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Nathasit Gerdsri, Ph.D.
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Direct link to everything you want to know about Technology Roadmapping
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Technology Roadmapping
What is "Roadmapping and Roadmap"?
The Step-by-Step Analysis Supporting the Development of a Roadmap
General Approach for TRM Implementation in an Organization
Key Success Factors in TRM implementation
What is "Roadmapping and Roadmap"?
"Roadmapping" and "Roadmap" are words describing the process and the product of roadmapping process, respectively. Technology roadmapping is simply defined as a process to portray the integration of science/technological considerations into product and business planning as well as to provide a way to identify, evaluate, and select alternatives that can be used to achieve a desired objective. Their popular applications are for developing strategies, planning resources, and identifying gaps and opportunities in R&D.
Robert Galvin (1998), former Motorola Chairman and advocate of science and technology roadmaps, said "A roadmap is an extended look at the future of a chosen field of inquiry composed from the collective knowledge and imagination of the brightest drivers of the change."
A roadmap, a product of roadmapping process, is generally presented in a form of a time-based diagram with multi-layers linking technology-related issues to business decisions. The system thinking approach must be applied to the analysis for capturing the change of elements-business, markets, products, technology, R&D, and recourses-and the impacts of those changes on an organization over time.
Figure 1 presents a generic form of a product-technology roadmap. In this roadmap, business drivers; D2 and D3, are determined to be key forces that will drive business changes in the future. These changes would lead to a potential market opportunity as presented by M2 on the diagram. To capture this opportunity, an organization plans to launch a new product called P2 which the design and development of this product requires a new technology known as T2. An organization also needs to invest in research and development activities; RD3, to make T2 ready for use by the time it is needed.
Figure 1: A generic product-technology roadmap (Gerdsri and Assakul 2007)
The Step-by-Step Analysis Supporting the Development of a Roadmap
To develop a product-technology roadmap as presented in Figure 1, the analysis of TRM process can be divided into five steps addressing business drivers, market opportunities, product, technology, and resource, respectively. The objective of each analysis step presents in the Table below.
Table 1: The Objective of Each Analysis Step Supporting the Development of a Roadmap
General Approach for TRM Implementation in an Organization
Gerdsri and Vatananan propose that the implementation of the TRM process should be divided into three stages: Initiation, Development and Integration (Gerdsri and Vatananan 2007).
Initiation Stage: The purpose of this stage is to provide the opportunity for gathering and disseminating necessary information needed in later stages. In this stage, key players come together to form a core team, a group of people responsible for initiating the roadmapping process. The initiation phase is important for individual key players as well as groups to prepare themselves, by learning and understanding the TRM process. Throughout the initiation stage, members of the core team work together to customize the generic TRM concept. The purpose is to align the TRM process with the organization's strategic planning process and working culture (Phaal et. al. 2004). The success of this stage's activities can be measured through the acceptance of the TRM concept among key stakeholders and the development of a customized TRM process.
Development Stage: The main emphasis in this stage is to collect and analyze data from internal and external sources. A series of TRM workshops are organized to analyze data and present the results in the graphical form of a roadmap. Several iterations of the roadmapping process may be required before resulting in the desired outcomes (Phaal and Muller 2007). During the workshop sessions, participants from different departments work together in generating and sharing their knowledge and expertise to develop a company roadmap (Well et. al. 2004; Phaal et. al. 2000, 2005, 2007). The contributions from individuals and teams are necessary to assure the success of TRM development. The success of this stage's activities can be measured through the quality of the content presented in the roadmap, as well as the level of knowledge and experience shared among the different groups of participants.
Integration Stage: The purpose of this stage is to integrate the TRM process into ongoing business operations since the TRM initiative should not be considered as a one-time effort (Kostoff and Schaller 2001; Phaal et. al. 2001). To have a successful integration, the ownership of TRM process must be assigned and the roadmap should be regularly maintained and updated as a part of normal business operations. The success of this stage's activities can be measured through the quality of the alignment between the technology roadmaps and the corporate strategic plan, as well as the continuation of roadmapping on a day-to-day basis.
Fig. 2: Different Stages of TRM Implementation (Gerdsri and Assakul 2007)
Key Success Factors in TRM implementation
Critical components to the success of TRM implementation are people, processes and data. The implementation needs to be carefully planned, especially in aligning right people and resources into the process (Gerdsri and Assakul 2007). The dynamics of TRM implementation are also needed to be addressed so that participating individuals and team can adjust their roles and responsibilities along the periods of TRM implementation (Gerdsri and Vatananan 2007). Associated with the above three components, the following is the summary of factors contributing the success of TRM implementation.
- Clear business needs: A roadmapping initiative must have a clear sense of purpose and ownership (Australia 2001). This would help to gain commitment from all participants.
- Commitment from senior management: The commitment from senior executives must be publicly acknowledged in an organization. The rewards and incentives to encourage bottom-up supports from people participating in roadmapping process may also be necessary (Australia 2001).
- Right people/functions involved: Champions must be identified to coordinate, drive, and obtain buy-in from other key stakeholders (McMillan 2003). Champions must have motivations for credible and visionary roadmaps (Kostoff and Schaller 2001). A multifunctional team (size 3-35) should be formed to implement a roadmapping process. The members of this group should be diverse but have relevant knowledge and background to the subject (Phaal, Farrukh et al. 2003). Participation should be broadened to both disciplines and technologies that have potential to introduce innovations in the future. The roles and responsibilities of each player must be clearly defined. The continuity of participation is desirable, at least for a core set of participants (Phaal, Farrukh et al. 2000).
- Desire to develop effective business processes: All key stakeholders and participants must be convinced on how roadmap activities will help to achieve the vision, industry goals and also improve the bottom lines of individual players (Australia 2001). The business units have to endorse and own the process in order to achieve maximum benefit for the company (McMillan 2003).
- Company culture supporting the group participation in the process: The strong leadership is required (DOE 2002). The leaders for TRM implementation must set the boundaries and constraints for the scope of roadmaps. They are also responsible for determining the structure of the working groups (Australia 2001).
- Timing and planning of the initiative: The scope of TRM implementation needs to be pre-defined covering the unit of analysis, focus, resources, venue, scheduling, participants, and available information (DOE 2002; Phaal, Farrukh et al. 2003). The major costs incurring during TRM implementation is time that individuals spend in developing and reviewing the roadmap. The costs and commitments required from participants to the process should not be underestimated (Australia 2001; Kostoff and Schaller 2001).
A game plan covering purpose, background information, workshop preparation, and follow up activities should be set in advance. The workshop sessions need to be planned with adequate time for participants to determine technological needs, explore issues and setup a priority through cross-cutting discipline analysis.
- Clear and effective process for developing an ongoing TRM: The structure and process need to be customized to fit the particular company context and extended purpose (McCarthy, Haley et al. 2001; Albright and Kappel 2003; McCarthy 2003; Phaal, Farrukh et al. 2003). The normalization and standardization of the process should be considered across different roadmaps (Kostoff and Schaller, 2001).
- Effective tools, techniques, and methods: A set of common tools and templates with simple language must be prepared (Albright and Kappel 2003). The criteria for filtering, rating, and prioritizing need to be defined. (Kostoff and Schaller 2001; McMillan 2003).
- Effective facilitation and training: Both TRM participants and Management need to be educated and trained to properly use and apply roadmaps (Kostoff and Schaller 2001; McMillan 2003). A workshop environment should be conducive to creative thinking and spur participants to share their ideas for the future.
- Required data, information and knowledge: The types and reliable sources of information used for TRM analysis need to be specified at the beginning (Kostoff and Schaller 2001; Phaal, Farrukh et al. 2003). The data analysis must be exercise in a systematic process. A wide range of science and technology knowledge disciplines must be considered along with social science (McCarthy, Haley et al. 2001). Building databases of roadmap information is also important as the process of TRM implementation becomes ongoing activities (Albright and Kappel 2003).
References:
Albright, R. E. and Kappel, T. A.: Roadmapping the Corporation, Research Technology Management 46 (2), 31-40 (2003).
Australia (2001). Technology Planning for Business Competitiveness: A Guide to Developing Technology Roadmaps.
DOE (2002). National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap. National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap Workshop, Washington, DC.
Galvin, R. (1998). Science roadmaps. Science, 280(May), p. 803.
Gerdsri and Assakul, "Key Success Factors for Initiating Technology Roadmapping (TRM) Process: A Case Study of a Leading Thai Firm," in ASIA Pacific Academy of Management and Business Conference (APAMB) Singapore, 2007.
Gerdsri and Vatananan, "Dynamics of Technology Roadmapping (TRM) Implementation," in Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), 2007, pp. 1577-1583.
Kostoff, R. N. and R. R. Schaller (2001). Science and technology roadmaps. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 48(2), p.132-143.
McCarthy, J. J., D. J. Haley, et al. (2001). Science and technology roadmapping to support project planning. Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), Portland, OR.
McCarthy, R. C.: Linking Technological Change to Business Needs, Research Technology Management 46 (2), 47-58 (2003).
McMillan, A. (2003). Roadmapping agent of change. Research Technology Management, 46(2), p.40-47.
Phaal, R. et al. (2000). Fast-Start Technology Roadmapping. 9th International Conference on Management of Technology (IAMOT 2000), Miami, FL.
Phaal, R. et al. (2003). Customizing the Technology Roadmapping Approach. Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), Portland, OR.
Phaal, R. et al.: Starting-Up Roadmapping Fast, Research Technology Management 46 (2), 52-58 (2003).
Phaal R. et al., "Customizing Roadmapping," Research Technology Management, vol. 47, pp. 26-37, 2004.
Phaal R. et al., "Developing a technology roadmapping system," in Technology Management: A Unifying Discipline for Melting the Boundaries, 2005, pp. 99-111.
Phaal R. et al., "Strategic Roadmapping: A Workshop-based Approach for Identifying and Exploring Strategic Issues and Opportunities," Engineering Management Journal, vol. 19, p. 3, 2007.
Wells, R., R. Phaal, et al. (2004). Technology Roadmapping for a Service Organization. Research Technology Management, 47(2), p.46-50.
U.S.DOE: National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap Workshop, Washington, DC, (2002).
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