Gartner for Research & Development Leaders

Build R&D Tech Roadmaps

That Drive Stakeholder
Engagement
Technology roadmaps are often too dense with detail or too technical, making it hard
for stakeholders to consume the relevant information. This research offers guidance
and sample visuals to enable R&D leaders to create compelling roadmaps and succinctly
communicate the technology strategy.

Overview
Key findings
• Sixty-two percent of surveyed R&D leaders use technology roadmaps to manage
technologies in the organization’s portfolio, but only 27% always reference the technology
roadmaps when planning.
• Given the amount of information and analysis available, roadmapping teams struggle
to design and present roadmaps in a way that helps stakeholders consume the relevant
information for decision making.
• Technology roadmaps are often too dense with detail or too technical, which can make
them less usable or relevant for nontechnical audiences or executive decisions.

Recommendations
• Define the technology roadmap’s goal, scope and time horizon before building an
actual roadmap. This will help identify the altitude of the roadmap, whether you
need to build strategic capability investment plans or a detailed development plan.
• Build audience-specific roadmap views by evaluating the information needs of
stakeholders and get their buy-in on which type of roadmap will be most useful
for them. Align R&D and business terminologies in the roadmap(s) to ensure that
business stakeholders can easily consume the information relevant to them.
• Brainstorm the roadmap’s visual framework upfront before considering a roadmapping
software tool. This helps understand which key inputs or features your organization
may need from an off-the-shelf solution, if applicable.
• Update the roadmap regularly, at least once a year, looking out for any internal
or external events, such as strategy redirection or market shifts, that can invalidate
previous roadmap analysis and trigger off-cycle reviews.

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Building Compelling
Technology Roadmap
Visuals
Gartner’s State of the R&D Function Survey¹ indicates that around 62% of R&D leaders
use technology roadmaps to manage technologies in the organization’s portfolio.
However, 41% infrequently reference technology roadmaps when planning. Our
research shows that, while teams excel at identifying capability gaps and technology
competencies, translating technology strategy into a roadmap is a challenging
exercise.
Roadmaps, when appropriately designed, can be invaluable tools for building
consensus and stakeholder support for charting technology development goals,
capabilities and milestones.
This research will help R&D leaders:
• Define the roadmap’s goal, scope and time horizon to identify the roadmap’s relevant
technology roadmap model.
• Build audience-specific roadmap views by exploring examples of roadmap visuals
and sample use cases organized by the three roadmap models (market pull, hybrid
and technology push).
• Brainstorm the technology roadmap’s visual framework upfront by understanding
important components that must be incorporated when building effective tech
roadmaps.
• Update roadmaps at a regular cadence.

3 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
1. Define the Roadmap’s Goal, Scope and Time Horizon
Before you begin the roadmapping exercise, consult with cross-functional stakeholders
to prioritize top roadmapping needs (see Figure 4) and select an appropriate roadmap
model (market pull, hybrid or technology push). Identifying the roadmap’s goal, scope
and time horizon will help guide the altitude of the roadmap. For instance, R&D teams can
create either a strategic roadmap (presenting a high-level plan for capability investments)
or a tactical technology roadmap (showcasing a detailed capability development plan
linked to product launches or project portfolios).

Figure 1: Three Foundational Technology Roadmapping Decisions

1. What are your 2. What is the scope 3. What is the time

roadmapping goals? of your roadmap? horizon of your roadmap?

High Level

Vision Document

• Business-Unit-Level The time horizon for

Strategic Framework Roadmaps the average company’s
• Technology Platform technology roadmap
Roadmaps is approximately 2 to
Tactical Product 2.5 times that company’s
• Product Category Roadmaps
or Project Plan average product
• Corporatewide Roadmaps
development life cycle.
Portfolio
Prioritization Tool

Tactical

Source: Gartner

4 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
Next, decide which technology roadmapping model will best meet roadmapping
objectives. There are three common roadmap models that R&D organizations tend
to use (see Table 1). For more details on each model, refer to An R&D Leader’s Guide to
Technology Roadmap Models.

Table 1: Three Models of Technology Roadmaps

Market Pull Hybrid Technology Push

What are your How can technology How can technology How can technology
roadmapping goals? support business goals? support product create new
roadmaps and create market opportunities?
new growth
opportunities?

What is the scope of Product categories, Technology platforms Technology platforms

your roadmap? business units and product or areas
(BUs) or regions lines

What is your Three to five years More than five years More than five years
roadmap’s time
horizon?

Key Inputs: • Product roadmap, plan • Product launches • Technology trends

and startegy • Prioritized set of and competencies
• Business and technologies with a • Growth opportunities
consumer trends potential to create a from differentiated
• Prioritized list of long-term competitive technical
customer needs advantage competencies
and product attributes

Use Cases • Plan technology • Articulate R&D • Create a long-term

investments to support for nearterm vision for R&D
support product product needs and • Identify
roadmaps or launch long-term technology
plans organizationwide
opportunities
platform or capability
• Respond to market • Emphasize centralized
development
shifts technolog investments
• Prioritize competencies
• Optimize capability with enterprisewide
for strategic advantage
allocation for portfolio impact
or future differentiation
management • Encourage longer-
• Outline a partnership
• Support decentralized term planning and
or acquisition
R&D planning vision setting
strategy for emerging
technologie

Source: Gartner

5 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
2. Build Audience-Specific Roadmap Views
Given the sheer amount of information available, technology roadmaps often
become convoluted and dense with technical details, which can make them less
usable or relevant for nontechnical audiences or executive decisions. To solve this:
• Identify your key stakeholders and their information needs, and consider how
the roadmap can help facilitate decision making on key discussion topics. For
instance, the granularity of information included in the roadmap will depend on
whether it’s an executive board meeting (where a high-level overview helps
validate strategic alignment) or a business planning meeting (where more
details help support investment decisions).
• Clarify what elements on the roadmap (such as technology capabilities, product
attributes or product features) mean to ensure building a common understanding
of roadmap analysis. Wherever possible, align R&D and business terminologies in
the roadmap(s) to highlight how key technologies relate to business needs.
• Evaluate if there is a need to build individual roadmaps for each product category,
technology platform or BU, and capture elements of the roadmap analysis through
multipage or multiple visuals, if needed. When starting the roadmapping exercise, pilot
only one product category, technology platform or business segment that you are
most comfortable with, and then replicate the visualization format after incorporating
stakeholder feedback.
Discuss the initial draft with stakeholders you’ll be building the roadmap with/for. Use
Table 2 to explore common technology roadmapping elements you can include in
your roadmap. Organizations building hybrid roadmaps typically select business-related,
product-related and technology-related elements while organizations working on
technology-push roadmaps focus on technology-related and implementation-related
details. Gartner recommends including at least one element from each category in
your roadmap to ensure communicating all relevant information to stakeholders.

6 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
Table 2: Common Technology Roadmapping Elements

Category Common Elem

Business Related • External trends (societal, technological,

economical, environmental or political)
• Customer or market needs
• Risk category (such as customer risk,
competitive risk, digital risk and regulatory risk)
• Business or market segments
• Scenarios

Product Related • Product launches

• Product categories
• Product features

Technology Related • Technology platforms (such as system, software,

devices and networks)
• Emerging technology categories (such as AI
and cloud)
• Technology portfolio segments
• Business or technology objectives
• Technology capabilities (such as “must have”
versus “good to have” capabilities)

Implementation Related • Time (by year/month/quarter or generation)

• Impact (such as transformative, significant
or moderate)
• Status (such as developing, monitoring, in
incubation, long-term strategic vision or proof
of concept (POC)/prototype)
• Development plan (such as build/buy/ally)
• Sponsoring BU
• Technical competencies

Source: Gartner

7 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
The following section presents examples of roadmap visuals and sample use cases
organized by the three roadmap models (market pull, hybrid and technology push).
ou can adapt these visual frameworks based on your organization’s needs.
The level of detail included in the roadmap depends on whether these are strategic
or tactical. Strategic roadmaps depict a high-level plan for capability investments, while
tactical roadmaps present a detailed capability development plan linked to product
launches or technology projects.

Strategic Market-Pull Roadmap

Sample Use Case
Company Z built a polar chart for each technology platform to show how technologies
relate to key business needs. For more information, see Figure 5 and Goal Validation
Roadmaps (Company Z). Each vector shows the sequence of technology development
within a platform and points to a goal listed in business and technology terms to facilitate
ease of communication:
• Roadmapping Goals: Vision document
• Roadmap Audience: Executive committee, innovation council, board meetings,
business teams, product managers
• Decisions to Support: Helps validate understanding of business needs and
communicate the project’s business relevance. Pair it with detailed hybrid roadmaps
to support project-level decision making

Figure 2: Strategic Market-Pull Roadmap: Company Z’s Polar Chart

Technology Platform 1

Technology A
(Tool Cost) Technology B R&D Terminology
(Variable Cost Reduction)
BU Terminology
Autonomous
Manufacturing
Technology Generations

Technology C
Assembling
(Energy Efficiency)
Methods Enhanced Surface
Properties

Technology D
Biodegradable
(Quality)
Components
Finishing Protective
Techniques Recycled Materials
Materials Casings

Current
State

Source: Gartner

8 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
Tactical Market-Pull Roadmap
Sample Use Case
Company B recently refined its product roadmaps and was looking to create a detailed
plan communicating the R&D investments needed in the near term. Company B chose
to pursue a tactical market-pull roadmapping model organized by product launches (see
Figure 3):
• Roadmapping Goals: Tactical product plan
• Roadmap Audience: Business leadership, project teamss
• Decisions to Support: Provides information to support resource allocation and
development plan (build/buy/ally) decisions, and helps communicate information
about upcoming projects to teams.

Figure 3: Tactical Market-Pull Roadmap: Product Launches

BU A Technology BU B Technology Combined Technology Development

Development Development

20XX 20XX 20XX 20XX 20XX

Gamma Delta Zeta Theta
Product Launches
Alpha Beta Epsilon Iota

Technology #1
Feature #1
Technology #2
Technology #3
Feature #2
Technology #4
Build/Acquire — Difficult
Technology #5
Feature #3
Technology #6
Technology #7
Feature #4
Technology #8

Technology #9
Feature #5 Technology #10
How will we build the Build/Acquire —
Technology #11
Moderate
features? What is the Feature #6
Technology #12
Technology #13
difficulty level to integrate
the feature/technology? License
Feature #7
Feature #8 Technology #15
Technology #14

These details can be

skipped at the beginning Technology #16
Technology #17
and added later as more Technology #18
Technology #19
information is available. Feature #9
Technology #21
Technology #22
Technology #23
Leverage Existing Technology #24
Internal Technology Technology #25
Feature #10 Technology #26
Technology #27
Feature #11 Technology #28
Technology #29
Feature #12 Technology #30
Technology #31
Feature #13 Technology #32
Feature #14 Technology #33

What are the features required to support

product launches throughout the course
of the roadmap?

Source: Gartner

9 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
Strategic Hybrid Roadmap
Sample Use Case
Company X wanted to build a roadmap that would help brainstorm the technology
developments required to meet emerging market needs. Company X chose to build
a strategic hybrid roadmap (see Figure 4) and communicate the various components
and related recommendations from the roadmap analysis:
• Roadmapping Goals: Strategic framework
• Roadmap Audience: Functional leaders, business partners, C-suite executives, project
teams
• Decisions to Support: Helps inform technology strategy planning and communicate
high-level project plans. Customize this template based on the level of detail you
want to include in your technology roadmap. To keep the visual succinct and easy
to consume, consider limiting the amount of detail included in the roadmap. Instead,
add supplemental information to accompany the visual.

Figure 4: Strategic Hybrid Roadmap: Generic Template

20XX 20XX 20XX 20XX 20XX

Market Events/
Customer Need

Product Launches

Market
Pulla

Technology
Capabilities

Tech
Pushb

a
Market-pull capabilities reflect technology investments required
to support planned product launches.
Tech-push capabilities reflect opportunities identified by the technology
b

organization that do not currently support planned product launches.

Source: Gartner

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Tactical Hybrid Roadmap
Sample Use Case
Company A needed an integrated strategy for embedding Internet of Things (IoT)
functionality across all of its products. Company A chose to pursue a tactical hybrid model
that allowed it to link hardware and software technology developments, building toward
planned product launches (see Figure 5):
• Roadmapping Goals: Tactical product plan
• Roadmap Audience: Functional and business leadership, project teams
• Decisions to Support: Identify the support needed from other functions for technology
development, outline project complexity, and showcase in-depth capability analysis

Figure 5: Tactical Hybrid Roadmap: Hardware and Software Technologies

Product Launches
20XX 20XX 20XX 20XX

Alpha Alpha 2.0

Hardware

Beta

Software
Omega

Source: Gartner

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Strategic Technology-Push Roadmap
Sample Use Case
In another scenario, Company C wanted to explore the long-term potential of one
emerging, potentially disruptive technology. R&D leaders at Company C used the
strategic technology-push roadmapping 2 approach to hypothesize technical
advances from the original technology platform (see Figure 6):
• Roadmapping Goals: Vision document
• Roadmap Audience: Innovation council, business leadership, project teams
• Decisions to Support:Helps make investment decisions and brainstorm how existing
technologies can lead to new product opportunities

Figure 6: Strategic Technology-Push Roadmap: Company C’s Product Migration Maps

Basic Platform Derivative Forms Early Products Advanced Products Expanded Product Lines Revolutionary Platform Industry

Cool Lighting Lighting

Cold Matrix
Day Lighting
Medical Lamps Lighting
Specialty Reflectors Thermoform
Solar Light Piping High-Efficiency Displays Medical

Electronic Displays
Electronics
Visible Mirrors Display Commercial Graphics Solar Collection
Advertising/Display

Secure Spectral Bar Code Energy Generation

Security/Anti-
Security Film
Counterfeiting
Advertising
Stationery/Decorative
Mirrors Color Selective Mirrors Decorative Products Consumer Products
Packaging Consumer Products
Covert Security Film
Packaging
Infrared Mirrors Energy Control Window Film
Anti-Reflective Film Low-Glare Window Film Advanced IR Filters
Glazing

UV Mirrors Medical Testing Equipment

Medical

Net Incomea

R&D
Investment Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Company C has successfully developed more

than 50% of products on this Migration Map.

a
Net income without accounting for ongoing R&D investment
Source: Gartner

12 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
Tactical Technology-Push Roadmap
Sample Use Case
Company Y’s R&D function wanted to share information about the projects in the R&D
pipeline with leadership. The team chose to build a tactical technology-push roadmap,
organized by technology platforms, that presents project progress and estimated
timelines (see Figure 7):
• Roadmapping Goals: Tactical product plan
• Roadmap Audience: CTO, R&D or technical leaders
• Decisions to Support: Helps make resource allocation decisions, and communicate
planned and in-progress technology projects, as well as project status

Figure 7: Tactical Technology-Push Roadmap: Technology Platforms and Associated

Projects

Helps identify execution details such as project progress.

Idea Concept Feasibility Development

Technology Technology
FYXX FYXX FYXX
Platforms Projects

Project 1
Sensors
Project 2
and Devices
Project 3

Robotics Project 4
and Smart
Manufacturing Project 5

Communications Project 6

Project 7
AI and Compute
Project 8

Energy
Project 9
Technology

Source: Gartner

13 © 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_3156982
3. Brainstorm the Technology Roadmap’s Visual
Framework Upfront
Think through the story that you want to convey through your technology roadmap,
and roughly design the roadmap’s framework before you begin your analysis. Doing
so will help you:
• Understand the inputs required to build the roadmap
• Select the relevant technology roadmapping vendor based on the features you
need to present and filter roadmap analysis
Use the guidance in Figure 8 to understand important components that must be
incorporated when building effective and comprehensive technology roadmap visuals.

Figure 8: Technology Roadmap Visual Guidance

Time horizon Supporting information

to help make decisions

Core Build/
Year Competitive Implementation-
Technology Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Vision Importance Buy/
Area
5 Position
Ally
related details
Become
Tech 1 Manual Automatic L H Build
market
leader
Tech 2 Open Interface H M Buy
in XYZ
product
Tech 3 Platform Application family. H L Build

Prototype Prototype Prototype Expand

Tech 4 M H Build Colors
1 2 3 market
by x% by to improve
introducing L M
visual appeal
Tech 5 Code Design Ally
new
features. H
Tech 6 Equipment-Manufacturer-Specific M Buy

Platform-Neutral
Tech 7 H H Build
(Android, Apple, Windows)
Current Line depicts
competitive
Future (five
Comprehensive years hence) average.

legend L = Low
M = Medium
H = High

Visual links to highlight

interdependencies

Source: Adapted From T.A. Kappel (Northwestern University), “The Social

Context of Industrial Creativity: R&D Planning Using Roadmaps,”
Kellogg Journal of Organization Behavior, 1998.

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4. Update Your Roadmap at a Regular Cadence
Revisit and refresh your roadmap at least once every 12 months. Also look out for
possible triggers that can impact the validity or relevance of the organization’s technology
roadmap and trigger off-cycle or ad hoc roadmap updates. Such triggers can be:
• Internal (such as reorganization of product categories or business segments); or
• External (such as evolving or new opportunities, market shifts or technological
advances)

Analysis
Evidence
1
Gartner State of the R&D Function Survey. This study was conducted to provide
benchmarking data and analysis to R&D leaders’ most pressing questions. The research
was conducted online from April through May 2021 among 203 respondents from North
America (Canada, the U.S.), Western Europe (France, Germany, the U.K.) and Asia/Pacific
(China, India, Australia, New Zealand). Organizations sampled were from the following
industries: financial services, information technology, telecommunications, manufacturing
(healthcare and nonhealthcare), transportation, utilities, education providers (university,
research laboratories), government (national or international, defense or intelligence),
and nonprofit (federally funded research and development centers). With the exception
of government and nonprofit industries, organizations were required to have annual
enterprisewide revenue of $500 million or more in 2020 to qualify for the survey.
Respondents were required to hold a manager- or senior-manager-level role or higher
in the following departments: research and development, product development, or
engineering/product design.
Disclaimer: Results of this study do not represent global findings or the market
as a whole, but reflect the sentiment of the respondents and companies surveyed.
2
Company C’s Product Migration Planning

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