Introduction to Roadmapping

Introduction

When you're starting on an open source project, it's important to record what your community (this might just be you at the beginning) decides to work on! A roadmap organizes the tasks that nees to be done on a project around milestones. This helps potential contributors understand the current status of your poject and where it's going next.

A roadmap can also express your vision for the project. Make sure you clearly state why you are implementing certain things to get people excited about joining.

This can be as simple as a collection of issues in your issue tracker, or a detailed timeline complete with milestones. It's up to you to choose what works best for your community! At the Mozilla Science Lab, we break our Roadmaps into three sections:

Examples

• Contributorship Badges for Science Roadmap

Steps to Complete

1. Add your "Project Mission & Summary"

   5 minutes

   Use this space to orient and welcome new visitors. Start with the project name along with your mission statement or a clear summary of what you are doing. If you've already written a README, you can adapt the summary and add a shorter version here.

   For more information on writing a project mission statement or summary, see the Writing a README Exercise.

2. Write "How to Get Involved"

   5-10 minutes

   New contributors might want to jump in right away! This points them to parts of the project they can immediately work on.

3. Pick Milestones

   10 minutes

   Depending on your project, milestones can vary from development goals to events. Here are some milestones you can use:

   • Project Status Goals

     Are you working to implement your MVP (minimum viable product) or a specific feature? Your milestones can be completing a feature or a release.

     examples: Get your project on Collaborate, build an MVP

   • Dates

     If you have deadlines or a set time to work on this project, use this as a milestone!

   • Events

     If you'll be sprinting or demoing your project at an event, it's helpful to know what you'll need to complete before and during the event.

     examples: Mozilla Science Lab Global Sprint prep work, MozFest sprint tasks

   • Short, Medium & Long Term

     When working with volunteers, it can be difficult to set hard deadlines. When unsure, you can use short, medium and long term milestones.

     Short term - things you are working on now
     Medium term - things contributors can start working on that is not currently being worked on
     Long term - you can describe where your project is going here

4. List Tasks to Complete for Each Milestone

   7-10 minutes per milestone

   Create an issue for each task. Take time to describe the task along with why you are doing this task. This will strengthen the vision for your project and help others get involved.

   Tips for issues: Include as much context and help as possible! Add links, mention specific people involved by their username (i.e. @acabunoc). Articulate the problem or idea along with solutions and next steps.

   Link to these issues in your Roadmap under each milestone. Congrats! You now have a Roadmap with tasks.

Glossary

Follow-up Resources & Materials

• Write a README. Instructions here.
• Create a Contributing.md file for your project. Instructions here.
• Write a Code of Conduct for your community. Instructions here.