Using the Roadmap view

The Roadmap view mode is a little bit different compared to the other two view modes and needs a little bit more preparation to produce meaningful results.

First of all, you have to create a topic which represents the roadmap itself.
In the following example, we will call it "Product ABC Roadmap”.
In the topic editor screen, locate the part which is called "Subtopics Timeline”, which is located near the end of the screen:

(Subtopics timeline section in the topic editor screen)

From the "Timeline” drop-down box of the "Subtopics Timeline” select the starting period.
In our example we select the January of 2024.
This implicitly defines the granularity of your roadmap, too (as you selected a month, your roadmap granularity will be "month”).

Next, select a "Span” of 12 units, as our roadmap initially will cover 12 months.
Note that "units” refer to the granularity which was implicitly defined when you selected a month for the timeline.

Now click the "Save” button and have a look at the "Subtopics Timeline” section again.
You will notice that the "End” automatically has been calculated, based on our (starting) "Timeline”, the implicit monthly granularity and the number of 12 units.
This is shown in the screenshot above.

Now click the "Save+Back” button to return to the previous screen and focus on the newly created roadmap topic (and make sure that you switch to the "Roadmap” view mode):

(Example of a configured empty roadmap view mode in Zingoolarity)

Just below the breadcrumb, you will see the roadmap banner.
The roadmap banner usually starts with "(undefined)” (which can be seen as a backlog of not yet planned items) and after that you will see all the 12 months (based on your previous configuration of the roadmap topic).

When you scroll to the right, you will notice a couple of empty unlabled slots.
This is just "buffer space”, in case you plan something which starts in December 2024 and lasts for 3 months:

(Unlabled "spare” slots in the roadmap view)

Now we add our first topic by clicking the "Add” button in the breadcrumb.
For the moment, we, just set the name and click "Save+Back” afterwards.
The result will look like the following:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with a newly added topic)

This already looks familiar; much like the other view modes in Zingoolarity.
Note that the new topic is placed in the "Backlog” column, as we have done nothing more than giving it a name.

Now we add 4 more topics:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with 5 added topics)

You will immediately notice, that the topics are ordered alphabetically by default, as we have not yet provided any additional information.

Now we edit the "Topic 1” and locate the "Topic Timing” section.
Be careful; it looks much the same as the "Subtopics Timeline”; do not confuse the two:

(Zingoolarity topic timing section)

In the "Timing” field we select "January 2024” and in the "Duration” field we select "2 units”.
After clicking the "Save+Back” button again, the picture will now look like this:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with one topic having an assigned timing)

The "Topic 1” has moved to the bottom of the list, is now placed in the "January 2024” column and spans over two columns, also covering "February 2024”. This already looks a little bit more like a roadmap already.

After having edited the remaining 4 example topics, the picture will look like this:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with all topics having an assigned timing)

Now things are already assembled on a timeline.
If you add two more topics, call them "Last Topic" and "Final Topic" and place them on the same timing, you will notice that the "Final Topic" is on top of the "Last Topic”.
This is because sorting is still alphabetic, after the "Timing” of a topic has been considered:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with alphabetic sorting)

You can now influence this by for example setting the "Sort” of the "Fifth Topic” to 5 (any number larger than the default of 0).
Now the sorting will be overridden:

(Example of a Zingoolarity roadmap view with adjusted sorting)

And now we add some example "States” and "Percentages” to the five topics:

(Final view of the example roadmap view with added states and percentages)

You see, that you can use everything you have learned with the other view modes, also in the Roadmap view mode.

You can even apply the logic of "open” and "close” of a topic.
Let us assume that you have two phases in your roadmap.
We simply add "Phase 1” and "Phase 2” topics to the roadmap, cut everything which is already there in two steps to the clipboard and paste it into the appropriate phase topics:

(Introducing two phases to our example roadmap view with topics already cut & pasted)

You can now dynamically open and close the two phases (or, if you prefer, drill into them):

(Opening one of the phases of our example roadmap view)

Again, this gives your roadmap more structure and the ability to focus on the different phases.

And last but not least, there is the capability to use any of the topics on the roadmap as a kind of "sub roadmap”.
Let us open the "Topic 2” and add two more topics below:

(Introducing the concept of sub roadmaps to our roadmap view)

"Open” and "close” automatically use the same rendering timeline as the currently focused "Product ABC Roadmap” topic.

If you do not intend to open+close the topic but drill-into the topic instead, it is even possible to use a different timeline (of the same or of different granularity) for the "sub roadmap”.

For that you simply set a different "Subtopics Timeline” for the topic which functions as a "sub roadmap”.

This allows you for example to set a "Subtopics Timeline” timing of "Calendar Week 30” with a span of "8 units”.

As soon as you drill into our "Topic 2” (with the modifications above), you will see something like this:

(Having drilled into the sub roadmap with a different granularity)

Mixing Granularities

There is one caveat with this approach.

If you have already set a timing for the two topics below the "Topic 2” (for example "March 2024”), you will no longer see these topics when you switch the "Subtopics Timeline” timing to calendar weeks.

This is because the roadmap view mode will only show the topics which fit the range of the specified "Subtopics Timeline”.

To correct this, you can temporarily switch to the Contextchart view mode and edit each topic to adjust their timeline either to "(undefined)” or to a proper setting in range.

Or you can use is intentionally, as you want to see two topics on the overall roadmap and when you drill down, you want to see a more detailed breakdown into calendar weeks.

Summary

To sum it up, the Roadmap view mode is capable of rendering even complex multilevel roadmaps, while still providing all the basic features of the other view modes.

You can even jump in granularity during drill down, but this is indeed an advanced approach.

We want to mention one final (probably interesting) capability here:

You can even mix the timing granularity of different topics below one single topic.

You may start with a monthly granularity (and set this as the default "Subtopic Timeline” in the topic which represents the roadmap or the sub roadmap.

Then you start using the Filter bar (which will be explained later) to override to calendar week granularity and add additional topics with the calendar week granularity.

Clearing the filter will switch back to the default monthly view; setting a manual filter again will make the calendar week topics appear again.

And now it is time for you to dive into planning and using roadmaps yourself.

Have fun.