><p>The Description Field is an important tool for building better roadmaps - having been both the metaphorical "gem" of our Item Card and the first field to become "card-exclusive" in Roadmunk. While there are many users who rely on the Item Card to communicate the important details of their day-to-day work, we often hear that it's a chore for them to learn the ins-and-outs of Markdown in order to craft content-rich, effective descriptions for their roadmap items.</p><p>In an effort to save time and reduce frustration for our users, we're excited to finally announce that we've rolled out a pretty significant change in how you customize, contextualize, and create within your Item Card: a brand new <strong>Rich Text Description Field. 🎉</strong></p><h3 id="a-simple-beautiful-powerful-experience">A Simple, Beautiful, & Powerful Experience</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/richtext.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Goodbye Markdown, Hello Rich Text" loading="lazy" width="1550" height="915"/></figure><p>With rich text editing in the Description Field, users can enjoy a more consistent editing experience between the popular tools they use on a day-to-day basis and Roadmunk. Making quick edits is simple & seamless with the addition of familiar keyboard shortcuts, allowing you to quickly format and fine-tune your description with minimal friction. </p><h3 id="new-features-for-better-content">New Features for Better Content</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-05-at-12.13.52-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Goodbye Markdown, Hello Rich Text" loading="lazy" width="1480" height="658" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-05-at-12.13.52-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-05-at-12.13.52-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-05-at-12.13.52-PM.png 1480w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Rich text editing also unlocks a full suite of beautiful and useful content-building tools like header levels, block quotes, checklists, tables, and more. Now in real-time you can quickly build context-filled, organized, and easy-to-navigate descriptions that help your end-users and teammates to get the full picture of what's in-flight for teams across your organization.</p><h3 id="seamless-rendering-for-roadmunk-integrations">Seamless Rendering for Roadmunk Integrations</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/sync-1-desc.png" class="kg-image" alt="Goodbye Markdown, Hello Rich Text" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="1200" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/10/sync-1-desc.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/10/sync-1-desc.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/10/sync-1-desc.png 1200w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>While Markdown has been the standard for many tools across the industry, per-platform customizations and syntax limitations have made the format unreliable when transferring descriptions across platforms. Whether handling something like the extended Markdown format of GitHub or the Atlassian Document Format offshoot which is used by Jira, Roadmunk's new editor is capable of displaying descriptions the way they were built. </p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><hr><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>It's easy to get started with our new Rich Text Editor - simply open up any new or existing item on your roadmap and click into the Description Field. You’ll be able to access all of our new formatting options immediately and any existing descriptions using markdown will stay as they are. Make sure to check out <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360062432533-Exploring-the-Item-Card?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">this knowledge base article</a> to learn more about our new Description Field (and some of the other cool stuff our Item Card can do).</p></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Simplify Roadmap Sharing with Teams in Roadmunk]]></title><description><![CDATA[Easily curate user groups to better manage their users, provide quick access to multiple team roadmaps, and control roadmap permissions for entire teams in a single action. ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/team-sharing/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6296155d171164003d0dedee</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:00:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/roadmapsharing.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/roadmapsharing.png" alt="Simplify Roadmap Sharing with Teams in Roadmunk"/><p>One of the biggest hurdles for administrators nowadays is finding the best way to manage their users and teams. From having to manually setup access to relevant content or directories to providing users with appropriate permissions for various modules of the application, administrators can quickly become frustrated or burnt out as their teams grow into the hundreds and thousands of seats. </p><p>That's why we're excited to introduce our newest solution for simplifying roadmap sharing across your organization's account: <strong>Teams</strong>. With our new Teams feature, account admins can easily curate user groups which help them to better manage their users, provide quick access to multiple team roadmaps, and control roadmap permissions for entire teams in a single action. </p><p><strong>Teams for All Functions of Your Business</strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.44.04-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Simplify Roadmap Sharing with Teams in Roadmunk" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1197" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.44.04-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.44.04-AM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.44.04-AM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.44.04-AM.png 2176w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Teams is not only one of our newest sharing features in Roadmunk - it's also one of our most flexible user management tools. To ensure that this feature could fit their business needs, users from the Early Access Program sorted their users into Teams based on department, job function, product line, and more. With a quick setup process and familiar user assignment workflow, the process of creating and setting up teams for your organization is fast, efficient, and (most importantly) stress-free.</p><p><strong>Apply Custom Access Permissions En Masse</strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.45.19-AM-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Simplify Roadmap Sharing with Teams in Roadmunk" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1137" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.45.19-AM-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.45.19-AM-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.45.19-AM-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.45.19-AM-1.png 2000w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>In an effort to simplify how roadmaps are shared, entire Teams can be assigned with Editor and Viewer permissions on any Standalone or Portfolio Roadmaps across your account. In addition to this, users who have already been given ownership or editing privileges will retain those when working in their roadmaps - meaning that you can quickly give Viewer permissions to the rest of the team without worrying about blocking another user's Editor or Owner permissions.</p><p><strong>Simplified Bulk Sharing of Roadmaps</strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.50.18-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Simplify Roadmap Sharing with Teams in Roadmunk" loading="lazy" width="1600" height="1244" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.50.18-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.50.18-AM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-16-at-8.50.18-AM.png 1600w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>One of the biggest time savers unlocked by our Teams functionality is the ability to quickly and easily share multiple roadmaps with new users. Since roadmaps can now be shared with Teams, users who are assigned to those teams will receive immediate access and appropriate viewing or editing permissions for those respective roadmaps. This helps to save users from having to manually locate and share any necessary roadmaps from across the organization with new users as they're added to the account.</p><div class="kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-grey"><div class="kg-callout-text">Looking to get started with Teams? For more details on this feature and to learn how you can setup your Teams today, make sure to check out our help center article on <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8179195600407?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Building Teams in Roadmunk</a>.</div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Explore & Link Issues in Jira from any Integrated Roadmap]]></title><description><![CDATA[In a huge step forward for teams working with Roadmunk's Jira Integration, we now support the ability to synchronize the relationships between issues you create in Jira and visualize them in the same way you would visualize Linked Items on your roadmap.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/explore-link-issues-in-jira-from-your-integrated-roadmap/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6296152e171164003d0dede7</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2022 14:20:34 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/relationshipsync.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/relationshipsync.png" alt="Explore & Link Issues in Jira from any Integrated Roadmap"/><p>When building roadmaps that help to show data from integrated sources like Jira, users have always said that they appreciate how Roadmunk goes the extra mile to provide a full-scope view of their issue details in beautiful, easy to share formats. In a huge step forward for teams working with Roadmunk's Jira Integration, we now support the ability to <strong>synchronize the relationships between issues you create in Jira with your roadmap items</strong> and visualize them in the same way you would visualize Linked Items on your roadmap.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-9.41.20-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Explore & Link Issues in Jira from any Integrated Roadmap" loading="lazy" width="1518" height="504" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-9.41.20-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-9.41.20-AM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-9.41.20-AM.png 1518w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>As avid Jira users ourselves, we understand first-hand the power that this feature gives to our users. To be able to manage how your issues relate to each other from inside the roadmaps that you and your extended teams collaborate on is a huge leap forward for simplifying your toolkit and saves you the hassle of having to make updates across multiple apps. </p><p>When presenting in both the in-app and published experience, all Jira Item Links will use the same style of link line: a double line which makes it distinct from the Roadmunk-based Link Types which use a single line. As shown in the screenshot above, this really pops on the page and is an aesthetically pleasing way to highlight the relationships between items in the roadmap for yourself, your team, and your stakeholders. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-28-at-8.58.46-AM-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Explore & Link Issues in Jira from any Integrated Roadmap" loading="lazy" width="869" height="683" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-28-at-8.58.46-AM-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-28-at-8.58.46-AM-1.png 869w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>The best part about this feature is that it is entirely up to you whether you use it - users are able to choose whether they <strong>include or exclude Jira Item Links</strong> on a roadmap-by-roadmap basis, meaning that you can present the same data in entirely different ways across different roadmaps. This is also a great option for creating stakeholder-specfic roadmaps where you may not want to showcase how the issues in your projects link to each other.</p><p>For more details on this feature and how to get it setup in your roadmaps, feel free to check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6804072070039?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">article in the Help Center</a>. </p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Let's Talk: The Format Panel]]></title><description><![CDATA[Over the past month, we've rolled out a number of changes to this panel and are excited to give you a behind the scenes look into the decisions that we made to help build a better Format Panel.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/the-format-panel/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__62bcb166098b23003dcc68ed</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:08:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/test2.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/test2.gif" alt="Let's Talk: The Format Panel"/><p>While the Format Panel has become affectionately known as "the base of operations for all things customization" for many of our users, we often get asked why this panel is so different from any other customization panel or modal in-app. This great question from many of our users prompted us to explore this panel in more depth and see what we could do to better address some of the common pain points that our users brought to our attention. Over the past month, we've rolled out a number of changes to this panel and are excited to give you a behind the scenes look into the decisions that we made to help build a better Format Panel.</p><h3 id="bigger-brighter-better-a-fresh-new-design">Bigger, Brighter, Better: A Fresh New Design</h3><p>The first major change that we pushed to declutter the panel was the re-color of the format panel - moving from Dark Mode to Light Mode. The major benefit of using the lighter colors on the screen is that it causes an irradation illusion which makes the whitespaces appear slightly larger than they actually are in order to create the appearance of less clutter in the same amount of space. Additionally, this also helps to make our Format Panel more consistent with the look and feel of the rest of the application, making it less jarring when moving between menus in roadmapping.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/ep17.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: The Format Panel" loading="lazy" width="1420" height="875" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/06/ep17.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/06/ep17.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/ep17.png 1420w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>The Format Panel in Roadmapping Before (Left) and After (Right)</figcaption></img></figure><p>The second major change we explored to help us with reducing clutter was expanding the panel itself. Increasing it to around 1.5x the width of the previous iteration of the Format Panel, we were able to reduce a significant amount of the clutter on the panel itself and provide our users with a cleaner, easier to digest experience. The best part about this change is that it still reveals more than enough of the roadmap to be able to watch your customizations in action. </p><h3 id="cleaner-components-in-tabs">Cleaner Components in Tabs </h3><!--kg-card-begin: html--><img alt="Let's Talk: The Format Panel" src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-30-at-2.14.59-PM-1.png" style="width: 400px; height:auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Thanks to the adjustments to the panel width mentioned in the last section, we were able to make some additional changes to the interactive components in the Format Panel itself. The first (and likely most noticible) change was made to the toggles & dropdowns on the Format tab, which have been expanded to span the width of the tab and display more text in the dropdown than ever before. In addition to the resizing of the toggles, we've been able to implement a new style of toggle for the Header Direction and Theme options in the <strong>Format tab</strong>, which sees the image-based approach we previously took replaced with a cleaner, more accessible text-based approach. </p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><img alt="Let's Talk: The Format Panel" src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-30-at-2.17.51-PM.png" style="width: 400px; height:auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>On top of those changes, we've made some updates to how the color palette collapsible elements are displayed by default in the <strong>Colors tab</strong>. Prior to this update, the collapsible swatch lists were expanded by default in the menu; however, in exploration of enhancements for this panel we discovered that this draws the user's eyes directly to the colors and can cause them to overlook important contextual pieces located higher up in the tab. By keeping these swatch lists collapsed by default, it reduces distraction and makes changes in this area more intentional - hopefully reducing the number of mishaps that can occur with color palettes. </p><h3 id="the-new-dates-tab-in-the-format-panel">The New "Dates" Tab in the Format Panel</h3><!--kg-card-begin: html--><img alt="Let's Talk: The Format Panel" src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-30-at-2.18.59-PM.png" style="width: 400px; height:auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>To finish off our updates, we decided to bring one of our least discoverable features into the spotlight by moving the former Date Preferences modal into the Format Panel as the new <strong>Dates Tab</strong>. This is a welcome change for many users since it helps them to better define how dates are visualized in Roadmunk and gives them the tools to control how much time is shown on their roadmap. As an added treat, we also brought a popular customization from published roadmaps to the in-app experience: the ability for users to control whether or not to show today's line on the roadmap. This functionality is extremely popular in our published roadmaps, so we're excited to finally have it present for our in-app users as well.</p><p>Hopefully these changes can help to make customizing your roadmap even more enjoyable than before - without any of the clutter or lack of discoverability that our previous menu had. We're always continuing to improve the look and feel of the application, while adding amazing new features where we can, so keep an eye on our <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/product-updates?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Product Updates</a> page for all of the details on these changes as we launch them.</p></img></img></img>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Let's Talk: Color Palettes & Controls]]></title><description><![CDATA[Additional default color palettes, brand new features, and better visibility into how your palettes are being used. Learn more about what we've been up to with Color Palettes this past month.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/color-palette-controls/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__62b07434286942003dd2cf41</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 2022 14:19:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-12.37.47-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-12.37.47-PM.png" alt="Let's Talk: Color Palettes & Controls"/><p>Customizing your roadmap can be one of the most useful tools for building impactful, presentation-ready roadmaps - however, with more customization options come more opportunities for mistakes to happen and your beautiful roadmap can become an absolute nightmare in a very short time. To help provide teams with some peace of mind in their roadmaps, we're excited to highlight several major updates to our color palettes which are now available for all users.</p><h3 id="color-palette-usage-warnings">Color Palette Usage Warnings</h3><!--kg-card-begin: html--><img alt="Let's Talk: Color Palettes & Controls" src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-12.14.22-PM.png" style="width: 400px; height:auto; margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;"><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>We've seen it many times before: you're getting ready for a presentation later in the day and suddenly you realize that your roadmap has been changed. Whether it's colors mapped to new field values or brand new colors added into the view, these types of changes can be frustrating, destructive, and, most importantly, complete accidents 99% of the time.</p><p>In order to provide teams with some peace of mind in their roadmaps, we have introduced a few solutions which we think will help to to better communicate the impact of changes to a colour palette from inside your roadmap.</p><p>The first change is our new <strong>Custom Palette Warning</strong>, which provides users with a real-time count of roadmaps and views which are using the selected palette elsewhere. This provides immediate feedback to team members, letting them know how their changes to certain elements of the palette can impact other roadmaps across the account.</p><h3 id="lock-color-palettes-to-prevent-unwanted-changes">Lock Color Palettes to Prevent Unwanted Changes</h3><!--kg-card-begin: html--><img alt="Let's Talk: Color Palettes & Controls" src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-29-at-12.16.28-PM.png" style="width: 400px; height:auto; margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;"><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>For users on high-traffic roadmaps, one of the most common frustrations we've heard about is the ability for any editor to update the color palettes within views. While this may seem trivial for some users, many teams see it as the difference between a successful presentation and an absolute disaster.</p><p>All the drama of color palettes aside - we realized that we needed to provide users with something that could help them to better manage and control the setup of palettes on some of their higher-traffic roadmaps, which is why we've created our new <strong>Lock Color Palettes </strong>toggle. </p><p>Built into the <strong>Sharing Settings </strong>menu, this toggle prevents any users who are not the roadmap owner from editing the Color & Palette Settings for all views within that roadmap. In our early access program for this feature, users responded positively to this change - with this rather simple control providing some much-needed peace of mind and ensuring consistency of the customizations across all roadmap views. </p><h3 id="updates-to-default-palettes">Updates to Default Palettes</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/justpalcolors.png" class="kg-image" alt="Let's Talk: Color Palettes & Controls" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="550" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/06/justpalcolors.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/06/justpalcolors.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/06/justpalcolors.png 1200w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>For the past 8 years, we've had three default palettes available to all users in Roadmunk: <strong>Citrus, Groovy, & Ocean</strong>. After much discussion and debate around our next steps in this area, we've decided to make two major changes. </p><p>The first is the renaming of our current Ocean<strong> </strong>palette to <strong>Pastel</strong>. We feel this name better reflects the bright, soft springtime colors which make this palette so unique and are excited to finally get this change live for all users. If you're currently using this palette, the change will not impact your roadmap and the palette name should update automatically in your Format panel.</p><p>Our second update is one that's been a long time coming! One of our most popular requests from users is to bring new palettes into the fold which provide richer, brighter colors for their roadmaps - so we've done just that. We're pleased to introduce the following new default palettes into Roadmunk: </p><ul><li><strong>Autumn - </strong>A stunning collection of rich deep hues, with vibrant pops of color intermingled into the palette.</li><li><strong>Neon -</strong> An effervescent collection of bright colors combined to create a unique and energetic roadmap.</li><li><strong>Ocean - </strong>A collection of deep and muted oceanic hues which inspire calm and easy-reading.</li></ul><p>We hope that these new default palettes and better controls for your existing custom palettes provide you and your team with endless possibilities for creativity in your roadmap. To learn more about setting up Color Palettes in Roadmunk, make sure to check out <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043233954-Working-with-Color-Palettes?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">our recently updated article in our Help Center</a>.</p></img></img>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Link Roadmap Items without Dates]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Dependency functionality now has more capabilities and a brand new name. Say hello to “Linked Items”.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/link-roadmap-items-without-dates/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61f83646be9987003b3b4043</guid><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2022 18:07:38 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/relates-to-gif-1.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/relates-to-gif-1.gif" alt="Link Roadmap Items without Dates"/><p>There are always many reasons that features go through name changes. As potentially bothersome as they can be, we believe that well-thought-out change is a good thing—just like our <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/portfolios-update/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Portfolio name change</a> that centered around inclusivity and industry-aligned terminology. In this case, the name change is inspired by <strong>increased product offering</strong> for the Dependency feature, which is something to get excited about! We too will be correcting ourselves for the next little while, but Dependencies are a thing of the past and Linked Items are here. </p><p>Linked Items will still include our existing “Moves With” and “Blocking” options, however, we now support a third relationship type called “Relates To”. Relates To is a fantastic Linked Item type as it allows you to create connections between items that do not have exact dates (one of our most common feature requests since launching this feature!). Teams that use bucketed dates, or measure dates through sprints or quarters, will now be able to showcase connections between items and freely move them around without affecting other items on their roadmaps. Last but not least? Relates To now provides you the ability to link together any Jira or Azure Devops-integrated items, with or without date mapping!</p><p>To begin adding Relates To to some of your items, follow these steps:</p><ul><li>Open up the item card</li><li>Click “Add” beside Linked Items</li><li>Relates To is the first Linked Item option in the drop-down menu</li><li>You can also change any existing Linked Item type into Relates To</li></ul><p>Whether you roadmap using exact dates, use flexible time periods instead, or use the Jira or Azure DevOps integration, Relates To is now the most <strong>flexible</strong> and <strong>accessible</strong> Linked Item type in your toolbox. Feel free to read all the details in <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043216694-Working-with-Dependencies?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">this knowledge base article</a>. Happy roadmapping!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Pega]]></title><description><![CDATA["The colleagues of ours that were still using manual processes didn’t waste any time jumping ship and taking Roadmunk for a spin."]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/pega/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61f95e9e6b4e2b00483eee4e</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:36:10 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/pega-feature.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/pega-feature.png" alt="Pega"/><p>Pega develops enterprise-grade software to keep the world's largest corporations agile and nimble while being mindful of their bottom line.</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Cambridge, Massachusetts. USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Technology</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Since 1983, Pega's scalable software architecture and low-code platform has been the backbone of the operations of some of the world's biggest companies. To help Pega achieve their mission of crushing business complexity, Roadmunk provides them the tools they need to keep their thumb on the pulse of their customers' needs. Clarity and agility are key to staying ahead of the curve in technology. Read on to see how Pega makes the most of Roadmunk.</p><h3 id="what-do-you-like-most-about-roadmunk">What do you like most about Roadmunk?</h3><p>One of the things that I like about Roadmunk the most is that it's very user-friendly. When I’m creating a roadmap, I know exactly where I need to go to export my data into a CSV file, easily fill those fields out in an offline Excel sheet, and then re-upload them into a beautiful roadmap on Roadmunk. This has eliminated a lot of the manual work we used to do. All of my team’s roadmaps now are automatically synced with one another. Additionally, they love the visual aspect of the tool. We can quickly get a look at our roadmap for the entire year and then move different blocks of work around each quarter. If there are any delays or roadblocks, we can quickly gain sight of them and manage our path forward.<br/></p><h3 id="whats-the-biggest-impact-roadmunk-has-had-on-your-team">What's the biggest impact Roadmunk has had on your team?</h3><p>Thanks to Roadmunk, our team is finally able to work with a backlog. Before, we’d log items in OneNote or somewhere offline. This would eventually lead to those ideas and pieces of feedback getting lost. Having a backlog in our roadmapping tool, though, lets us quickly find opportunities to build these ideas out or present them to leadership. Speaking of which– Roadmunk is excellent in the boardroom. A lot of the time, we just bring up Roadmunk when we’re presenting to leadership. They’re able to gain a holistic view of our priorities for the year very quickly. Our team is very cross-functional. So, having this transparency and communication lets us allocate resources and priorities effectively across the organization. Again, thanks to how visual the tool is, we’re able to gain visibility into the status of a project fast. Whether it’s at 25% or 75%, the color-coding system helps us keep a pulse on where we are at any given time. <br/></p><h3 id="if-a-colleague-of-yours-was-shopping-for-a-roadmapping-tool-how-would-you-convince-them-to-give-roadmunk-a-shot">If a colleague of yours was shopping for a roadmapping tool, how would you convince them to give Roadmunk a shot?</h3><p>The best way to tell a colleague why they should give Roadmunk a shot is just by showing them what we have been able to accomplish with our roadmaps. Funny enough, when my team and I started using Roadmunk in our discussions, it organically turned a few heads from other departments. In fact, a couple of other teams in our company started playing around with the product as a result. They immediately saw the benefit of having the visual granularity of understanding where their roadmap is and where it might be at the end of the year. The colleagues of ours that were still using manual processes didn’t waste any time jumping ship and taking Roadmunk for a spin.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Clearview Federal Credit Union]]></title><description><![CDATA["Roadmunk has centralized all the information we need about our projects. We no longer have to rely on someone else's notes or comments because everything is documented."]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/clearview-federal-credit-union/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61f95bd26b4e2b00483eee14</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:21:57 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/clearview-feature.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/clearview-feature.png" alt="Clearview Federal Credit Union"/><p>Clearview Federal Credit Union is an American credit union and financial services provider servicing members across the United States. </p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Moon Township, Pennsylvania. USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Finance</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Since 1953, Clearview Federal Credit Union has been helping everyday Americans enjoy a better life. Through a suite of financial products, they've guided their customers to financial stability and independence. However, as the needs of their members evolve so must the offerings of Clearview FCU. To help manage their transition to e-commerce, Clearview FCU relies on Roadmunk to keep them organized.</p><h3 id="what-do-you-like-most-about-roadmunk">What do you like most about Roadmunk?</h3><p>Roadmunk removed the hassle of updating our previous Excel sheets. Our roadmaps now can be updated quickly without needing to worry about merging and unmerging cells. The activity and comment features have also been a great help. We’re able to retain the history of any given project without having to dig through a slew of emails and meeting minutes. Overall, Roadmunk has really streamlined our work and is allowing us to focus on the important stuff. </p><h3 id="whats-the-biggest-impact-roadmunk-has-had-on-your-team">What's the biggest impact Roadmunk has had on your team?</h3><p>Roadmunk has centralized all the information we need about our projects. Whenever we need it, we can get everything we need to know about a project all from one place. We no longer have to rely on someone else's notes or comments because everything is documented in the item details of our roadmap. Projects frequently change dates, and now we're able to see exactly when and why a project was moved by using the item details options. </p><h3 id="if-a-colleague-of-yours-was-shopping-for-roadmapping-tools-how-would-you-convince-them-to-give-roadmunk-a-shot">If a colleague of yours was shopping for roadmapping tools, how would you convince them to give Roadmunk a shot?</h3><p>In addition to the historical data you get when updating items in Roadmunk, my elevator pitch for Roadmunk always includes the sharing capabilities. With just a few clicks, you’re able to share a password-protected URL with whoever needs to take a look at your roadmap. The best part? Roadmaps are automatically refreshed with the most up-to-date data. Our executive leadership team no longer needs to rely on us sending them the most recent version of an Excel document. They’re confident the Roadmunk URL they have gives them a real-time look at the state of our projects.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre]]></title><description><![CDATA["I’m overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities Roadmunk offers. My imagination is the only limit here."]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/ohio-state-university-wexner-medical-centre/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61f9574f7f7b68003bb1dc6f</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:00:54 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/OSU-feature.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Organization</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/OSU-feature.png" alt="The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre"/><p>The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located on the main campus of The Ohio State University.</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Columbus, Ohio. USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Healthcare</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Researching diseases is tough work. Managing your projects should be the last thing on your mind when you're preparing the world to fight them. Roadmunk gives the Wexner Medical Center one less thing to worry about. Our tools keep them aligned and focused on the work that matters most– keeping us healthy.</p><h3 id="what-do-you-like-most-about-roadmunk">What do you like most about Roadmunk?</h3><p>The list of things I like about Roadmunk is long. The flexibility of the tool, all the visualization options, the ability to roll up individual roadmaps into master roadmaps… the list goes on. My role in IT requires specificity into many different areas. Roadmunk helps me share that visibility with anyone on my team who needs it. Quite frankly, I’m overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities Roadmunk offers. My imagination is the only limit here. Our organization as a whole has really welcomed the tool. We rely on it to help us communicate much more effectively and efficiently. I’m excited to continue using the tool with my team for a long time.</p><h3 id="how-would-you-describe-your-overall-experience-with-roadmunk">How would you describe your overall experience with Roadmunk?</h3><p>I want to highlight all the training that they offer. We've gotten really good support from Roadmunk’s teams whenever we’ve had a request or question. They've done a really good job of being available to help walk us through how to use certain aspects of the tool and refine our own processes with it. Tech firms traditionally don’t have this type of flexibility or care, so this has been very welcome. It really makes adoption of the tool that much easier.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Visualize Item Progress in Azure DevOps-integrated Roadmaps]]></title><description><![CDATA[Automatically gain the visibility you need to track how your work items are developing]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/visualize-item-progress-in-azure-devops-integrated-roadmaps/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61e5b7c948255d003b18970b</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2022 15:47:38 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/01/ado-progress-wbackground@3x.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/01/ado-progress-wbackground@3x.png" alt="Visualize Item Progress in Azure DevOps-integrated Roadmaps"/><p>One of the most important line items in standups and status meetings is the insights into how projects are progressing. This is helpful for many reasons, including transparency, alignment on next steps, and planning what to tackle when it’s crossed off the list. If your team utilizes our Azure DevOps integration and wants to bring work item progress into your roadmap, this enhancement is for you!</p><p>Now you'll be able to sync the progress of your boards based on completion and visualize that progress using the native Item Progress feature in Roadmunk - without manually having to enter and update this information! Whether you prefer to track progress by effort, item count, or story points there’s a simple, visually compelling, and automated solution to better understand your initiative's course to 100% completion.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-17-at-2.38.03-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Visualize Item Progress in Azure DevOps-integrated Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="1567" height="797" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-17-at-2.38.03-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-17-at-2.38.03-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-01-17-at-2.38.03-PM.png 1567w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>To begin syncing Azure DevOps work item progress into Roadmunk, just follow these steps:</p><ul><li>Head into an integrated roadmap, click the Azure DevOps icon in the top right corner, and select “Modify Setup”</li><li>In the setup window, navigate to the final tab titled “Select Fields”</li><li>Under “Work Item Progress to Sync”, select your desired "Progress by" option, and click “Save”</li></ul><p>Great! Next, let’s walk through how to visualize this on your roadmap:</p><ul><li>Jump to either the Timeline or Swimlane View and click on the Formatting Panel</li><li>Scroll to the Item Progress dropdown and select the desired Progress By Field</li><li>Once selected, the roadmap will update automatically to visualize the item progress</li></ul><p>If you have any questions about our newest enhancement, be sure to check out <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043735633-Working-with-Item-Progress-?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h_50a66196-e3d2-4d9f-a270-0c45ecf8366f">this Knowledge Base article</a>. Give it a whirl and let us know how it goes, happy roadmapping!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Precise Filters for Azure DevOps with WIQL]]></title><description><![CDATA[Powerful and flexible filtering has never been easier thanks to Work Item Query Language support.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/precise-filters-for-azure-devops-with-wiql/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__619e9c56f55a6a003ad51484</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2021 16:53:04 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Since the release of the Azure DevOps integration in October, many synced roadmaps have seamlessly kept both tools and teams better aligned. However, a consistent request has been raised… the ability to support WIQL filtering. Teams are looking for more <strong>finesse</strong> and <strong>control</strong> over the work items they pull in so their roadmaps represent a <strong>targeted</strong> set of necessary data.</p><p>Well, thanks to WIQL, you now can <strong>precisely define the specific work items you want to synchronize</strong> through context-based queries to ensure your roadmaps are focused and uncluttered! No longer will all your data pour into your roadmap, leaving you to be selective with what Fields to pull in or rely on Roadmunk filtering to trim down the data set. WIQL gives you the power and flexibility for a smarter, cleaner, and smoother synchronization.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/WIQL---Fresh.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="1636" height="1136" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/11/WIQL---Fresh.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/11/WIQL---Fresh.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/11/WIQL---Fresh.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/WIQL---Fresh.png 1636w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>If you are interested in using WIQL to filter your items, you are able to do so in a roadmap that’s currently integrated with Azure DevOps, or a brand new roadmap. <strong>Please note</strong> if you choose to edit an existing roadmap, items may be removed from your visualization based on the query parameters. </p><p>To being using WIQL in a new roadmap, just follow these steps:</p><ul><li>Click the Integrations icon in the top right navigation. Enter valid Azure DevOps credentials and determine your sync settings</li><li>On the Filter Work Items screen, select the desired project, and then toggle the Configuration Mode from Basic to WIQL</li><li>Input your query into the Custom WIQL text field and click “Validate” to ensure that your query is correct</li><li>If "Everything looks good!" press “Next” and complete the setup by selecting the desired Fields and clicking “Let’s Go”</li></ul><p>That’s it! Be sure to check out this <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4414069963543?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base article</a> for all the extra details and information. Happy filtering!</p><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Keep Date Information Top of Mind with Date/Time Field Support for Jira-integrated Roadmaps]]></title><description><![CDATA[Not only can you map Jira Date/Time fields to Start and End dates in Roadmunk, but now you can also display additional date fields in your roadmaps.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/keep-all-date-information-top-of-mind-with-date-time-field-support-for-jira-integrated-roadmaps/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61895b16f55a6a003ad5142f</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:09:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/jira-date-time-header-1.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/jira-date-time-header-1.png" alt="Keep Date Information Top of Mind with Date/Time Field Support for Jira-integrated Roadmaps"/><p>Does your team use Date/Time fields as your primary date fields in your Jira projects? We understand this is common practice among Roadmunk roadmappers due to the value, power, and details these fields hold. That being said, we are thrilled to unlock the ability to now sync this helpful information in your roadmaps so you never have to context switch to see date-related details.</p><p>Fortunately, this release <strong>also</strong> unlocks the ability to sync additional date fields on your projects as read-only fields in your roadmap. No longer are there limitations in place to only sync a select couple of date fields! Now you can represent the numerous date-specific pillars along your issues lifespan in your roadmap so you never miss a beat.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-08-at-12.56.03-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Keep Date Information Top of Mind with Date/Time Field Support for Jira-integrated Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="914" height="640" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-08-at-12.56.03-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-08-at-12.56.03-PM.png 914w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>To begin syncing your Date/Time fields to your roadmaps, as well as pull in additional date fields to display, please note that the desired fields <strong>must be on the Create Issues screen in Jira</strong>. Once that’s completed, simply follow these steps:</p><ul><li>Head into an integrated roadmap, click the Jira icon in the top right corner, and select “Modify Setup”</li><li>In the setup window, navigate to the final tab titled “Dates & Fields”</li><li>Under the heading “Dates to Map”, Date/Time fields should appear in the Start and End Date dropdown menus (do note that if Date Mapping has already been selected, <strong>it cannot be modified)</strong></li><li>Upon scrolling down, “Dates to Display” will showcase all additional date fields that you can choose to sync as <strong>read-only</strong> fields in your roadmap</li><li>Once the desired fields/date mapping is selected, click “Save” and soon after the fields will appear and their values will begin trickling in on the items table</li></ul><p>Be sure to check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043030054-Date-Field-Mapping-with-Jira?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> for all details on this awesome release. The clock’s ticking… go get those Date/Time fields synced. Happy roadmapping!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sync Jira Cascading Select Fields to Roadmunk]]></title><description><![CDATA[Supporting this field type allows cascaded values to be neatly consolidated as a single field value in your roadmap. The more data the merrier!]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/sync-jira-cascading-select-fields-to-roadmunk/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61895f30f55a6a003ad5144e</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:05:57 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screenshot-2021-11-11-at-9.16.44-AM-1.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screenshot-2021-11-11-at-9.16.44-AM-1.png" alt="Sync Jira Cascading Select Fields to Roadmunk"/><p>It’s no surprise that Roadmunk Jira users love and utilize Cascading Select Fields in their Jira projects. With this helpful field type, the field options in second list are dependent on what you chose in the first list, resulting in a much simpler, easier, and faster experience instead of scrolling through potentially hundreds of field options in one lengthy list.</p><p>Thankfully, since supporting this field type in our Jira integration, you can easily see both levels of cascaded values neatly represented in a single field. Who wouldn't love fitting more data into the same space? As well, manipulating this field in Roadmunk and syncing changes back to the integrated project is a clean and clutter-free experience since we only display current field values that are selected, not the entire exhaustive list.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-11-at-9.14.22-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Sync Jira Cascading Select Fields to Roadmunk" loading="lazy" width="1078" height="749" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-11-at-9.14.22-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-11-at-9.14.22-AM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-11-at-9.14.22-AM.png 1078w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>To begin syncing your Cascading Select Fields to your roadmaps, please note that the desired field <strong>must be on the Create Issues screen in Jira</strong>. Once that’s completed, the rest is simple:</p><ul><li>Head into an integrated roadmap, click the Jira icon in the top right corner, and select “Modify Setup”</li><li>In the setup window, navigate to the final tab titled “Dates & Fields”</li><li>Under the heading “Fields to Sync”, you should see your Cascading Select Fields</li><li>Once the desired fields are selected, click “Save” and after a short time the field will appear and their values will begin trickling in on the items table</li></ul><p>If you have any questions about our newest enhancement, be sure to check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043030054-Date-Field-Mapping-with-Jira?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a>. Give it a whirl and let us know how it goes, happy roadmapping!<br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tulip Retail]]></title><description><![CDATA[“We chose Roadmunk because it is simple but powerful. Our product team uses the platform to communicate high level planning to engineering and other stakeholders.”]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/tulip-retail/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6166f8f0a2d576003a90d919</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:20:39 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/tulip-feature.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/tulip-feature.png" alt="Tulip Retail"/><p>Tulip offers the world's most user-friendly and powerful cloud-based mobile apps build exclusively for stores of the future.
</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Toronto, Ontario, Canada</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Software</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Tulip Retail is a Toronto-based startup. The company has found a lot of traction with its mobile platform—it was built to help retail store associates create amazing shopping experiences for their clients. Catalogs, purchase history and checkout can be accessed within the app from anywhere in the store.</p><p>Tulip’s product management team uses Roadmunk to stay organized and keep the rest of the company in the loop.</p><p>“We chose Roadmunk because it is simple but powerful” John Kotowski, Head of Product, said. John brought Roadmunk into Tulip having used the platform at a previous company.</p><p>John and seven of his product managers use Roadmunk for high-level planning and to align product and engineering stakeholders in meetings about what will be included in upcoming releases. Their day-to-day tactical organization lives in Jira.</p><hr><blockquote>“Roadmunk sits on top of our other software. We don’t use it for granular planning and it's not for tactical execution. We use Jira for that, but Roadmunk shows the big picture of where our product is going,” Jan said. “It's very hard to get a holistic, high-level that view out of Jira or any other task management tool.”</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/tulip-john.png" class="kg-image" alt="Tulip Retail" loading="lazy" width="200" height="200"><figcaption>John Kotowski | Head of Product at Tulip Retail</figcaption></img></figure><hr/></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Staples]]></title><description><![CDATA[“Roadmunk helps each of my product managers remain focused on the right mix of transformative efforts and backlog items for each of their products.”]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/staples/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6166f7eaa2d576003a90d903</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:17:10 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/staples-feature.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/staples-feature.png" alt="Staples"/><p>Staples Inc. is an American office retail company. It is primarily involved in the sale of office supplies and related products, via retail channels and business-to-business-oriented delivery operations.
</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Boston, Massachusetts, USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Office Retail</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>Lauren Kaeppner is a product team leader at Staples. She realized, a couple of years ago, that she needed a better roadmapping tool than Excel. Lauren wanted to paint a clearer picture of what her team was up to—specifically how each product manager’s tasks were helping to push their product forward.</p><p>Lauren typed “roadmap applications” into Google and found Roadmunk. She signed up for a free trial started roadmapping right away. Lauren liked to the tool so much that she quickly enlisted ten of her product managers to use Roadmunk, too.</p><hr><blockquote>“Adopting Roadmunk into our Product Management organization has transformed how we manage our products.” Lauren said. “Roadmunk helps each of my product managers remain focused on the right mix of transformative efforts and backlog items for each of their products.”</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/staples-lauren.png" class="kg-image" alt="Staples" loading="lazy" width="200" height="200"><figcaption>Lauren Kaeppner | Product Team Leader at Staples</figcaption></img></figure><hr><p>Roadmaps were shared with different teams and stakeholders across the organization. The visibility and clarity into how products would evolve—and the ease in which roadmaps could be shared—was a welcome change.</p><p>“We’re positioned to be transparent at a moment’s notice. We can walk stakeholders through our product strategy live, right in the app,” Lauren said.</p><p>The roadmaps created by Lauren and her product managers were presented to the the executive team. They were so impressed by Roadmunk’s visualization and sharing capabilities that they encouraged other departments to adopt the tool, too. And they did. Roadmunk is used by a variety of teams across Staples to share plans and align on what’s coming up next.</p></hr></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Echo360]]></title><description><![CDATA[“Roadmunk helps you build roadmaps that you're also proud to show to your best customers.”]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/echo360/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6154ceb22f11cb003b74fbc7</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2021 19:23:44 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/echo360-1.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/echo360-1.png" alt="Echo360"/><p>Echo360 is a mission-driven company developed by educators to help teachers capture and extend moments to improve student engagement. Made for the future of education, Echo360’s technology empowers educators to create the leaders of tomorrow.
</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Reston, Virginia, USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Education</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>One of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic was higher education. Schools and teachers scrambled to shift to remote learning environments. Times like these are imperative for Echo360. Educators were relying on them to help deliver engaging learning experiences to their students. Find out how Echo360 kept their roadmap responsive to the needs of their partners during this rocky time.</p><h3 id="why-did-your-team-decide-to-start-using-roadmunk">Why did your team decide to start using Roadmunk?</h3><p>We make pretty pretty extensive use of Jira as our primary work tracking tool. Jira, however, doesn't help us do a great job of communicating upwards in the organization. It tells us what's getting built but it doesn't tell us how it's solving a customer pain.</p><p>That's what we've adopted Roadmunk for. Roadmunk helps us tell the story of the pain points that the features we're building will help solve. We use it as an internal planning tool at the executive level. We often use the swimlane views to map out different products and features with our CEO and VPs.</p><h3 id="where-in-your-team-s-process-does-roadmunk-add-value">Where in your team's process does Roadmunk add value?</h3><p>Although our team is small, we've broken them up into a number of different specialties across our products. So, there's a lot of cross-talk that needs to happen. One of the key visualizations for us in Roadmunk is a team swimlane breakdown. This helps figure out the balance of investment across teams.</p><p>For example, are we adding enough value with the analytics team or is it time to move them to something else temporarily? Because we're in ed-tech, we have to ensure that our focuses are in line with the needs of schools.</p><hr><blockquote>"It's between the strategic vision of the company and the very tactical layer where Roadmunk really shines for us. It helps up show the next hill we're going to climb on our innovation journey."</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/dan-rinzel.png" class="kg-image" alt="Echo360" loading="lazy" width="198" height="198"><figcaption>Dan Rinzel | Director of Product Management at Echo360</figcaption></img></figure><hr><h3 id="how-do-you-keep-your-roadmap-nimble-enough-to-respond-to-challenges-that-may-come-out-of-the-blue">How do you keep your roadmap nimble enough to respond to challenges that may come out of the blue?</h3><p>For the education sector, a great example of a challenge was the pandemic. When everybody started teaching on Zoom last year, we had to reprioritize.</p><p>Roadmunk was helpful in helping us decide which pieces of work to accelerate and what may get displaced. Being able to visually move our cards for the features in the pipeline was a big deal– especially when communicating with internal stakeholders. The real-time, almost WYSIWYG-like capability, helps us map out hypothetical scenarios with leadership.</p><h3 id="what-s-one-way-your-team-uses-roadmunk-that-might-surprise-us">What's one way your team uses Roadmunk that might surprise us?</h3><p>Roadmunk actually gets the most external use for us when we do quarterly webinars with our customers. We put up our roadmap on the screen and share what we've recently released, what's in flight, and what's coming soon. Doing this with customers who are champions for Echo360 lets us know directly if we're focused on solving the right issues for them. Roadmunk also acts as a validation tool for us.</p><hr><blockquote>“One of my tenants of product management is that the cheapest time to change direction is before you've written any code. That's where having a tool like Roadmunk that has some institutional memory of it's own is important. It keeps track of where we are, where we thought we were going two quarters ago, and where we think we're going now.”</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/dan-rinzel.png" class="kg-image" alt="Echo360" loading="lazy" width="198" height="198"><figcaption>Dan Rinzel | Director of Product Management at Echo360</figcaption></img></figure><hr><h3 id="how-would-you-recommend-roadmunk-to-a-pm-who-s-still-shopping-around">How would you recommend Roadmunk to a PM who's still shopping around?</h3><p>Roadmunk is a lightweight planning tool that is customer friendly. I've used a lot of other PM tools in my career and Roadmunk does not have the overhead that a lot of those other tools do. The learning curve is low. Roadmunk helps you build roadmaps that you're also proud to show to your best customers.</p></hr></hr></hr></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sync your Azure DevOps projects to Roadmunk with our latest integration]]></title><description><![CDATA[It’s simple and quick to sync a project to a roadmap, combine important data, and create a beautiful visualization that syncs right back to the source.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/sync-your-azure-devops-projects-to-roadmunk-with-our-latest-integration/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__615600a32f11cb003b74fcdd</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2021 18:18:14 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/postcard-ado-1.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/postcard-ado-1.png" alt="Sync your Azure DevOps projects to Roadmunk with our latest integration"/><p>You’ve asked, and we’ve listened - Azure DevOps for Roadmunk is finally here! No more wrangling with CSV exports and imports to get project information into a roadmap. Long gone are the days of exploring API documentation, evaluating if you have what it takes to build the connection yourself. It’s time to celebrate that the tools you use and love can become better acquainted (and integrated)!</p><p>With the Azure DevOps integration, you can seamlessly sync data between projects and roadmaps, eliminating the need for manual data entry and maintaining information in two places. With both 1- and 2-way sync support, remove the guesswork when determining the source of truth, and always be up to date with the latest information.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-2.33.04-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Sync your Azure DevOps projects to Roadmunk with our latest integration" loading="lazy" width="1851" height="851" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-2.33.04-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-2.33.04-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-2.33.04-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-2.33.04-PM.png 1851w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>It’s intuitive and simple to get started - and the integration only needs to be set up <strong>one time</strong>! Here’s a quick rundown of how to create the integration and begin syncing projects into roadmaps (or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fTsOycsMYs&ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">watch how to do this here</a>!):</p><ul><li>In Account Settings head to the “Integrations” tab and click “Add an integration”. Select “Azure DevOps”, and enter your server information. <strong>Note:</strong> only Account Administrators can complete this step.</li><li>In a new or existing roadmap, click the Integrations icon in the top right navigation. Enter valid Azure DevOps credentials, determine your sync settings, select the desired project, and choose what important details will accompany your roadmap.</li><li>After clicking “Let’s Go!”, the roadmap will begin its first sync and your work items and custom fields will trickle into a beautiful roadmap in minutes. Easy peasy.</li></ul><p>We’re confident that integrating your roadmap with Azure DevOps will help automate and expedite your current roadmapping processes, and empower you to capture a holistic view of your work in a centralized roadmap.</p><p>If you have any questions along the way, be sure to check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402272276119-Setting-Up-the-Azure-DevOps-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> for even more information on how to use the Azure DevOps integration.<br/></p><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[CARFAX]]></title><description><![CDATA[“Roadmunk fits the bill in terms of the culture we wanted to nurture across our product and project teams.”]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/carfax/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6154d1dc2f11cb003b74fbee</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 30 Sep 2021 17:00:13 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/carfax.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/carfax.png" alt="CARFAX"/><p>For 37 years, CARFAX has been trusted by millions of Canadians and Americans to supply them with vehicle history reports to help them make more informed purchasing decisions.
</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Centreville, Virginia, USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Automotive</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>If you’re on a mission to bring transparency and trust to your customers in a confusing industry, those values need to be instilled in your own organization first. CARFAX uses Roadmunk to align their leadership around a singular vision. Learn how CARFAX uses our features to ensure their team is working smart and hard.</p><h3 id="what-did-roadmapping-at-carfax-look-like-before-roadmunk">What did roadmapping at CARFAX look like before Roadmunk?</h3><p>All of our roadmapping used to be done in Excel. We literally had one big Excel roadmap with joined cells, merged data, and it was just absolutely painful to update every month.</p><p>Now, with Roadmunk, it's so much easier to show who's working on what and how it is connected to our strategy. Updating is a breeze with Roadmunk's drag and drop features. We don't have to wait for updated Excel files to be passed around; our roadmaps always reflect the reality of the situation at that moment in time.</p><h3 id="how-does-your-team-use-roadmunk-today">How does your team use Roadmunk today?</h3><p>Roadmunk is primarily used by our product and project managers and their teams. We have individual teams managing their roadmaps in Roadmunk on a regular basis. Those individual roadmaps roll up into portfolio roadmaps; from there, we have four macro-level portfolio areas. Overviews and discussions about each of these are shared routinely with our senior leadership team to help us prioritize at the strategic level to ensure our organization is aligned.</p><hr><blockquote>"It didn’t take much convincing to get our team onto Roadmunk. It was just so much better than what we were using at the time, and we knew it would meet our needs. Roadmunk was great in terms of pricing and support, too. It was an easy choice." – Alison Clough | Manager of Project Services at CARFAX</blockquote><hr><h3 id="how-were-you-presenting-roadmaps-before">How were you presenting roadmaps before?</h3><p>We would build the visuals out in Excel. Then we would copy portions of the roadmaps into screenshots for PowerPoint. From there we'd put on overlays to draw attention to different elements. It was a very tedious process that took considerable time.</p><p>Presenting with Roadmunk has made our update meetings much more productive. The design of the app, with its heading structures and pivotable views, helps us communicate clearly. The visual indicators help us make sure our game plan is aligned. This is important especially as our new feature rollouts get more complex.</p><hr><blockquote>"We have multiple teams and different levels of leadership pulling up Roadmunk in their meetings to see how we’re delivering and where we can be performing better. Portfolio management within Roadmunk is powerful and makes sure my team isn’t wasting their time." – Aaron Hall | Head of Project and Portfolio Management at CARFAX</blockquote><hr><h3 id="how-did-you-know-roadmunk-was-the-right-fit-for-your-team">How did you know Roadmunk was the right fit for your team?</h3><p>I've been a leader of project management teams for many years in a lot of different organizations. I've often had to work hard to convince people of the value of my function. That's not because I'm a bad guy or portfolio and project planning is “bad,” it's just that there's a lot of negative pre-conceived notions about what project managers do.</p><p>The beautiful thing about CARFAX, though, is that I've never had to convince people of the value of what we do. One of our key corporate values is transparency. We have a culture of trust and openness. Roadmunk fit the bill in terms of the culture we wanted to nurture on our teams.</p></hr></hr></hr></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Dell]]></title><description><![CDATA[“The advantages of Roadmunk extend far beyond just visualization of projects”]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/dell/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__61531c5613a08a003b1be7da</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:55:07 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/dell.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<!--kg-card-begin: html--><aside class="customer-story-aside">
<h3 id="company">Company</h3>
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/dell.png" alt="Dell"/><p>Dell is an American multinational computer technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and accessories.</p>
<h3 id="headquarters">Headquarters</h3>
<p>Round Rock, Texas. USA</p>
<h3 id="industry">Industry</h3>
<p>Technology</p>
</aside><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>When you’re an international technology company running hundreds of campaigns all at once, it can be easy to lose track of your projects. That’s why Dell relies on Roadmunk to be the single source of truth for their marketing teams. Keep reading to learn how Dell’s global technical marketing team uses Roadmunk to tell their story the right way.</p><h3 id="what-s-your-roadmunk-story">What's your Roadmunk Story?</h3><p>Before Roadmunk, I was using some of the most complicated spreadsheets to manage a global technical marketing team. I was tying things together manually and it was a disaster.</p><p>I don't even know how I found Roadmunk, but when I did it felt as if it was from the heavens. It was so simple and intuitive to use that I didn't even need a demo to get started. I was up and running immediately.</p><p>I've been quite the evangelist for Roadmunk at Dell and now it's gone viral in our teams.<br/></p><h3 id="how-did-roadmunk-make-your-work-easier">How did Roadmunk make your work easier?</h3><p>A big problem on my team was that I was the bottleneck. I was constantly meeting with everyone on my team to understand the status of all the various projects on the go. Just staying up to date with them was a full-time effort.</p><p>Roadmunk helped eliminate this challenge. Now, my team can take accountability of their own roadmaps and manage their lines of business. The advantages of Roadmunk extend far beyond just visualization of projects. The tool offered a huge efficiency advantage.</p><hr><blockquote>"In order to have a clear vision, you need to start with sight. Roadmunk gives us the clarity we need to remove the fog. We make efficient and effective decisions thanks to Roadmunk." </blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/connor-duffy.png" class="kg-image" alt="Dell" loading="lazy" width="198" height="198"><figcaption>Conor Duffy | Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC</figcaption></img></figure><hr><h3 id="as-a-leader-how-does-roadmunk-help-you-manage-more-effectively">As a leader, how does Roadmunk help you manage more effectively?</h3><p>Dell's technical marketing team is global and operates in multiple time zones. Roadmunk makes it so much easier for me to manage distributed teams.</p><p>I start off every Monday morning by logging into Roadmunk. I have multiple projects set up and a color-coded system that lets me quickly see how they're trending and what's falling behind. As a manager, this lets me be proactive as opposed to reactive. This is a massive operational efficiency that Roadmunk has given me.</p><h3 id="tell-me-about-the-impact-that-roadmunk-has-had-on-your-team-">Tell me about the impact that Roadmunk has had on your team.</h3><p>Roadmunk's topological view allows the individuals on my team to better understand their own utilization. It helps them to advocate for themselves and manage their own capacity as well as the expectations of others.</p><p>In addition to setting deadlines, my team members now also know when they have to start their work to ensure the highest level of quality. It's had a big impact on our culture.</p><hr><blockquote>"Roadmunk provides me with the data that allows me to become a more informed, efficient decision-maker."</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/connor-duffy-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Dell" loading="lazy" width="198" height="198"><figcaption>Conor Duffy | Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC</figcaption></img></figure><hr><h3 id="what-surprised-you-about-adopting-roadmunk">What surprised you about adopting Roadmunk?</h3><p>An unintended consequence of adopting Roadmunk was the incentive it gave to my team. I've intentionally setup my roadmaps to be visible to everyone. This helps our whole team be transparent with each other.</p><p>Speaking candidly, we live in a world where 20% of the people on your team might be doing 80% of the work. But I've found that having transparent roadmaps actually motivates the whole team to be more productive. Roadmunk really helps me create better team players.</p><h3 id="how-did-you-convince-your-team-to-adopt-roadmunk">How did you convince your team to adopt Roadmunk?</h3><p>It really didn't take much work on my end. There were so many complicated tools out there that my team was already dying for something easier. When we found Roadmunk, the choice was easy. The app was very intuitive and simple.</p><p>The same way Apple is so easy that your grandmother could pick it up, Roadmunk does the same for roadmapping. The people at Roadmunk knocked it out of the park.</p><hr><blockquote>"My teams are working on hundreds of projects concurrently. We're responsible for supporting billions of dollars worth of product revenue. I'd like to thank Roadmunk for enabling my team to do more of the work that matters."</blockquote><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/connor-duffy-2.png" class="kg-image" alt="Dell" loading="lazy" width="198" height="198"><figcaption>Conor Duffy | Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC</figcaption></img></figure><hr><h3 id="if-a-colleague-of-yours-was-shopping-for-a-roadmapping-tool-how-would-you-convince-them-to-give-roadmunk-a-shot">If a colleague of yours was shopping for a roadmapping tool, how would you convince them to give Roadmunk a shot?</h3><p>I think the Roadmunk tool speaks for itself in many ways. How I typically convince people is just by showing them how intuitive it is. Immediately, people become envious. They see that they can gain a significant command of their business with Roadmunk.</p></hr></hr></hr></hr></hr></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps]]></title><description><![CDATA[It’s now simple and quick to sync a project to a roadmap, combine important data, and create a visualization that syncs right back to the source.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/integrate-your-roadmaps-with-azure-devops/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6149f7570e83ea003b986dad</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 Sep 2021 17:43:40 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/postcard-ado.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/postcard-ado.png" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps"/><p>As Roadmunk continues to be a Product Manager’s go-to tool, we’ve grown our offerings to include feedback management and idea prioritization; additions that perfectly round off the product journey. As amazing as these features are, and they seriously are, we know deep down that roadmapping is our bread and butter. Beautiful boardroom-ready roadmaps that are collaborative, shareable, customizable… what’s not to love?</p><p>Now imagine that you utilize a work management system. Perhaps one made by Microsoft. Perhaps one called Azure DevOps. How great would it be to mould together granular details from Azure DevOps with strategic visualizations in Roadmunk? We invite you to keep reading.</p><p>This guide will walk you through what you need to know about Azure DevOps for Roadmunk, from the overarching benefits to the nitty gritty how-to's. Let’s go!</p><h2 id="understanding-the-azure-devops-integration">Understanding the Azure DevOps integration</h2><p>Our Azure DevOps integration was created to help you visualize a beautiful high-level strategy sprinkled with only the most important tasks and details. Imagine that Azure DevOps holds the nooks and crannies of your work’s information, while Roadmunk pulls it all together in a cumulative view. It’s the best of both worlds, but in one integration - less really is more.</p><p>However, the one exception to the “less is more” rule is … flexibility. The Azure DevOps integration is fully flexible, empowering you to configure your sync settings and schedule in a way that makes sense for you.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.29.12-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="894" height="624" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.29.12-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.29.12-AM.png 894w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Whether you prefer a one-way sync or opt for two-way, Azure DevOps for Roadmunk supports both. It’s important to note that with a one-way sync, Azure DevOps is your source of truth. Updates to your work items flow from your linked project straight to your roadmap - simple as that. With a two-way sync, changes you make in Azure DevOps are reflected in your roadmap, and vice versa, saving you time and keeping things streamlined. One detail to emphasize here is that the most recently updated tool wins in a 2-way setup. What do we mean by this? If changes have happened in both Roadmunk and Azure DevOps, upon the next sync the data will reflect whichever tool was last updated. </p><p>Hoping for automatic syncs, or do you prefer manual syncs for complete control? Once again, Azure DevOps for Roadmunk supports both. If you configure a sync schedule for the integration, your data is automatically synced on the set cadence (1 hour, 6 hours ect), eliminating any worries about double data entry and ensuring that the most current information is surfacing. However, don’t forget that manual syncs are available if you choose to go the old-school route - and that’s okay! There’s certainly something to be said for manually pushing updates when the time is right. But the best part? You can set a sync schedule, yet also push updates between cadences so the information is always up to date - just like saving your work along the way.</p><h2 id="how-to-create-the-integration-and-setup-a-roadmap">How to create the integration and setup a roadmap</h2><p>It’s time<strong> </strong>to set up the Azure DevOps integration in Roadmunk! </p><p>If you’re an Account Admin in Roadmunk, you’ll be able to set up the integration on your own in Account Settings, and you’ll only need to connect it <strong>once</strong>. For Collaborators, you’ll be able to use the integration as soon as the initial setup is all complete.</p><p>Check out the video below for a detailed rundown of getting the integration up and running, and begin syncing your first roadmap. Or if you prefer seeing everything written out, we’ve included all the necessary steps in <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402272276119-Setting-Up-the-Azure-DevOps-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">this Knowledge Base article</a>.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><iframe width="100%" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3fTsOycsMYs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""/><!--kg-card-end: html--><h2 id="the-value-of-roadmapping-with-azure-devops">The value of roadmapping with Azure DevOps</h2><p>The foundation has been set - you understand how the integration works and have things setup in your account. You may be asking “What’s next?” or “How can I now utilize the integration to complement and expedite my roadmapping processes?”. Next, we’ll outline a handful of our fan favourite benefits and suggestions to help get those creative juices flowing.</p><h3 id="display-the-data-that-s-most-important-to-you">Display the data that's most important to you</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.37.12-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="896" height="625" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.37.12-AM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-30-at-11.37.12-AM.png 896w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>With the integration you have the ability to blend important default and <strong>custom</strong> Azure DevOps fields with native Roadmunk fields, so you can display specific project information in conjunction with your trusty Account and Roadmap fields. There’s no limitation to the amount of fields that can be synced, so be sure to include some of the most popular from Azure DevOps like State, Assigned To (and many more Identity fields), Priority, Area Path, and Iteration Path to name a few! </p><p><strong>✏️ To note:</strong> Work Item descriptions will, by default, be included in the sync…. and with full HTML-based rendering! Roadmunk is not quite there on supporting HTML-based fields, so the description will be read-only when it's synced. But it certainly will be beautifully formatted for a consistent and visually appealing experience.</p><h3 id="confidently-schedule-and-track-your-work">Confidently schedule and track your work</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="1651" height="1068" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/ado-spotlight-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-1.png 1651w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>One of the best parts about the integration is that you can bring together all of your upcoming releases in one easy-to-understand view. This allows you to gain clarity regarding which work items are included in each release, as well as which ones might need a bit more attention to push them over the finish line. Enjoy complete control over which additional data to display, allowing you to shape the visualization depending on the roadmap audience. </p><h3 id="try-a-timeline-for-a-traditional-and-time-oriented-visualization">Try a Timeline for a traditional and time-oriented visualization</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-2.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="1651" height="1069" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-2.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/ado-spotlight-2.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-2.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-2.png 1651w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Having dates affiliated with your work items allows you to forecast time and effort with more precision, and create a tangible release schedule that’s clear and easy to digest. Timeline views showcase what’s happening and when, so there’s never any confusion regarding what’s being worked on and the anticipated deadlines. </p><p><strong>✏️ To note: </strong>The integration supports mapping Date fields from the Azure DevOps project to the item’s Start and End date in the roadmap, so you have control over the duration of the item. Please note that due to a variance in field formatting between Roadmunk and Azure DevOps, additional Date fields chosen to display will be pulled in as read-only text fields.</p><h3 id="try-a-swimlane-for-flexible-roadmapping">Try a Swimlane for flexible roadmapping</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-3.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="1652" height="1068" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-3.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/ado-spotlight-3.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-3.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-3.png 1652w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Swimlane roadmaps are perfect for a more agile and flexible approach to roadmapping. Many product teams choose to not add dates to their work items to allow for a more adjustable and adaptable release schedule. If this is how your team roadmaps, you’re in luck! You are free to leverage a helpful Roadmunk feature called <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041344493-Working-with-Sub-items?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">sub-items</a>, which allows you to split your items into a parent-child structure.</p><h3 id="combine-azure-devops-projects-into-one-portfolio-roadmap">Combine Azure DevOps projects into one Portfolio roadmap</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-4.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with
Azure DevOps" loading="lazy" width="1652" height="1069" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-4.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/10/ado-spotlight-4.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/10/ado-spotlight-4.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/10/ado-spotlight-4.png 1652w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>At this point in time, the Azure DevOps integration supports syncing one project to one roadmap. However, it’s very likely that your team is working with multiple projects, so why not roll them up into a single roadmap… a <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043262634-Working-with-Portfolio-Roadmapping?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Portfolio roadmap</a>! This birds-eye view allows you to create one high-level roadmap that combines all of your initiatives. It’s especially helpful for organizations that have multiple teams using their own Azure DevOps projects since you can showcase a holistic visualization of all inflight priorities while tracking overall progress.</p><h2 id="you-re-good-to-go-">You're good to go!</h2><p>That's it, that’s all folks. Next time a team member asks you a question about the Azure DevOps integration, flex those muscles and show how much you know. Whether it’s a “how to” inquiry, or a best recommendation, you’re an in-house Roadmunk expert in the making. </p><p>Want even more inspiration to get your roadmaps up and running? Check out our repository of <a href="https://roadmunk.com/roadmap-templates?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">more than 35 roadmapping templates</a>, where you’ll find example roadmaps for every business occasion, from Product roadmaps to Ecommerce roadmaps and beyond.</p><p>And if you’re in need of some bedtime reading materials, check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/sections/1500000666422-Azure-DevOps-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">additional knowledge base articles</a> on everything you need to know about navigating the Azure DevOps integration with success. Happy roadmapping!</p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Say Goodbye to Master Roadmaps and Hello to...]]></title><description><![CDATA[After 5 years of being one of our most popular features, we're excited to announce a big change to Master Roadmapping. ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/portfolios-update/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__611be6d85113e8003b403aad</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:00:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/rm-portfolio.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/rm-portfolio.png" alt="Say Goodbye to Master Roadmaps and Hello to..."/><p>Back in early 2017, we introduced Roadmunk users to a feature called <strong>Master Roadmapping</strong> which allowed them to roll up roadmaps from multiple user-defined sources into a single view. As we approach the 5th anniversary of this popular feature, we wanted to take a quick opportunity to announce an important change which will have us saying "goodbye" to Master Roadmapping.</p><p>Following in the footsteps of companies like GitHub & PagerDuty, we've decided to remove the outdated term "Master" from Roadmunk and introduce a more inclusive name for this feature: <strong>Portfolio Roadmaps. </strong></p><p>With this upcoming change, we're hoping to: </p><ul><li><strong>Better Align with Industry Terminology: </strong>"Portfolio" is not a new term in the Product Management industry - in fact, this term is more commonplace in our industry than ever before. By using more familiar language, we hope to ensure that all users are able to quickly and easily grasp the purpose of this feature with minimal friction or misunderstanding.</li><li><strong>Make Our Language More Inclusive: </strong>There are a number of outdated terms which carry a negative connotation for many people in our communities - with "Master" being one of them. In an effort to use more inclusive language in Roadmunk, our team explored areas of opportunity such as this and we're actively working to update any other outdated language on our application.</li></ul><p>While this is a welcome change for many of our users, it does raise one big question:<strong> will this impact my existing Portfolio Roadmaps? </strong>Thankfully, this change will only impact the labels, icons, and illustrations that we're using and <strong>will have no impact on any existing Portfolio Roadmaps in your team's account</strong>. Additionally, you'll notice that our documentation in our <a href="https://www.roadmunk.com/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">homepage</a>, <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Support Center</a>, and <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Learning Center</a> will be updated to reflect this change.</p><p>Portfolio Roadmaps will launch in-app on <strong>August 31st</strong>. If you have any questions about this change, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Team at <a href="mailto:support@roadmunk.com">support@roadmunk.com</a> or connect with your team's dedicated Customer Success Manager. </p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Keep Your Feedback Inbox Clean with Edit & Delete Feedback]]></title><description><![CDATA[It’s finally here - the long-awaited update that will help your team to effectively manage and declutter your Feedback Inbox with two exciting new features.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/edit-delete-feedback/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__60e4675951bbc7003b548be0</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 02 Jul 2021 15:46:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/editdeletegif.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/editdeletegif.gif" alt="Keep Your Feedback Inbox Clean with Edit & Delete Feedback"/><p>There are a number of ways to get Feedback into Roadmunk, including our popular <strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042092094-Setting-Up-the-Roadmunk-Chrome-Extension?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Chrome Extension</a></strong> and our upcoming <strong><a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500009376661?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Feedback Portal</a></strong>, but what happens when it gets a bit too crowded in your team’s Feedback Inbox?</p><p>Well, luckily for you we are firm believers in the old saying that all good things come in pairs! To help prevent some of the headache that comes with managing a large number of submissions in your Feedback Inbox, we’re excited to announce that you can now <strong>Edit & Delete Feedback </strong>in Roadmunk! </p><p>To make these changes to submitted Feedback in your Inbox, here's what to do:</p><ul><li>To <strong>Edit Feedback</strong>, navigate to the feedback you're looking to edit and select the ellipsis menu in the top-right corner of the feedback. In the dropdown, select the "Edit Feedback" option.</li><li>Selecting this option will take you to an edit screen which allows you to update all details of the Feedback submission, including who it's from, which Product Area it's directed to, as well as the Title and Body Content of the Feedback submission.</li><li>To <strong>Delete Feedback</strong>, navigate to the feedback you're looking to remove and select the ellipsis menu in the top-right corner of the feedback. In the dropdown, select the "Delete Feedback" option.</li><li>Before the Feedback is deleted, you'll be presented with a confirmation modal - selecting "Delete Feedback" on this modal will instantly delete the Feedback submission and this action cannot be undone, so please make sure you are </li></ul><p>These two features are a great next step for Feedback Management in Roadmunk and will allow your team to ensure that all submissions are accurate and reflect the proper details needed to not only provide context within your Prioritized Ideas & Roadmaps, but also to ensure that you can easily circle back to the correct Customers on your end with little-to-no friction.</p><p>To learn more about this release, check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042587533?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a>, then try it out for yourself in your Feedback Inbox.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Protect the Way Your Roadmap Looks by Locking Formatting on Views]]></title><description><![CDATA[Our newest feature is here to ensure you (and your teammates) don’t make any accidental formatting changes to your boardroom-ready roadmap.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/lock-view-formatting/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__60e4680851bbc7003b548be6</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Williamson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jun 2021 14:32:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/lockedviews.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/lockedviews.png" alt="Protect the Way Your Roadmap Looks by Locking Formatting on Views"/><p>If you’ve ever been taken by surprise by unexpected formatting changes on your roadmap, you’re not alone! Often these changes can occur at the last minute, just as you’re getting ready to present your roadmap. Not fun, right?</p><p>Thankfully, there’s no need to panic about any last-minute changes to your roadmap formatting with the launch of <strong>locked formatting on views</strong>. This feature gives you that extra level of security when putting the finishing touches on your roadmap so you don’t have to think twice about whether or not your view will change.</p><p>When you’re ready to lock the formatting on your roadmap view, here’s what to do:</p><ul><li>Within the Settings icon on the toolbar, select “Lock Formatting” from the dropdown.</li><li>Once the formatting is locked, the usual formatting options on the toolbar will disappear. You won’t be able to change filters, Sub-Items, Format panel customizations, or anything related to the view’s publication settings.</li><li>You’ll notice a banner message across the top of the roadmap that tells you the view is locked, so it’ll be super clear to anyone viewing the roadmap that this view can’t be immediately changed.</li><li>You’ll still have the option to duplicate the locked view, as well as to unlock the formatting - which you’ll be able to do after viewing a confirmation modal that will pop up.</li></ul><p>Keep in mind that as long as you or your teammates have the proper access to create and edit a specific roadmap view, you’ll be able to lock (or unlock) that view on a roadmap. Also, you’ll still be able to add new information (like Items and Fields) when your roadmap view is locked—only the formatting aspects of the roadmap will be impacted.</p><p>For more details about this release, check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044437554?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a>, then try it out for yourself within your Roadmunk account.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Easily Manage Users on Your Account with New Edit and Delete Enhancements]]></title><description><![CDATA[For Account Admins, there’s now a simpler, more straightforward solution for managing the users on your account. ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/better-manage-users-on-your-account-with-new-edit-and-delete-enhancements/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__60b50365c31dde003b8f8a1b</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2021 15:43:36 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/05/delete-user.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/05/delete-user.gif" alt="Easily Manage Users on Your Account with New Edit and Delete Enhancements"/><p>If you’re an Account Admin, you’re already saddled with a lot of responsibilities, whether you’re managing multiple roadmaps on your account or juggling stakeholders’ incoming feedback. The last thing you want to have to worry about is taking up valuable time to figure out how to add, edit, or delete users on your account. </p><p>That’s why we’re giving Account Admins the ability to have more control over your Account Settings with the release of new capabilities for editing and deleting users. </p><p>With a few simple steps, the process of editing teammates' info (like changing their name)—or completely removing inactive teammates—is simple and straightforward. No more privacy concerns if a teammate leaves your company, no more emailing the Roadmunk support team to see if an account can be edited or deleted.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/05/update-email.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Easily Manage Users on Your Account with New Edit and Delete Enhancements" loading="lazy" width="2266" height="1139"/></figure><p>Concerned about losing a user’s data once they’re deleted? Never fear, because any roadmaps they once owned will still be available—they’ll just be “orphaned,” meaning that deleted user will no longer be the owner. And any comments that their username is attached to will still remain but be anonymized, so you won’t lose any important feedback. </p><p>Starting today, the power is in your hands as an Account Admin to make these changes yourself, so head over to your Account Settings to try it out. And if you want to read up on more of the details around this release, our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043647213?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h3">Knowledge Base</a> has you covered.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Add More Clarity and Context to Your Fields with Field Descriptions]]></title><description><![CDATA[Get ready to bring more detail to your Fields with the ability to add descriptions to them.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/add-more-clarity-and-context-to-your-fields-with-field-descriptions/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__60b5028ac31dde003b8f8a07</guid><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2021 15:39:12 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Starting today, we’re giving you the ability to add more detail to better distinguish between the Fields on your roadmaps—and throughout your account. </p><p>Similar to how Item descriptions add context and color to the Items they're associated with, Field descriptions give you that same level of detail when it comes to creating and managing your Fields. </p><p>If you’ve ever found yourself trying to distinguish between two similar Field names, Field descriptions are here to take the guesswork out of the process. By adding quick descriptions to your Fields, you’ll be better able to understand the purpose and context of those Fields at a glance. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/05/field-description.png" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="800" height="270" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/05/field-description.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/05/field-description.png 800w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>This release is particularly handy if you're using more than one Field with the same name. Let's say you have two Fields for "Owner," one that's a Roadmap Field and one that's an Account Field. Now, you'll be able to distinguish between the two when choosing them from a drop-down by hovering over them to see which description is different.</p><p>Here are a few more quick facts about this release:</p><ul><li>Field descriptions apply to both Roadmap and Account Fields, so you’ll be able to use them on any type of Field.</li><li>Any Field member can add and update the Field description. And if you aren’t a member of a particular Field, you can still see the Field description when you hover over the field or open up the associated Field card. </li></ul><p>For more information about Field descriptions, head over to our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040110714?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h1">Knowledge Base</a>, where you can find out more about the ins and outs of the functionality. <br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Protect Your Roadmap Information with the Ability to Delete Published URLs]]></title><description><![CDATA[With this release, it’s easier than ever to quickly remove published URLs from exported roadmaps—here’s what you need to know.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/protect-your-roadmap-information-with-the-ability-to-delete-published-urls/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070b4ed67e722003b93754a</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2021 18:47:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Delete-published-URLs-2-1-1.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Delete-published-URLs-2-1-1.gif" alt="Protect Your Roadmap Information with the Ability to Delete Published URLs"/><p>Today, we’re rolling out a brand new enhancement to help keep your roadmap information safer and more secure. With the ability to delete published URLs from your exported roadmaps, you can be sure that any sensitive information on your roadmap won’t be able to be accessed by anyone else going forward.</p><p>Say goodbye to the time-consuming process of duplicating and deleting roadmap views in order to get rid of sensitive information. Now, if you no longer want certain information to be accessed outside of Roadmunk, there’s a streamlined, intuitive way to completely delete any roadmap URL—especially if that roadmap contains sensitive information.</p><p>With this release, we’re giving you the ability to delete published URLs right from the export page. No more multi-step processes, no more reaching out to the Roadmunk support team to make sure your roadmaps are, in fact, no longer visible. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-13-at-5.17.06-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Protect Your Roadmap Information with the Ability to Delete Published URLs" loading="lazy" width="600" height="190" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-13-at-5.17.06-PM.png 600w"/></figure><p>Here’s how it works:</p><ul><li>Within the Exporting Menu, you’ll notice a brand new button that gives you the option to delete your already published URL. (You can also access this button from the export dropdown within any roadmap.)</li><li>Once the button is selected, you’ll see a pop-up confirming that you want to delete the URL permanently.</li><li>Upon confirming deletion, you’ll see a message on your now-deleted URL, confirming that the URL no longer exists.</li><li>Once a published URL has been deleted, the roadmap view can still be published to a different, brand new URL (which is especially helpful in case you want to share the roadmap with a different group of stakeholders).</li></ul><p>Ready to try on this new feature for size? Head to your Roadmunk account and take it for a spin. Or for even more details on how to use it, our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044355734?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h_01F0YJ48ZKDAN5B2G702QYXKXR">Knowledge Base</a> has you covered with an in-depth walkthrough of the ins and outs of the feature.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reorder Your Fields for Better Prioritization (and Organization)]]></title><description><![CDATA[Your roadmapping life just got a whole lot easier, thanks to the ability to change the order of your Fields right within the Item Card.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/reorder-your-fields-for-better-prioritizing-and-organizing/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070b69067e722003b93755c</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 19 Jan 2021 18:47:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/01b170e7-c342-4138-955c-9a12bcfaa4a8.gif" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/01b170e7-c342-4138-955c-9a12bcfaa4a8.gif" alt="Reorder Your Fields for Better Prioritization (and Organization)"/><p>Want to quickly rearrange the way your Fields are ordered? Look no further, because now you can drag your most important Fields to the top of the Item Card. Not only does this update let you move related Fields close together, but it also allows you to interact with them in a context that mirrors your actual workflow. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/reordering-fields-1--1-.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Reorder Your Fields for Better Prioritization (and Organization)" loading="lazy" width="1600" height="900"/></figure><p>As you can see, Fields within the Item Card now have “grips,” allowing you to drag and drop your Fields into whatever order makes the most sense to you or your team. </p><p>By surfacing your most important Fields first—and bringing related Fields together—your Item Card experience just got even more intuitive. Not to mention it's easier than ever to visually prioritize your Fields to match your unique roadmapping process.</p><p>For more details about this release, check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360062432533?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h3">Knowledge Base</a> to get the full rundown.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Favorite Your Top Roadmaps with Our Latest Release ⭐️]]></title><description><![CDATA[Thanks to this handy feature, you can quickly access your most-used roadmaps for fast and easy updating.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/favorite-your-top-roadmaps-with-our-latest-release/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070b76867e722003b937569</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:49:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Organizing and accessing your most-used roadmaps just got a lot easier, thanks to the release of favorite roadmaps! </p><p>Now you can favorite certain roadmaps for easy access. This feature makes it easier to manage your account so you can quickly find, review, and update your favorite ones without scrolling through multiple roadmaps.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/favorite-roadmaps.gif" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="800" height="634"/></figure><p>Not only does this feature help you declutter your roadmapping homepage—allowing for fast access to the roadmaps you use most—but it’s also particularly useful if you’re an Account Admin or someone who works with several different roadmaps.</p><p>Starting today, you’ll notice a dedicated “Favorite Roadmaps” list in the left-hand sidebar that will automatically populate when the star icon is selected next to any roadmap. </p><p>Favoriting and unfavoriting roadmaps is easy to do from right within that list, or within individual roadmaps themselves. Plus, favoriting multiple roadmaps at a time is a cinch with our new multi-select option.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/faves-inRoadmap.gif" class="kg-image" alt="" loading="lazy" width="3332" height="1891"/></figure><p>Check out our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001708761?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> for more details on what’s in store for your roadmaps now that you can favorite them, as well as a list of helpful FAQs about this new feature.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Perform Bulk Actions from the Items Table with Just One Click]]></title><description><![CDATA[With a single click, you can now select multiple Items at once from the Items Table. How's that for efficiency?
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/perform-bulk-actions-on-your-roadmap-with-just-one-click/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070b80f67e722003b937576</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:50:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-12-at-12.17.09-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-12-at-12.17.09-PM.png" alt="Perform Bulk Actions from the Items Table with Just One Click"/><p>We’re excited to introduce a brand new enhancement on the Items Table that lets you select multiple Items at once. This is the perfect way to update items in bulk with a single click, or to push multiple Items to <a href="https://roadmunk.com/jira-roadmap-integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Jira</a> all at once. </p><p>By hovering over the top left of the Items Table, you’ll notice a checkbox that will give you the ability to select all Items on the page. (Note that this functionality only applies to the current page on the table and not multiple pages at a time.) </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/select-all.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Perform Bulk Actions from the Items Table with Just One Click" loading="lazy" width="800" height="496"/></figure><p>It’s a simple but powerful feature that’s sure to save you time and make your roadmapping experience easier than ever. Happy roadmapping!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Introducing Hide Fields on Exported Roadmaps]]></title><description><![CDATA[By hiding specific Fields on your URL/HTML-exported roadmaps, you can better control what information you want to share.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/introducing-the-ability-to-hide-fields-on-exported-roadmaps/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070b9ce67e722003b937582</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enhancement]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2020 18:46:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screenshot-2020-12-04-at-10.07.50-AM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screenshot-2020-12-04-at-10.07.50-AM.png" alt="Introducing Hide Fields on Exported Roadmaps"/><p>Sometimes you want to make sure your external stakeholders see every detail on your roadmap. Other times, certain information on your roadmap can be superfluous, or even private. </p><p>That’s why we’re releasing a new functionality to help you control which data you want your internal users to see versus external-facing data. </p><p>When exporting a roadmap to a URL or HTML, you’ll notice a new option to hide certain Fields, depending on which ones you want to showcase and who you’re sharing your roadmap with.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Hide-select-fields.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Introducing Hide Fields on Exported Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="800" height="346"/></figure><p>It’s a great way to have total control over the information you're sharing on your roadmaps, and it’s as easy as checking a box before you’re ready to hit “Publish.”</p><p>Our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044355734-Publish-Roadmaps-to-URL-PNG-or-HTML?utm_campaign=Product%20Updates&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Sa7aciDiE74m9hsI8q4UQWvJ8ner5T2_vqm7u6TmXLkcjWtjtRf7fODz3zX66FeHlsVlv#h5">Knowledge Base</a> has even more details on this new feature, including steps on how to enable it, so you can confidently share only the most essential Fields the next time you need to export your roadmap.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Import Your Feedback and Ideas with Our New CSV Import Feature]]></title><description><![CDATA[That’s right—if your data lives in a CSV file, you can now import it straight into Roadmunk.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/import-your-feedback-and-ideas-in-bulk-with-our-new-csv-import-feature/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070bac267e722003b93758f</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><category><![CDATA[Prioritization]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2020 18:51:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/0cb3a0ad-8b34-41ae-aa14-be8b81514518.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/0cb3a0ad-8b34-41ae-aa14-be8b81514518.png" alt="Import Your Feedback and Ideas with Our New CSV Import Feature"/><p>Say hello to bulk uploads of feedback and ideas from CSVs—plus improvements to customer imports! If your data lives in a CSV file, you can now import it straight into Roadmunk. </p><p>If your team has already collected feedback on their own, this new feature provides a simple way to get that data into Roadmunk so it can be used to make customer-driven decisions. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/CSV---IDEA---HOME.png" class="kg-image" alt="Import Your Feedback and Ideas with Our New CSV Import Feature" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1152" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/04/CSV---IDEA---HOME.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/04/CSV---IDEA---HOME.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/04/CSV---IDEA---HOME.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w2400/2021/04/CSV---IDEA---HOME.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Say goodbye to manually importing feedback and ideas on your own. In fact, this release gives you the power to import all of that valuable data quickly and easily into one place instead of keeping it in disparate tools. </p><p>For a step-by-step breakdown of how you can import both your feedback and ideas, head over to our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057078833-Uploading-Feedback-and-Ideas-via-CSV?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Knowledge Base</a> to see how it works in action.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips]]></title><description><![CDATA[Get inspired by these tips for keeping your roadmaps looking sleek and stylish, while calling attention to the details that make a big impact.]]></description><link>https://learn.roadmunk.com/make-your-roadmaps-stand-out-with-these-design-tips/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5f74abc75b892c003940875c</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2020 18:38:06 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/postcard-design.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/postcard-design.png" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips"/><p>The best roadmaps do more than simply show off your strategy and get your team aligned on your goals. Don’t get us wrong—both of these are great starting points. But if your roadmaps are the main channels you’re using to communicate your product strategy, shouldn’t they also be as clear and insightful as the information you’re presenting? We think so, which is why we put together this guide to help you take your roadmap designs above and beyond. </p><p>Yes, your roadmaps should be visually appealing, and they might even need a makeover if they’re looking a little neglected. But they should also go one step further by giving your audience detailed information through the help of design. </p><p>But before we get to that point, let’s first get our terms straight. At the most basic level, <em>information design</em> makes our ability to understand easier through design that presents data or information as clearly and effectively as possible. Furniture building instructions that are nearly impossible to decipher? Bad information design. Roadmaps that successfully communicate your intentions to everyone who views them? Good information design!</p><p>When it comes to roadmapping, information design should do most of the heavy lifting by communicating the complex information and disparate pieces that encompass your product strategy. Good information design isn’t a one-and-done fix: it’s a process that will evolve over time as you apply its principles to every roadmap you work on. </p><p>With that understanding under our belts, here are a few of our favorite ways to keep your roadmaps looking sleek and stylish while calling attention to the details that make a big impact.</p><h3 id="highlight-the-information-that-matters-most"><strong>Highlight the information that matters most</strong></h3><p>With the click of a button, Roadmunk makes it easy to shine a spotlight on your roadmap items, giving you full control over the information you want to surface.</p><p>Within the Format panel, you have access to a treasure trove of nifty features that help you tell a more complete story through your roadmap. These are three of our favorites to get you up and running:</p><h4 id="standalone-sub-items"><strong>Standalone sub-items</strong></h4><p>Adding more context to your roadmaps is rarely a bad thing, and with <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041344513-Visualizing-Sub-items-on-Roadmaps?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">standalone sub-items</a>, you can do just that without splitting up the parent-child item relationship. For example, you can hide more granular sub-items if you’re presenting your overarching strategy. Or you can opt to display sub-items if you want to show more detailed, tactical information. Best of all, it’s easy to toggle standalone sub-items on and off depending on what you want to show and who you’re presenting your roadmap to. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/04/sasi.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="2822" height="1480"/></figure><h4 id="item-progress"><strong>Item progress</strong></h4><p>If you’ve ever wanted to keep track of the status of your project without having to second guess how far along it might be, our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043735633-Working-with-Item-Progress-?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">item progress feature</a> is here to save the day. Once you assign a percentage value to your item (with a little help from the numeric Percent Complete field), you’ll be ready to start visualizing the progress of your items in no time.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/IP-Swimlane.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="1440" height="648"/></figure><h4 id="label-suffix"><strong>Label suffix</strong></h4><p>To add an <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042612234-Working-with-Label-Suffixes?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">extra layer of detail</a> to your roadmap visualization, you can display a second field value on your roadmap items. That means that you can choose to show the owner, status, or any other field—in addition to the item name—for that added bit of oomph your roadmap items might need. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/labelsuffixgif.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="640" height="304"/></figure><h3 id="stay-on-track-with-time-oriented-features"><strong>Stay on track with time-oriented features</strong></h3><p>You’ve got deadlines to meet, and we’ve got the features to help you stay on top of them. Sure, you might write down target dates on Post-It notes, your calendar, or even assign them within the item card. But with these two Roadmunk features, you’ll be able to visually communicate and track whatever goals or deadlines you’re working toward.</p><h4 id="milestones"><strong>Milestones</strong></h4><p>Within the Timeline view, you can add <a href="https://roadmunk.com/guides/product-roadmap-milestones/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">milestones</a> to spotlight high-level achievements and important dates. By visualizing deadlines with distinct symbols (like stars, rockets and flags), milestones help your entire team get aligned behind an easily identifiable goal.</p><p>Roadmunk gives you access to the common milestone types like releases, product launches and tradeshows, but feel free to customize your own to add to the list—your roadmap, your rules!</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-12.58.19-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="1680" height="242" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-12.58.19-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-12.58.19-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-12.58.19-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-12.58.19-PM.png 1680w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h4 id="key-dates"><strong>Key dates</strong></h4><p>Want to highlight specific dates within individual roadmap items? Say hello to our <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042612254-Working-with-Key-Dates?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">key dates feature</a>. Unlike milestones, key dates are more granular and call out project-level deliverables. They also can be helpful for splitting longer items into several phrases, providing visibility into how progress is being benchmarked at every step. </p><!--kg-card-begin: markdown--><div style="text-align:center;">
<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/rsz_screen_shot_2020-09-30_at_11853_pm-2.png" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips"/>
</div><!--kg-card-end: markdown--><p>🔥 <strong>Hot tip: </strong>One easy way to tell milestones and key dates apart? Thanks to their colorful icons, milestones are instantly noticeable and hard to miss.</p><h3 id="add-some-zip-to-your-roadmap-s-look"><strong>Add some zip to your roadmap’s look</strong></h3><p>Before we get ready for the big reveal of your new and improved roadmaps, these tips are sure to spruce up even the most basic roadmaps—not to mention make your strategy stand out at the same time.</p><h4 id="customizable-colors"><strong>Customizable colors</strong></h4><p>Adding colors to your roadmaps goes beyond making them look pretty. So while your team might love creating custom <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043233954-Working-with-Color-Palettes?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">color palettes</a> that match your brand (and who are we to stop them?), try to also think about using colors in a way that helps you view item relationships and tell the story of your strategy more effectively.</p><p>While colors can certainly make your roadmap pop, they can also be used as an additional data pivot. To give your roadmap even more detail, try coloring your roadmap items by field (like status, for instance). That way, you’re adding more context to your items in order to better convey where they are in the pipeline. Who knew colors could be both striking <em>and</em> helpful? </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.15.10-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1041" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.15.10-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.15.10-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.15.10-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w2400/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.15.10-PM.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h4 id="emojis-"><strong>Emojis </strong>⭐️</h4><p>Turns out emojis aren’t just for shooting off a quick text or reacting to a message in Slack. When roadmapping in Roadmunk, <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043544973-Roadmapping-with-Emojis-?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">emojis</a> create an easy-to-read visual reference for fields like status, cost and more. For example, you can use emojis as field values to break up the walls of text within your items table.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.55.24-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="887" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.55.24-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.55.24-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.55.24-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w2400/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-1.55.24-PM.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Or you can include emojis in your item names—or add them from a field using the label suffix feature—to ensure they stay super visible whether you’re working on your roadmap or presenting. The possibilities are as endless as your emoji library, so try some on for size and see which ones give your roadmaps some visual pizzazz. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-2.36.25-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Make Your Roadmaps Stand Out with These Design Tips" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="838" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-2.36.25-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-2.36.25-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-2.36.25-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w2400/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-30-at-2.36.25-PM.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Ultimately, you don’t have to be a designer or even have an eye for design to add visual enhancements to your roadmaps that go a long way. Once your roadmap has undergone its information design transformation, you’ll have the confidence you need to show off your roadmap’s most important ideas—and to take on the boardroom like the roadmapping star you are.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Split Up Your Sub-Items with Standalone Sub-Items]]></title><description><![CDATA[Add even more context to your roadmaps with our new Standalone Sub-Items toggle. It’s a clearer, easier way to view item relationships—what’s not to love? ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/split-up-your-sub-items-on-their-own-with-standalone-sub-items/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__6070bb0367e722003b93759d</guid><category><![CDATA[Product Updates]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Feature]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2020 18:50:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-12-at-11.46.41-AM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-12-at-11.46.41-AM.png" alt="Split Up Your Sub-Items with Standalone Sub-Items"/><p>With the switch of a toggle on both the Timeline and Swimlane visualizations, you now have the ability either to view Sub-Items grouped with their parent Item, or have them displayed as separate, standalone Items without breaking up the parent-child relationship.</p><p>Ultimately, this gives you a clearer, easier way to view and identify Item relationships at a glance, as well as to take advantage of dynamic filtering options to show only the Items and Sub-Items you want to see. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/04/Screen-Recording-2020-09-11-at-12.52.58-PM.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Split Up Your Sub-Items with Standalone Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="2822" height="1480"/></figure><p>Gone are the days when Sub-Items had to be tied down to their parent Items. Now, they’re all grown up and ready to take on the roadmapping world by themselves. 💪</p><p>Why is this feature so important for you as a Roadmunk user? Great question! Depending on your audience and the context of your presentation, you can provide either detailed, tactical information on your roadmap to specific stakeholder, or high-level strategic information of the same roadmap—all with the switch of a toggle. </p><p>Whatever view you opt for, Standalone Sub-Items give you total control over your roadmaps to add more or less context depending on what your goals are. </p><p>Want even more inspiration for how to use Standalone Sub-Items? We’ve written <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/add-a-new-level-of-visual-detail-to-your-roadmaps-with-sub-items/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">an entire guide about Sub-Items</a> and packed it with beneficial information—including helpful examples—to make sure you get started on the right foot.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items]]></title><description><![CDATA[By grouping roadmap items together, sub-items give you the ability to break your goals into smaller, more manageable pieces.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/add-a-new-level-of-visual-detail-to-your-roadmaps-with-sub-items/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5f5fc3055fcc240039a86e87</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2020 12:26:31 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/postcard-subitems.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/postcard-subitems.png" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items"/><p>There are times on your your roadmapping journey when you want to go above and beyond to add even more detail to your roadmap. From milestones to linked items to label suffix, Roadmunk makes it easy to get into the nitty gritty of what fuels your product strategy. </p><p>That’s where sub-items come into play. By grouping roadmap items together, sub-items give you the ability to break your goals and initiatives into smaller, more manageable pieces (like epics and stories). That way, you can easily visualize the relationship between items and their sub-items with just a quick glance. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/b0ew15fot8" title="Working with sub-items Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><p>What else makes sub-items different from regular items? Good question! Think of it this way: regular items tend to represent your high-level product goals—especially ones that everyone on your team can benefit from seeing on your roadmap. On the flip side, sub-items provide more detailed information about those goals and their execution. They shine a spotlight on your roadmap’s strategic data, giving more context to the top-level items they’re related to. </p><p>Now that we have our terms straight, let’s dig into some of the unsung benefits of sub-items and how you can start putting them to work in your next roadmap.</p><h2 id="surface-the-right-level-of-detail-on-your-roadmap">Surface the right level of detail on your roadmap</h2><p>With the power of sub-items, you can reveal or hide both the high- and low-level details on your roadmap. Depending on the context you want to show and who you’re presenting your roadmap to, this comes in particularly handy. </p><p>Just like regular items, parent items (or items that contain sub-items) appear on your roadmap with a name, along with any additional information included in its item card, like field values or <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/add-linked-items-to-your-roadmaps/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">linked items</a>. Think of sub-items (or child items) that are connected to parent items as the stories that need to be completed to get an epic to its happy ending. </p><p>Within the Swimlane visualization, sub-items will appear in-line when you click on the caret attached to its parent item.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/subitems-3-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="1854" height="910" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/subitems-3-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/subitems-3-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/subitems-3-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/subitems-3-1.png 1854w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>If the Timeline visualization is your preferred roadmap view, sub-items will show up when you hover over the parent item.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.09.06-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="1740" height="746" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.09.06-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.09.06-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.09.06-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.09.06-PM.png 1740w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h2 id="keep-your-team-aligned-on-date-and-scope-changes">Keep your team aligned on date and scope changes</h2><p>We get it: the score of your work and any corresponding dates are likely to change. After all, your team works with a product that comes with shifting demands that can change at any moment. Luckily, we designed sub-items to accommodate pretty much any scenario—however unexpected or unlikely—that you can throw at them. </p><p>For instance, the start and finish dates of parent items are automatically generated based on the dates you’ve assigned to their sub-items, which means parent items in this case will span the earliest sub-item start date to the latest finish date.</p><p>So if the development work on a specific feature ends up being delayed, you can push out the finish date for any related sub-items and the changes will automatically be reflected in the parent item. How’s that for efficient planning? </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/ezgif-2-4f53cfb3240b.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="800" height="581"/></figure><p>Plus, if a whole epic needs to be pushed back, you can always drag the parent item further down your timeline, and the parent and child item dates will all automatically update.</p><h2 id="use-sub-items-hand-in-hand-with-other-roadmapping-features">Use sub-items hand-in-hand with other roadmapping features</h2><p>If you really want to drill down into the details, Roadmunk’s other features can be used in conjunction with sub-items to create a roadmap that’s as spiffy as it is comprehensive. </p><p>For example, you can use the team member field to make accountability crystal-clear across your items and sub-items. You can even individually assign different team members to each of your sub-items, like this.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/subitems-5-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="1325" height="586" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/subitems-5-1.jpg 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/subitems-5-1.jpg 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/subitems-5-1.jpg 1325w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Sub-items are also compatible with linked items, ensuring that your most important work stays visible and on track. Not only can sub-items within the same initiative have links between each other, but you can also create a connection between sub-items across different initiatives. </p><p>Beyond that, the progress of your sub-items can be tracked with the help of our item progress feature. With all of these useful features working together, you can be sure that your sub-items will be ready to take on the roadmapping world. 💪</p><h2 id="add-more-context-to-your-roadmaps-with-standalone-sub-items">Add more context to your roadmaps with standalone sub-items</h2><p>Want to add even more context to your roadmap visualizations? Sub-items can help with that! Not to be outdone by regular sub-items, standalone sub-items give you the flexibility to treat sub-items in much the same way that you would regular items. </p><p>This toggle allows you to have complete control over the way stakeholders view your roadmap items. For example, you can hide more granular sub-items if you’re presenting your overarching strategy. Or you can highlight parent items if you only want to show more detailed, tactical information.</p><p>To enable standalone sub-items on your Timeline or Swimlane roadmap, simply <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041344513?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">switch on the toggle</a> at the top of your roadmap. And just like that, your sub-items will break out on their own without splitting up the parent-child relationship. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Recording-2020-09-11-at-12.52.58-PM.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="2822" height="1480"/></figure><h2 id="tips-for-using-sub-items-in-roadmunk">Tips for using sub-items in Roadmunk</h2><p>Creating sub-items couldn’t be easier. Within the items table view, click on the + icon within any standalone item to turn it into a proud parent. From there, you can give your new sub-item a name and press “Enter” to create additional sub-items within the same group. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.34.46-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="1400" height="722" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.34.46-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.34.46-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-14-at-4.34.46-PM.png 1400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Once created, sub-items will automatically populate under their parent item without any of the dates or field values of the parent items. However, you can easily adjust the field values and dates on those sub-items, including assigning different team members to them, or tracking their progress with the item progress feature.</p><p>You can also turn any existing item into a sub-item by dragging it over to another item and dropping it on top to nestle it in its new home. (Hot tip: This action also works in reverse if you want to turn a sub-item into a standalone or top-level item, like in the example below.)</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/09/ezgif-2-498f091fe134.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Add a New Level of Visual Detail to Your Roadmaps with Sub-Items" loading="lazy" width="1307" height="821"/></figure><p>So no matter who you’re presenting your roadmap to, sub-items can give you the confidence to do your job better by showing just the right amount of detail and information on your roadmaps—whether you only want to show the broadest, most important information or the most detail-packed views.<br><br><br/></br></br></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring]]></title><description><![CDATA[By relying on the power of custom weighted scores, you can feel confident that your team is heading down the right product path.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/prioritize-your-ideas-with-custom-weighted-scoring/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5ef24ff92956c700394b180a</guid><category><![CDATA[Prioritization]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2020 23:06:04 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-custom-scoring2.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-custom-scoring2.png" alt="Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring"/><p>For product managers, the prioritization process is make or break, especially since it determines which of the ideas in your product backlog get the green light. Not only that, but narrowing down the list of customer feedback and feature requests is a full-time job in and of itself. But as intimidating as it can be at first, taking stock of all the ideas vying for the top spot in your prioritization list doesn’t have to be guesswork.</p><p>Enter <strong>custom weighted scoring</strong>, aka every product manager’s unsung hero. Yes, product managers juggle hundreds of different projects they could be working on at any given time—not to mention the pressure to deliver new updates and releases for anxious users is never-ending. That’s why implementing a repeatable, systematic prioritization method makes so much sense. </p><p>For one, it takes the guesswork out of prioritization by constantly surfacing what ideas your team should be focusing on next. Think about it—when you score your ideas and features against a standardized set of factors, your team is that much more likely to be aligned on which ones require your immediate attention, effort and resources. </p><p>The best product prioritization frameworks even out the playing field by using custom weighted scores, which are linked directly to your most important customer feedback. No more second guessing, no more unnecessary meetings asking everyone to vote on what they think should be worked on next. By relying on custom scores, you can feel confident that your team is heading down the right product path.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-8.png" class="kg-image" alt="Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring" loading="lazy" width="1144" height="830" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-8.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-8.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-8.png 1144w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h2 id="what-s-in-a-score"><strong>What’s in a score? </strong></h2><p>First things first, let’s get our terms straight: What is a custom weighted score and why do so many PMs look to it as their guiding light when it comes to product prioritization? </p><p>Good questions! Weighted scoring is a prioritization methodology that helps product teams decide how to prioritize ideas and feature backlogs. From there, those ideas are scored using a set of criteria—what we at Roadmunk call <strong>factors</strong> and <strong>factor values</strong>—on a cost vs. benefits basis. </p><p>By setting custom weights for your factors, you have total control over the importance each one holds—and ultimately how every factor impacts the final custom score. For instance, splitting the weight between two factors at 50% each would give them equal importance, while splitting the weight between three factors at 50%, 25% and 25% would make the first factor the most substantial in the final calculation. </p><p>When your scores are finally in place, you can then rank your ideas from highest to lowest. That way, you can systematically generate an actionable goal or objective business value for each idea on your product scoreboard, ultimately determining the course of your product strategy from ideation to execution. </p><p>But it’s not just product managers who are champions of custom weighted scoring. Stakeholders also benefit from this feature, since they can catch an at-a-glance view of what ideas are most valuable to the business based on the final calculations and relative importance of each criteria.</p><h2 id="your-ideas-your-scores"><strong>Your ideas, your scores </strong></h2><p>Now that you have a basic understanding of what custom weighted scores are and why they’re the lifeblood of the product prioritization process, let’s see how you can quickly set them up and start working with them in Roadmunk. <br/></p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/76ho58xj0v" title="Creating custom prioritization views with weighted factors Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="600"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><p>Creating custom weighted scores in Roadmunk starts with creating a custom view based on your preferred prioritization model. Once your view is set up, you can toggle on or off any built-in factors (like R.I.C.E. and Value vs. Effort) by clicking into the “Edit Factors” panel, as well as create custom factors and set custom weights for each. Want to combine the power of custom weighted factors with built-in factors so they work in tandem? Never fear, because it’s easy to put the two together in Roadmunk. </p><p>When setting custom weights for <em>positive</em> factors, keep in mind that they must total 100%. If you want to include a<em> negative</em> factor, select “Divide score by a negative factor” when setting your custom weight, then choose the negative factor from the dropdown. Just keep in mind that at this time, you can only work with one negative factor at a time when setting up your formula.</p><p>Because we know there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to factors, you also have the option to create your own that matches your team’s specific needs. These custom factors can be one of four types: <strong>a five-point rating, a numeric value, a checkbox, or a percentage score</strong>. You can also choose whether each factor will positively or negatively affect your score. As you might expect, positive factors <em>add</em> to the prioritization score, while negative factors <em>detract </em>from the score.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-23-at-4.41.24-PM-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="909" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-23-at-4.41.24-PM-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-23-at-4.41.24-PM-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-23-at-4.41.24-PM-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w2400/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-23-at-4.41.24-PM-1.png 2400w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Let’s take custom scoring for a spin using one of the most popular frameworks as an example: <strong>Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)</strong>. What makes WSFJ so useful? It helps you prioritize the most important ideas that also take the shortest amount of time to implement. At the most fundamental level, calculating WSJF consists of taking the <em>Cost of Delay</em> divided by the idea’s <em>Duration </em>or<em> Size</em>. From there, ideas with the highest scores will rise to the top, clueing you into what you should be paying the most attention to. </p><p>But WSJF isn't the only custom framework you can create within Roadmunk. Weighted scores also work well if your team wants to assign different priorities to factors based on how they impact different areas. For instance, I could create a Weighted R.I.C.E. prioritization view with a series of factors based on geographical regions and their impact—including U.S. reach, EU reach, APAC reach, and so on. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-26-at-7.05.32-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring" loading="lazy" width="2000" height="1045" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-26-at-7.05.32-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-26-at-7.05.32-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-26-at-7.05.32-PM.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-26-at-7.05.32-PM.png 2224w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Of course, these are just two prioritization framework of a multitude that you can use with custom weighted scores, whether your go-to method is Cost vs. Benefit, Opportunity Scoring or your own unique method that you’ve created based on your team’s goals. Ultimately, the ball is in your court to decide which framework (or frameworks) make sense to match up against your product backlog. As long as you get set up correctly with the proper weights and factors, you can sit back and let Roadmunk do the bulk of the grunt work for you.</p><p>Whenever you tweak your custom factors, the corresponding scores will automatically change, so you can always be sure that little-to-no math skills are needed on your par—there’s a reason you’re a product manager and not a math teacher, right?</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-9.png" class="kg-image" alt="Prioritize Your Ideas with Custom Weighted Scoring" loading="lazy" width="1144" height="830" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-9.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-9.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-9.png 1144w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h2 id="you-have-the-scores-now-what"><strong>You have the scores. Now what?</strong></h2><p>After you’ve set your custom weights and watched your scores change accordingly, it’s time to prioritize your ideas. Within Roadmunk, you can order your ideas either by priority or by sorted list. Sorting by priority puts the power in your hands to drag and drop your ideas into whatever order you want. </p><p>However, if you prefer a view that's less subjective and only takes each individual score into account, you can switch the view to be a sorted list and order by the factor that’s most important to you. This is especially helpful if you're looking for ideas that meet certain criteria but may not have the highest prioritization. For example, sometimes product managers might be on the lookout for ideas that are lower effort in order to focus on quick wins. </p><p>Lastly, if you want to connect your product ideas to your roadmaps, you can promote your most high-impact ideas to a roadmap, seamlessly connecting your product backlog with your fleshed out product strategy. </p><p>Ready to go out and conquer every aspect of custom scoring like the product pro you are? Keep your product learning going by diving into a few of our other favorite prioritization resources: </p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://roadmunk.com/product-prioritization-ebook?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">The Ultimate Guide to Product Prioritization</a>:</strong> In this eBook, find out how to use both qualitative and quantitative prioritization frameworks to understand which user problems are worth solving.</li><li><strong><a href="https://roadmunk.com/guides/how-to-prioritize-product-features-using-weighted-and-unweighted-scorecards/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">How to Prioritize Features Using Weighted and Unweighted Scorecards</a>:</strong> We’ve talked a lot about what makes the weighted scoring method so valuable, but what are the differences and benefits of an unweighted prioritization methodology? </li><li><strong><a href="https://roadmunk.com/guides/product-prioritization-techniques-product-managers/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">9 Product Prioritization Frameworks for Product Managers</a>:</strong> From R.I.C.E to Value vs. Effort to the Kano Model, all of your favorite prioritization frameworks are here for exploring under one roof.</li></ul>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps]]></title><description><![CDATA[Take advantage of one of Roadmunk’s most useful, collaborative features—let this guide show you the ropes.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/add-linked-items-to-your-roadmaps/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eed0702b5ca620039c4f17e</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2020 19:53:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-dependencies-2.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-dependencies-2.png" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps"/><p>When it comes to relationships, every one looks a little different. Whether it’s your relationship with family, friends, your partner, or your manager, it’s never one size fits all. The same applies to roadmapping. When looking to create relationships between items in your roadmap, there can’t be only one way to link items together.</p><p>Fortunately, Roadmunk recognizes this, and has a suite of three different Linked Item types available so unique item relationships can be accurately reflected. <strong>Linked Items are one of the most useful, collaborative features you can take advantage of on your roadmapping journey</strong>. With Linked Items, you can create multiple relationships between items and roadmaps across your organization, which ultimately makes for better collaboration, alignment, and strengthened decision making.</p><p>Throughout this guide, we’ll show you how to use and implement Linked Items within your own roadmaps. From there, we’ll highlight some key benefits of this feature that will help you increase productivity and partnerships within your own product team.</p><h2 id="understanding-linked-items-in-roadmunk">Understanding Linked Items in Roadmunk</h2><p>Before we zoom in on what makes Linked Items so powerful, let’s take a step back and examine what they are in detail to lay a proper framework.</p><p>At the most basic level, Linked Items allow you to tie items together and visualize that connection on your roadmaps. In turn, this visual representation provides your team full visibility into how your items are intertwined. Ideally, creating Linked Items will help you identify your most connected items early on in the planning process. That way, you can highlight any potential risks, giving your team clarity on who needs to work on what before moving forward.</p><p>Within Roadmunk, you have access to three types of <strong>Linked Items: Moves With, Blocking, and Relates To</strong>. Let’s see how and when you should put them to use.</p><h3 id="linked-item-type-1-moves-with">Linked Item Type #1: Moves With</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/dependencies-moves-with.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="820" height="240"/></figure><p>If it’s better alignment that you're after, Moves With will be your best friend. This type of Linked Item will move items with each other in tandem—so as one item shifts, other Linked Items are proportionally moved by the same time period.</p><p>How might this look when put into practice? Let’s say you’re planning a product update to one of your existing features. Unfortunately, your dev team came up against an unexpected blocker, and they’ll need more time to fix the issue. Not to fear, because with Moves With, you can simply drag one item across your roadmap, and any linked items will follow in parallel. That means any other teams who need to be in the know about the unexpected snag will automatically be notified via email and in-app about the change, and thus the dates on their corresponding items will also be updated.</p><p>Items that are united together by Moves With are practically joined at the hip—they automatically move in sync wherever they go, which is why their relationship is represented by a solid line on roadmaps. Nothing is going to get in the way of this bond, especially not a shifting deadline.</p><h3 id="linked-item-type-2-blocking">Linked Item Type #2: Blocking</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/dependencies-blocked-by.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="820" height="240"/></figure><p>The next Linked Item type is Blocking, which allows you to create a relationship in which one item cannot move before or after the other. If you have a complex set of tasks that need to happen in a certain order, using the Blocking Linked Item type will be a key part of your roadmaps.</p><p>Using the Blocking Linked Item type is just as visually neat and tidy as it’s counterparts. But you’ll notice that items are joined by a dashed line instead of a solid one, symbolizing the difference in how connected items are related.</p><p>Picture this: Your product team is working on a brand new mobile app. Naturally, there’s a lot to juggle across a bunch of different teams and initiatives. And some of these initiatives—like designing an icon—have to be completed before others—like submitting to the App Store. Your projects that come earlier in the process need to be visualized in a way that shows this timely relationship, where one item is reliant on the other.</p><p>Luckily, using Blocking as your relationship type will help save the day. Whether you need to “block” specific teams or time periods, you can rest assured that your items will always be in the right order based on their time-sensitive relationships</p><h3 id="linked-item-type-3-relates-to">Linked Item Type #3: Relates To</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/relates_to_timeline.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="962" height="230" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/02/relates_to_timeline.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/relates_to_timeline.png 962w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Relates To is the final Linked Item type and the most flexible option available (suitable for really any roadmapping style). The beauty with Relates To is that it opens the door to create connections between items that do not have exact dates—perfect for teams that use bucketed dates or measure dates through sprints or quarters. </p><p>But, remember when we said Relates To was the most <em>flexible</em> option? This is because Relates To can also be utilized on items that do in fact use dates. Think of it as another way to draw thematic connections between items while also providing freedom to move them around without affecting item placement on other views. </p><p>Relates To continues to showcase its flexibility since it allows linking together of any Jira or Azure Devops-synced items. Whether or not date mapping is enabled on the individual roadmaps, you can rest assured that your integrated roadmaps can also utilize the power of Linked Items—phew!</p><p>As you can see, due to the many scenarios that Relates To can be exercised, we’ll let you stir up the perfect use case for this Linked Item type. Do note that Relates To connections will be represented as a dotted line in your roadmaps.</p><h2 id="putting-linked-items-to-work-in-your-roadmaps"><strong>Putting Linked Items to work in your roadmaps</strong></h2><p>What makes Linked Items so great? It’s not just the clarity they offer around what needs to be done and who’s doing it. The benefits are numerous, but we’ll focus on two major highlights that make Linked Items so, well, li(n)kable.</p><h3 id="strengthen-your-decision-making">Strengthen your decision-making</h3><p>Too often, roadmaps appear cluttered and disorganized, making it difficult to get an accurate view of your data at a glance. What makes Linked Items stand out is their visual accessibility. You can easily understand the relationship between your items and the teams responsible for them, in addition to what benefits or risks might be posed by moving them around.</p><p>All of this makes for better decision-making on your part—when you can quickly recognize how your items all work together on your roadmap, it’s that much easier to make better decisions about your product going forward.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/advanced_linked_items.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="1202" height="276" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/02/advanced_linked_items.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/02/advanced_linked_items.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/advanced_linked_items.png 1202w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><h3 id="enable-collaboration-between-team-members">Enable collaboration between team members</h3><p>Roadmaps themselves are inherently collaborative tools. But when you add Linked Items to the mix? They get an added boost with even more transparency, accountability, and all-around teamwork magic.</p><p>By now you know that Roadmunk’s Linked Items feature lets you connect an item to any other item. But what you might not know is that you can create these relationships between items, even if they exist on different roadmaps owned by your teammates. Not only does this cross-roadmap functionality increase visibility within your team, but it also keeps your objectives aligned based on your product pipeline.</p><p>This is especially important for larger teams, where the ability to identify and surface these links might otherwise get overlooked or lost in the decision-making process—not to mention the time saved as a result of grouping and moving connected items together.</p><h2 id="tips-for-using-linked-items-in-roadmunk"><strong>Tips for using Linked Items in Roadmunk</strong></h2><p>Now that you have a solid understanding of what Linked Items are and how you can easily incorporate them into your roadmaps, let’s finish up by looking at some final best practices for using them in Roadmunk.</p><h3 id="choose-your-view">Choose your view</h3><p>Once you've created some Linked Items, there are multiple ways you can visualize the relationship between them in your roadmap.</p><p>First, you’ll notice that any Linked Items in the Items Table will show up as circular icons next to the date, displaying the total number of links each item has.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.49.00-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="1102" height="376" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.49.00-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.49.00-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.49.00-PM.png 1102w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>If you’re in the Timeline visualization, Linked Items will again be represented by circular icons showing the total number that are linked to that particular item. When you hover over an item in this view, you’ll see that connecting lines will appear, making it that much easier to visualize how Linked Items are connected to each other. (Remember, solid lines represent Moves With, dashed lines represent Blocking, and dotted lines represent Relates To.)</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.48.17-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="1297" height="386" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.48.17-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.48.17-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.48.17-PM.png 1297w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Linked Items in the Swimlane visualization will also have circular icons next to them, but note that the lines are only visible in the Timeline visualization.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.50.47-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Add Linked Items to Your Roadmaps" loading="lazy" width="1034" height="422" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.50.47-PM.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.50.47-PM.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-02-09-at-4.50.47-PM.png 1034w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>You can even view your Linked Items on <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043262634-Working-with-Portfolio-Roadmapping?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Portfolio Roadmaps</a>, which roll up any of your team’s roadmaps into one high-level view of all your Linked Items. However you choose to view your Linked Items, your ultimate goal is to make it as effortless as possible to visualize the many moving parts so that prioritizing them is that much easier.</p><h3 id="share-with-stakeholders">Share with stakeholders</h3><p>Want to keep the right people in the know about Linked Items on your roadmaps? You can always export them as a PNG, HTML file, or publish them to a URL. Beyond that, you can choose whether or not to show the relationship lines on your exported roadmaps so your external stakeholders will have visibility into these important connections between your items.</p><p>Once your roadmap has been shared with the people who matter most, any Linked Items will still be drawn together with the appropriate solid, dotted, or dashed lines to show their relationship.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira]]></title><description><![CDATA[The power of roadmaps + the flexibility of Jira = a match made in roadmapping heaven. Find out why they make such an unbeatable combo in this guide.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/integrate-your-roadmaps-with-jira/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eed0979b5ca620039c4f18b</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2020 20:44:44 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-jira-integration-2.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-jira-integration-2.png" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira"/><p>On their own, your roadmaps are powerful tools. Not only do they lay the foundation for your product strategy, but they also serve as essential collaboration tools for your entire team to communicate what’s coming down your product pipeline.</p><p>So yes, roadmaps are great on their own. But when you combine them with the flexibility of Jira? Well, that’s a match made in roadmapping heaven. Whether it’s eliminating double data entry or boasting flexible visualizations that encompass everything your team is building, there’s a lot to love.</p><p>In this guide, we’ll walk you through what you need to know about Roadmunk for Jira, from the high-level benefits to the nitty gritty how-tos. Ready to get started? Let’s do this.</p><h2 id="getting-to-know-roadmunk-for-jira"><strong>Getting to know Roadmunk for Jira</strong></h2><p>At the most basic level, Roadmunk for Jira is a flexible integration that bridges the gap between your overarching product strategy and your day-to-day planning. Think of it this way: Roadmunk is a high-level tool designed with product roadmapping in mind that makes it easy to build, share and present beautiful roadmaps. On the flip side, Jira is a more tactical tool that helps you break down your product strategy into manageable to-do lists. When put together, they form a dynamic duo of high-level product strategy mixed with everyday tasks. If we were playing a game of Word Association, “Roadmunk” might go with “strategic,” while “Jira” would match up with “tactical.” </p><p>Remember how we said the integration is flexible? That’s because it meets you at <em>your</em> level. Whether you’re more of a one-way sync roadmapper or prefer two-way synchronization, Roadmunk for Jira supports both—not to mention manual syncs if you choose to go the old-school route. (Keep in mind that if you opt for a manual sync, you’ll have to push updates to Jira by hand in order for any changes to be displayed.)<br/></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-15.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="720" height="502" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-15.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-15.png 720w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>With a <strong>one-way sync</strong>, Jira is your source of truth—any updates to your epics, stories and issues flow from Jira straight to your roadmap. But with a <strong>two-way sync</strong>, any changes you make in Jira are reflected in your roadmap—and vice versa—saving you time and keeping your team organized. </p><p>Worried about double data entry? Never fear—with Roadmunk for Jira, your data is automatically synced, eliminating any worries you might have about having to do twice the amount of work. You also have the ability to set up a sync schedule between your roadmap and Jira project to ensure that your roadmap is always up to date with the most current Jira information.</p><h2 id="setting-up-the-integration"><strong>Setting up the integration</strong></h2><p>Now that you know a little bit more about the integration and what makes it so dynamic, it’s time to start setting it up in your Roadmunk account. Luckily, connecting Jira in Roadmunk is a straightforward, painless process (we promise!). </p><p>If you’re an Account Admin in Roadmunk, you’ll be able to set up the integration on your own. Plus, you’ll only need to connect it once thanks to our one-time Jira setup wizard. Even if you don’t have admin credentials, you’ll still be able to use Roadmunk for Jira as soon as the initial setup is finished.</p><p>Check out the video below for a detailed rundown of getting the integration up and running. Or if you prefer seeing everything mapped out with text, we’ve included <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043544193-Integrating-with-Jira?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io#h_331720f7-72ab-4a4a-8530-4df9e4e3617a">all the necessary steps</a> over on our Knowledge Base. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/cmcs9rxap3" title="How to set up Roadmunk for Jira Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><p>🔥 <strong>Hot tip:</strong> Reduce your manual lift by mapping Jira start and due dates to Roadmunk. Just keep in mind that in order to map your dates, the date field should show up on your Create Issues screen and be set to a plain date picker.</p><h2 id="the-benefits-of-roadmapping-with-jira"><strong>The benefits of roadmapping with Jira</strong></h2><p>Now that you have the integration set up, let’s take a step back and look at what makes Roadmunk for Jira so powerful. No matter what your current roadmapping setup is like, Roadmunk’s Jira integration was created to work alongside—and enhance—your existing workflows. Still, there are plenty of things you can do with the integration that you can’t do in Jira alone. Here are a few of our favorite benefits that will help inspire your own product strategy as you start to familiarize yourself more with how it all works.</p><h3 id="plan-your-releases-with-confidence">Plan your releases with confidence</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/usecase-releases.svg" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="222" height="150"/></figure><p>If you were working solely in Jira, you’d only be able to view one release at a time—let’s just say that’s not exactly ideal. But with Roadmunk, you can bring together all of your upcoming releases in one easy-to-understand view. Not only that, but you can also get a high-level view of which Jira issues are included in each of your releases. </p><p>You can even pivot your release roadmap to tell the story that matters most to your audience. Whether that means choosing to display the status, priority or owner of each issue, you ultimately get to decide.</p><h3 id="capture-the-big-picture-with-epic-views">Capture the big picture with epic views </h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/usecase-epic.svg" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="223" height="150"/></figure><p>Within Roadmunk, you can get a big picture view of multiple epics by pulling all of them into one handy roadmap. Issues can then be linked into each epic and tracked against any Jira fields that are key to your planning, including status and priority.</p><h3 id="forecast-time-and-effort-with-more-precision">Forecast time and effort with more precision</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/usecase-forecast.svg" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="222" height="150"/></figure><p>No more second-guessing—with Roadmunk’s Timeline visualization, it’s easy to get an at-a-glance view of the time, effort and resources it will take to finish tasks and assignments. The great thing about Timeline visualizations is that they show what’s happening and when, so there’s never any confusion of where your product strategy is at any moment. Not only that, but this clear, digestible view helps your team avoid unrealistic deadlines that might otherwise pop up unexpectedly.</p><p>And thanks to Roadmunk for Jira, any items you create in the Timeline visualization can be pushed to Jira, automatically creating stories and epics so that your team can start working on them ASAP.</p><h3 id="roll-up-multiple-jira-projects-into-one-portfolio-roadmap">Roll up multiple Jira projects into one Portfolio Roadmap</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/portfolio-usecase.png" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="692" height="467" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/08/portfolio-usecase.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/portfolio-usecase.png 692w"/></figure><p>We tend to think in terms of one Jira project being the equivalent of one Roadmunk roadmap. But if your team has multiple Jira projects, you can create one high-level roadmap (a Portfolio Roadmap) that combines all of your initiatives. </p><p>🔥 <strong>Hot tip:</strong> This is especially helpful for organizations who might have multiple teams using their own Jira projects so that they can tell a more complete, in-depth story of their priorities and progress.</p><h2 id="tips-tricks-and-best-practices"><strong>Tips, tricks and best practices</strong></h2><p>Before you head off and start building your own Jira-enabled roadmaps in Roadmunk, here are a few of our favorite tips to take your knowledge of the integration to the next level. With these best practices in mind, you’ll be well on your way to roadmapping like an expert.</p><h3 id="sync-smaller-amounts-of-data">Sync smaller amounts of data</h3><p>In order to keep your performance in tip-top shape, it’s best to keep the data you’re syncing on the smaller side. This will not only help to lower your overall load times, but it will also help improve your roadmap’s overall performance. Think of it this way: the smaller your data, the bigger the picture you’ll get of all of the items that make up your roadmap.</p><h3 id="visualize-project-completions">Visualize project completions</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/ezgif-4-73c6d80d60a6.gif" class="kg-image" alt="Integrate Your Roadmaps with Jira" loading="lazy" width="704" height="147"/></figure><p>Want to see how close an epic in Jira is to being complete? You can take the guesswork out of the equation by visualizing and measuring your epic progress one of two ways:</p><ol><li><strong>Progress by Issue Count</strong> is a percentage based on the number of issues that have been marked as Done in an epic. For example, if you have four stories in an epic and only one has a status of Done, they would show up as 25% complete.</li><li><strong>Progress by Story Points</strong> is a weighted percentage based on story point values that are assigned to completed stories in a given epic. This gives you a deeper understanding of how much of your total work has been marked as Done. For example, if you have four stories and one of them is completed—but weighted at 50% of the total work—they would show up as 50% complete.</li></ol><h3 id="try-on-swimlane-for-size">Try on Swimlane for size</h3><p>You may be a dyed-in-the-wool Timeline visualization fan (and that’s great!), but sometimes it’s better to opt for the Swimlane visualization for Jira roadmaps. Why? The big selling point for Swimlane in this context is that you can neatly bucket your information better while still leveraging linked items for sub-items. </p><p>Remember, your roadmaps don’t have to be difficult to decipher or intimidating to format—stick with Swimlane for a more holistic, crystal-clear view of your Jira roadmaps, and your teammates will be crowning you the Marie Kondo of roadmapping in no time.</p><h2 id="ready-set-roadmap-"><strong>Ready… set… roadmap!</strong></h2><p>So there you have it—your comprehensive tour of how to use Jira and Roadmunk in tandem. Whether you’re just getting started on your roadmapping adventure or are already a roadmapping whiz, let this guide be your go-to resource for steering you along your Roadmunk for Jira journey.</p><p>Want even more inspiration to get your roadmaps up and running? Check out <a href="https://roadmunk.com/roadmap-templates?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">our repository of more than 35 roadmapping templates</a>, where you’ll find example roadmaps for every business occasion, from product roadmaps to digital marketing roadmaps and beyond. </p><p>And if you’re hungry for even more Jira content, check out our comprehensive <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/sections/360006796833-Jira-Integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">how-to guide</a> on everything you need to know about navigating it with success. Happy roadmapping!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Get Started with Roadmapping]]></title><description><![CDATA[Creating your first roadmap in Roadmunk is a cinch—especially when you have this guide to walk you through it.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/getting-started-with-roadmapping/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eeba78989583d00390222ce</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2020 15:41:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-roadmap.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-roadmap.png" alt="Get Started with Roadmapping"/><p>Let’s be real. Your roadmap should make you look good. Crystal-clear visualizations have the power to make meetings go a whole lot smoother—and faster. This guide will walk you through how to get started with roadmapping in Roadmunk so that you can crush your next strategy session and get all stakeholders aligned to your vision.</p><p>Watch the video below to learn the basics of roadmapping in Roadmunk. It also includes some tips and tricks to help you create roadmaps worth celebrating.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/e1kcus5ad5" title="Getting started with roadmapping Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h2 id="a-deeper-dive-into-roadmap-items-and-fields">A deeper dive into roadmap items and fields</h2><p>Items and fields are the fundamentals of roadmapping in Roadmunk. Keep reading for laser-focused tutorials on how to create them and add them to your roadmapping workflow. </p><h3 id="creating-and-importing-items">Creating and importing items</h3><p><strong>Think of items as the </strong><em><strong>things </strong></em><strong>on your roadmap</strong>—they can be features, epics or initiatives. And there are two key ways to create items.</p><ul><li><strong>Manually:</strong> Add a new item by clicking + Item within your Items Table. It’s as simple as that.</li><li><strong>Importing from Excel:</strong> You can upload a CSV to create multiple items at once.</li></ul><p>The video below walks through the process of creating and importing roadmap items.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/fjix3vpd6b" title="Creating and importing items Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><p>Pssst, Jira users: A third option for item creation is to sync your roadmap to a Jira project. Use Roadmunk’s native Jira integration to turn issues into roadmap items and say bye to double-data entry. With a two-way sync, the changes that you make to your roadmap will be reflected in Jira—and vice versa. <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/integrate-your-roadmaps-with-jira/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Learn more about Roadmunk’s Jira integration here</a>, and watch the video below to see how tracking your item and epic progress works.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/aanczna94m" title="Visualizing item progress on your roadmaps Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h3 id="creating-and-using-fields">Creating and using fields</h3><p><strong>Now, moving onto roadmap fields.</strong> Think of fields as the categories you can use to organize, group, filter and pivot roadmap items. Fields appear as headers within your roadmap. The video below walks through the process of creating and using fields.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/lntm0579ok" title="Creating and using fields Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h2 id="creating-roadmap-visualizations">Creating roadmap visualizations</h2><p>There are two types of roadmap visualizations to choose from in Roadmunk: <strong>Timeline and Swimlane.</strong></p><p>Use Timeline to visualize how initiatives will evolve over time—create alignment around deliverables, key dates and milestones.</p><p>For teams that need more flexibility, Swimlane organizes initiatives into buckets like status or priority (it’s the roadmap of choice for agile teams).</p><h3 id="how-to-create-a-timeline-visualization">How to create a Timeline visualization</h3><p>Ready to see how to set up a Timeline visualization? Watch the video below for a quick tutorial.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/b7mrkw0l07" title="How to create a Timeline visualization Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h3 id="how-to-create-a-swimlane-visualization">How to create a Swimlane visualization</h3><p>Swimlane visualizations are the right choice when you need a more agile, theme-based roadmap. Watch the video below for a quick tutorial.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/p6u8ln3r63" title="How to create a Swimlane visualization Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><hr><p>P.S. Roadmunk has a library of <a href="https://roadmunk.com/roadmap-templates?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io"><strong>free 35+ ready-to-use roadmap templates</strong></a>. Find a roadmap template you like, then make it your own.</p></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Get Started with Idea Management]]></title><description><![CDATA[Discover how to streamline the process for collecting, organizing and prioritizing the ideas that matter most to your product and team. ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/get-started-with-idea-management/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eeb8bef89583d0039022225</guid><category><![CDATA[Prioritization]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2020 18:51:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-ideas.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-ideas.png" alt="Get Started with Idea Management"/><p>At Roadmunk, we know there's no shortage of great ideas within a product team. However, it’s not always easy to directly connect a great product idea to customer feedback—making it difficult to validate whether a product idea is worth taking a bet on.</p><p>With idea management in Roadmunk, you can quickly create and manage a backlog of collected or <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057078833-Uploading-Feedback-and-Ideas-via-CSV?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">imported</a> ideas that's rooted in real user needs. This is accomplished by linking feedback directly to your product ideas. <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/getting-started-with-feedback-management/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Learn more about feedback management in Roadmunk here.</a></strong></p><p><em>Plus:</em> Roadmunk’s idea management capabilities help product teams surface high-impact ideas and promote them to the product roadmap. You can systematically prioritize product ideas using built-in prioritization templates—<strong>or create your own weighted scoring framework.</strong> </p><p>The video below will help you get up and running with idea management in Roadmunk.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/kvm5vmhk54" title="Getting started with idea management Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h2 id="using-built-in-idea-prioritization-templates">Using built-in idea prioritization templates</h2><p>Within Roadmunk, you immediately have access to two built-in prioritization templates: <strong>R.I.C.E. </strong>and <strong>Value vs. Effort</strong>. The R.I.C.E. and Value vs. Effort prioritization templates can help your product team implement a new standardized process for objectively surfacing what to focus on next. </p><p>Check out the video below for a high-level overview of these templates in Roadmunk, and keep reading for a more in-depth understanding of how each works. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/jkrmd0bbt5" title="How to use Roadmunk's built-in prioritization templates Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h3 id="the-r-i-c-e-prioritization-template">The R.I.C.E. prioritization template</h3><p>The <a href="https://roadmunk.com/guides/rice-score-prioritization-framework-product-management/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">R.I.C.E. prioritization</a> template scores each idea against four factors: reach, impact, confidence and effort (hence the acronym R.I.C.E.). A R.I.C.E. score helps product managers quantify the estimated value of an idea.</p><p>Here's a breakdown of what each factor stands for and how they should be quantified in your in-app R.I.C.E. template:</p><p><strong>Reach</strong>: The number of individual users or accounts an idea will affect within a given time period. </p><p><strong>Impact</strong>: The impact an idea will have on individual users, using a scale of 1 to 5:</p><ul><li>5 = massive impact</li><li>4 = high impact</li><li>3 = medium impact</li><li>2 = low impact</li><li>1 = minimal impact</li></ul><p><strong>Confidence:</strong> The product team’s confidence of impact and reach estimates. For example, how data exists to back up those numbers. Use a percent score to indicate:</p><ul><li>100% = highly confident</li><li>75% = very confident</li><li>50% = moderately confident</li><li>25% = not very confident</li></ul><p><strong>Effort: </strong>The amount of time the idea will require from product, design and development, using a scale of 1 to 5:</p><ul><li>5 = massive effort</li><li>4 = high effort</li><li>3 = medium effort</li><li>2 = low effort</li><li>1 = minimal effort</li></ul><p>Once you’ve entered values for each R.I.C.E. factor, Roadmunk will generate a R.I.C.E. score using the following formula: (R × I × C) <strong>÷</strong> E</p><p>Then, you’ll be able to rank—from highest to lowest—your ideas using the R.I.C.E. score. Within Roadmunk, this is what the R.I.C.E. prioritization template looks like:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/riceprioritizationtemplate.png" class="kg-image" alt="Get Started with Idea Management" loading="lazy" width="1800" height="1100" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/06/riceprioritizationtemplate.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/06/riceprioritizationtemplate.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/06/riceprioritizationtemplate.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/riceprioritizationtemplate.png 1800w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>The ideas that bubble to the top are the ideas worth taking bets on. And, you can commit to making an idea happen by promoting your highest-ranking ideas to your roadmap. <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/getting-started-with-roadmapping/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Learn more about roadmapping in Roadmunk here.</a></strong></p><h3 id="value-vs-effort">Value vs. Effort</h3><p>Value vs. Effort is a simple prioritization template that involves taking your list of ideas and quantifying them using value and effort estimates. </p><p>This prioritization method generates healthy discussions with internal stakeholders—the C-level, the product team and the dev team, etc.—on what they believe value and effort means, which in turn helps product managers find any strategic alignment holes and fix them.</p><p>In Roadmunk, both value and effort can be quantified using a scale of 1 to 5.</p><p><strong>Value:</strong></p><ul><li>5 = massive value</li><li>4 = high value</li><li>3 = medium value</li><li>2 = low value</li><li>1 = minimal value</li></ul><p><strong>Effort:</strong></p><ul><li>5 = massive effort</li><li>4 = high effort</li><li>3 = medium effort</li><li>2 = low effort</li><li>1 = minimal effort</li></ul><p>Roadmunk will generate a score by dividing effort into value. Here's an example of the Value vs. Effort template looks like in Roadmunk:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Prioritiztion-value-effort.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Get Started with Idea Management" loading="lazy" width="1801" height="1100" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2020/06/Prioritiztion-value-effort.jpg 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2020/06/Prioritiztion-value-effort.jpg 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2020/06/Prioritiztion-value-effort.jpg 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Prioritiztion-value-effort.jpg 1801w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Ideas can be ranked from highest to lowest score. From here, the ideas with the highest scores can be promoted to your product roadmap.</p><p>You can also create your own custom weighted scoring framework to prioritize ideas in Roadmunk. <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/prioritize-your-ideas-with-custom-weighted-scoring/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Click here for a custom weighted scoring setup guide.</a></strong></p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Get Started with Feedback Management]]></title><description><![CDATA[Get up and running with our customer feedback tool—from collecting insights to directing them to the right team and more. ]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/getting-started-with-feedback-management/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eeb9a5889583d0039022279</guid><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2020 20:11:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-feedback.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-gs-feedback.png" alt="Get Started with Feedback Management"/><p>It’s not always easy for product teams to fully understand how their in-market products are performing and being received by their users. This isn’t because there's no user feedback. It’s because many product teams haven’t had the resources to centralize the flood of feedback that’s coming in—and valuable feedback often never gets seen by the product team.</p><p>But… Roadmunk’s Feedback Inbox provides one organized place for product teams to capture, manage, filter and analyze customer feedback.</p><p>And once collected or <a href="https://support.roadmunk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057078833-Uploading-Feedback-and-Ideas-via-CSV?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">imported</a>, customer feedback can be directly linked to product ideas in Roadmunk—helping product teams make customer-driven product decisions. <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/get-started-with-idea-management/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io"><strong>Learn more about idea management in Roadmunk here.</strong></a></p><p>Watch the video below to learn how to get started with feedback management in Roadmunk. Then, keep reading for a high-level overview of how your product team can make sure valuable feedback is captured in Roadmunk's Feedback Inbox.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/fyj32kgdlr" title="Getting started with feedback management Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><h2 id="collecting-customer-feedback-in-roadmunk">Collecting customer feedback in Roadmunk</h2><p>With Roadmunk, product teams can quickly and easily review the high volume of insights that come into their Feedback Inbox. </p><p>Organization is facilitated by Products and Components—the categories that product teams can use to filter and direct feedback to the right person. These fields should mirror how the product and product team are structured, like these examples below:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-18-at-3.10.33-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Get Started with Feedback Management" loading="lazy" width="576" height="207"/></figure><p>You can assign a Roadmunk user to a Product or Component—meaning each product manager’s Feedback Inbox will only receive the feedback that’s relevant to them. </p><p><strong>Currently, there are three ways to get feedback into</strong> <strong>Roadmunk</strong>.</p><h3 id="1-submit-feedback-directly-into-the-app">1. Submit feedback directly into the app</h3><p>Users within your Roadmunk account (both collaborators and reviewers) can submit insights to the Feedback Inbox from within the app. Feedback submitted by collaborators and reviewers can be directly attributed to a specific customer and user.</p><p>The benefits of attributing feedback to a user are two-fold:</p><ol><li>You and your product team will know which customer to follow up with if clarity and context is required to understand or action on submitted feedback.</li><li>You’ll be able to close the feedback loop! You and your product team will know which users to follow up with when you release a pain-point-solving feature.</li></ol><p>Alternatively, collaborators and reviewers can also submit feedback as themselves, meaning it’s not attributed to a customer or user. This is helpful when:</p><ul><li>Product feedback is coming from someone within the organization—like when a member of your product team has identified pain points and areas for improvement</li><li>Executive-level and other non-product stakeholders have product feedback—either from internal usage or based on business problems</li><li>When customer feedback is generalized or commonly known—like coming from many customers on different calls, across social channels, etc.</li></ul><h3 id="2-the-roadmunk-chrome-extension">2. The Roadmunk Chrome Extension</h3><p>The <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/roadmunk-chrome-extension/ocnnoghafejhhiedicnacapjnhoacgie?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Chrome Extension</a> provides any Roadmunk user with a simple, non-disruptive mechanism to deliver customer feedback to the product Feedback Inbox–without having to stop what they’re doing to visit the Roadmunk app.</p><p>The Chrome Extension is compatible with all browser-based tools. Feedback can be copied and pasted into a dialog box from the below tools and delivered directly to Roadmunk:</p><ul><li>Email</li><li>CRMs like Salesforce</li><li>Support tools like Intercom and Zendesk</li></ul><p>Feedback submitted via the Chrome Extension can be assigned feedback to a Product and Component so that it’s delivered to the correct product manager—ensuring that valuable customer insights gets to the right product manager ASAP. Check out this quick video tutorial for everything you need to know about using the Roadmunk Chrome Extension.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/n4ypgxzp5p" title="Using the Roadmunk Chrome Extension Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/roadmunk-chrome-extension/ocnnoghafejhhiedicnacapjnhoacgie?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io"><strong>Install the Roadmunk Chrome Extension here.</strong></a></p><h3 id="3-custom-api-integrations">3. Custom API integrations</h3><p>With <a href="https://roadmunk.com/api-integrationhttps://roadmunk.com/api-integration?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">the Roadmunk API</a>, your team can build a custom integration between Roadmunk’s Feedback Inbox and the tools you’re already using to collect customer feedback. </p><p>For example, at Roadmunk, our own product team used the API to build a custom Slack integration. It’s a common practice for our sales and customer success teams to share user insights with the whole company on Slack. Now, with our Slack <> Roadmunk integration, our product team is able to quickly funnel those valuable insights into our Feedback Inbox—ensuring that feedback can be used to make customer-driven product decisions. </p><p><strong>Plus: </strong>The Roadmunk team is currently working on ways to make feedback collection even easier. Stay tuned for upcoming releases. 😉</p><p><br/></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Roadmapping for Beginners]]></title><description><![CDATA[Become a roadmapping expert in 20 minutes with a quick tour of our favorite tips and tricks for roadmapping with confidence.
]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/roadmapping-for-beginners/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eed1114b5ca620039c4f19c</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2020 20:43:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-roadmapping101.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/urjdzwibiw" title="Roadmapping 101 webinar Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-roadmapping101.png" alt="Roadmapping for Beginners"/><p>Who says you can’t become a roadmapping expert in 20 minutes? With the help of Erin Peck, Roadmunk’s Product Owner, this webinar will give you the tools and tricks you need to do just that. By the end of this webinar, you’ll be ready to apply your new skills to your next roadmap—here’s a look at everything Erin will go over in detail.</p><h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3><p>Erin starts off by giving you a quick tour through the architecture of the Roadmunk platform. First up, it’s time to get to know some key roadmapping terms like<strong> items</strong>, <strong>fields</strong> and the five types of fields. From there, it’s off to learn about the two types of roadmap visualizations in Roadmunk: Timelines and Swimlanes.</p><h3 id="viewing-your-roadmaps">Viewing your roadmaps</h3><p><strong>Timelines</strong> are great for plotting your deadlines and release schedules. By clicking on the Format icon and going to the Layout tab, you can further flesh out the context of your roadmap by adding headers and themes. Meanwhile, colors help your roadmap not only to look nice, but also to better organize your items by areas like status. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-2.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmapping for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1520" height="920" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-2.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-2.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-2.png 1520w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>To help you visualize the relationship between two items on a Timeline, two types of <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/add-dependencies-to-your-roadmaps/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Dependencies</a></strong> come into play. Use <strong>Blocking Dependencies </strong>to communicate a relationship between two items where one item can’t move before or after the other, while <strong>Moves With Dependencies</strong> are ideal for when two items are moving in tandem with each other.</p><p>Still within the Layout tab, you can display any<strong> Key Dates</strong> and add <strong>Milestones</strong> with standalone icons to give more context about important dates. </p><p>Now that you’ve covered Timelines, it’s time for <strong>Swimlanes</strong> to take center stage. This visualization is perfect for agile teams who’d prefer to take deadlines out of the equation. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-3.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmapping for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1520" height="920" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-3.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-3.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-3.png 1520w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Adding headers and color palettes in the Layout tab still applies here, and you should also check out other key features like item progress and label suffixes to take your Swimlanes to the next level. <strong>Filtering items</strong> also helps you zero in on what story you want your roadmap to tell—remember, filtering items doesn’t remove them, but just hides them. </p><h3 id="a-few-last-tips">A few last tips</h3><p>For a holistic view of what your entire team is up to, <strong>Portfolio Roadmaps</strong> pull in two or more source roadmaps. Just keep in mind that any changes you make to your source roadmaps will automatically update in your Portfolio view.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/portfolio-learning.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmapping for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1376" height="603" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/08/portfolio-learning.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/08/portfolio-learning.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/08/portfolio-learning.png 1376w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>When you’re ready to share your roadmaps with the world (or just other Roadmunk users), you can export them to a PNG file, HTML file or URL. </p><p>Finally, Erin shows you how to set up <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/integrate-your-roadmaps-with-jira/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Jira for Roadmunk</a> in just a few steps, from adding your credentials to choosing between one- or two-way syncs. </p><hr><p>For even more Roadmunk insights that go far beyond roadmapping, discover how to capture and prioritize insights from your users in our <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/feedback-and-idea-management-for-beginners/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners</a></strong> video.<br/></p></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners]]></title><description><![CDATA[Capturing and prioritizing customer feedback shouldn’t be this easy. Get a rundown of how it all works in this 15-minute video.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/feedback-and-idea-management-for-beginners/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5eed122db5ca620039c4f1b2</guid><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2020 20:44:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-fim-101.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/u8yowbpnzl" title="Feedback and Idea Management 101 Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-fim-101.png" alt="Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners"/><p>With Roadmunk’s feedback and idea management features, capturing customer feedback is a snap. But it’s also so much more powerful than just that. In this 15-minute overview, Lauren Rainville, Roadmunk’s Implementation Consultant, walks you through the entire process, offering helpful tips and guidance along the way.</p><h3 id="getting-started-with-feedback-management">Getting started with feedback management</h3><p>First up, Lauren gives you a quick tour of the <strong>Feedback Inbox</strong>, where Collaborators can view and process feedback. From there, it’s time to set up and configure your Feedback Inbox by adding <strong>Products</strong> (like “Integrations,” for example) and further sub-categorizing them into <strong>Components</strong> (like “Jira integration”). To avoid any confusion, Lauren also shows the key differences between Collaborators’ and Reviewers’ views of the Feedback Inbox. </p><p>Speaking of Reviewers, Lauren next demonstrates how to submit feedback as a Reviewer. Then, she shows how the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/roadmunk-chrome-extension/ocnnoghafejhhiedicnacapjnhoacgie?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io"><strong>Roadmunk Chrome extension</strong></a> makes it easy to submit feedback from emails, support inboxes and pretty much anywhere else on the web. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-19.png" class="kg-image" alt="Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1906" height="1178" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-19.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-19.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/07/image-19.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-19.png 1906w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Up next, you’ll see how Collaborators can sort through feedback in the Feedback Inbox, then process it whenever they’re finished with it. You can also tag users within the feedback itself using the @-symbol. Among other cool feedback features to take advantage of, you can link to existing ideas (or create new ones) within the Feedback Inbox—plus, you can tag feedback you don’t want to miss as important.</p><p>Once you have a solid workflow in place for inputting, collecting and triaging your feedback, you’re ready to move on to idea management.</p><h3 id="getting-started-with-idea-management">Getting started with idea management</h3><p>Within the Ideas module, it’s easy to add a new idea. From there, you can view all of your ideas together—or based on their specific product areas—and start prioritizing them. Roadmunk offers two built-in prioritization methods that you can use at any time: <strong>R.I.C.E.</strong> and <strong>Value vs. Effort</strong>. The headers that make up your prioritization view are called factors, and they can be positive or negative in nature. You can also <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/prioritize-your-ideas-with-custom-weighted-scoring/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">create custom views and weighted factors</a> based on your organization’s unique needs (like Retention vs. Cost, for instance). </p><p>Now, it’s time to order your ideas either <strong>by priority</strong> (which allows you to drag and drop based on however you want to prioritize) or <strong>by sorted list</strong> (which takes the given scores into account). </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-6.png" class="kg-image" alt="Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1700" height="1100" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-6.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-6.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/07/image-6.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-6.png 1700w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>By clicking on any idea in your list, you’ll open up the idea card, which provides all the relevant details about your idea. Within the idea card, you can promote your idea to a roadmap by linking it to an existing item or creating a new one altogether. You can also view any feedback that’s attached to that idea on the right-hand side, which is super helpful to be able to see at a glance. </p><p>Within the Customers module, you’ll see the names of all the organizations and contacts that you’ve collected. By clicking into each individual customer, you can see how many ideas are linked to them, along with the number of pieces of feedback they’ve provided. If you want to add more customers, you can always do so manually or by CSV import. </p><hr><p>If you’re feeling confident in your feedback and idea management skills after this webinar, try out <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/roadmapping-for-beginners/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Roadmapping for Beginners</a></strong> for size, which will help you take your roadmapping abilities to the next level.</p></hr>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Roadmunk for Beginners]]></title><description><![CDATA[Whether you’re completely new to Roadmunk or just want to go over the basics one more time, here’s everything you need to get started.]]></description><link>https://roadmunk.ghost.io/roadmunk-for-beginners/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">Ghost__Post__5ed534f9d73b3a0038f05384</guid><category><![CDATA[Roadmaps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Feedback]]></category><category><![CDATA[Prioritization]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Hattie Rachi]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2020 17:11:42 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-roadmunk-101.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/cq34hq1j8k" title="Roadmunk 101 Video" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="wistia_embed" name="wistia_embed" allowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" width="960" height="540"/>
<script src="https://fast.wistia.net/assets/external/E-v1.js" async=""/></figure><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2020/06/postcard-roadmunk-101.png" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners"/><p>Whether you’re completely new to Roadmunk or just want to go over the basics one more time, you’ve come to the right place. </p><p>Join Erin Peck, Customer Support Specialist at Roadmunk, for a 30-minute walkthrough of everything you need to know to get up and running with roadmapping, feedback and idea management and all things Roadmunk in general. Whether you’re interested in creating roadmaps that stand out, capturing and processing customer feedback or everything in between, this presentation has you covered. </p><p>Not sure if this webinar is right for you? Here’s a preview of what Erin covers in Roadmunk 101.</p><h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3><p>Get a high-level snapshot of how to navigate the Roadmunk app, then find out what specific users can do in Roadmunk, from Collaborators to Reviewers to Account Admins.</p><h3 id="getting-started-with-feedback-and-idea-management">Getting started with feedback and idea management</h3><p>Even if you just started using Roadmunk for the first time, it’s easy to set up your products and components in the <strong>Feedback Inbox</strong>. Here, you’ll be able to set up your organization structure to make sure feedback is directed to the right person and area. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-7.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1700" height="1101" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/image-7.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/image-7.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/07/image-7.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/image-7.png 1700w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Think of <strong>Products</strong> as the more high-level category that defines your overall product, while <strong>Components</strong> are the integral pieces that define or make up your specific product. From there, you can enter your customers manually or import them from a CSV to save time. </p><p>Next, Erin shows you how to submit and review feedback as a Reviewer, as well as how to submit feedback as a Collaborator. (And don’t forget, you can use the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/roadmunk-chrome-extension/ocnnoghafejhhiedicnacapjnhoacgie?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Roadmunk Chrome extension</a> to submit customer feedback from anywhere on the web.) Once your feedback has been submitted, you can start processing it within the Feedback Inbox. </p><p>After that, Erin shows you how to create new ideas within the Ideas module. With your ideas in place, you can better understand what the prioritization process looks like in Roadmunk. You’ll see how different prioritization views work, in addition to learning about factors—which can be positive or negative based on your team’s priorities. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-3.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1746" height="925" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-3.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-3.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-3.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-3.png 1746w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-5-1.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1746" height="925" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-5-1.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-5-1.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1600/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-5-1.png 1600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/prioritization-ch1-5-1.png 1746w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>You can change your view based on Roadmunk’s two built-in factors: <strong>R.I.C.E. </strong>(reach, impact, confidence and effort) or <strong>Value vs. Effort</strong>. And because we know there’s no one-size-fits-all factor for every team, Roadmunk also gives you the ability to create custom views and factors. </p><p>Once you’re set up with whichever view and factors you’ve selected, you can order your ideas either by priority (which lets you drag and drop them however you see fit) or by a sorted list based on their scores.</p><h3 id="getting-started-with-roadmapping">Getting started with roadmapping</h3><p>Next, it’s time to get the lay of the roadmapping land. Erin starts with the basics—defining key terms like <strong>items</strong> and <strong>fields</strong>, along with running down the different types of fields with examples for each.</p><p>After that, it’s on to viewing and visualizing your roadmaps. Erin explains the difference between <strong>Timelines</strong> (great for evaluating your roadmap in the context of deadlines) and <strong>Swimlanes </strong>(better for agile teams looking for maximum flexibility). </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/Timeline-Roadmap.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="1520" height="920" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/Timeline-Roadmap.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w1000/2021/07/Timeline-Roadmap.png 1000w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/Timeline-Roadmap.png 1520w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"/></figure><p>Regardless of which visualization suits your team, you can tell a better story with your roadmap if you take advantage of Roadmap’s formatting options, including changing the layout and color. Speaking of telling a story through your roadmap, applying filters helps provide clearer context around the information that matters most to your stakeholders, so definitely keep an eye out for Erin’s explanation there.</p><p><strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/add-dependencies-to-your-roadmaps/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Dependencies</a></strong> are another key roadmapping topic you’ll want to flag as you get started. This feature allows you to link items by date and visualize them on your roadmaps, providing full visibility of item relationships and restrictions. <strong>Blocking Dependencies</strong> allow you to create a relationship in which something must happen before or after a specific Item. On the other hand, <strong>Moves With Dependencies </strong>allow you to create a relationship in which items are running in parallel—so as one item moves, other dependent items are also moved by the same time period. </p><p>Another key feature to add to your product manager toolkit are <strong>Milestones</strong>, which highlight key dates that are important to your product team. These standalone items will be easy to spot on your roadmaps because they show up as icons. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/day4--milestones.png" class="kg-image" alt="Roadmunk for Beginners" loading="lazy" width="601" height="173" srcset="https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/size/w600/2021/07/day4--milestones.png 600w, https://roadmunk.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/day4--milestones.png 601w"/></figure><p>Finally, Erin walks you through three more roadmapping features to help you on your roadmapping journey:</p><ul><li>Share your roadmap by exporting it to a PNG file, HTML file or URL.</li><li>Roll up two or more source roadmaps into a single <strong>Portfolio Roadmap </strong>to get a bird’s eye view of activity across your roadmaps.</li><li>Set up <a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/integrate-your-roadmaps-with-jira/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Jira for Roadmunk</a> with either a one- or two-way sync.</li></ul><hr><p>Hungry for more Roadmunk learning? Get a deeper dive into both roadmapping and feedback and idea management with our <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/roadmapping-for-beginners/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Roadmapping for Beginners</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://learn.roadmunk.com/feedback-and-idea-management-for-beginners/?ref=roadmunk.ghost.io">Feedback and Idea Management for Beginners</a></strong> videos.<br/></p></hr>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>