# Roadmaps can enable faster progress than blind exploration * Roadmapping ideally makes the goal very precise and chains together the unknowns you need to elucidate in order to get to the goal. * If you’re in a situation where [[Long term plans often involve decisions that look stupid over shorter time horizons]] roadmapping can prevent you from doing the “smart” decision that you will ultimately need to reverse. * If you know the unknowns and their dependencies, you always know the [[Highest order bit]], so you always know the most important thing to work on to win. * When is this not true? * If there is no clear goal, going in a specific direction is almost useless * Roadmapping is not particularly useful for a lot of software because it simultaneously figures out the goal * It’s harder to know what the goal is if it’s not technical * If there are many unknown unknowns ### Related * [[Plans can change in a definite worldview]] * [[The value of planning is inversely proportional to the cost of experimenting]] * [[Good plans have several steps]] * [[Predictably successful ideas are engineering, unpredictably successful ideas are Science]] * [[A predictably successful idea is composed of known unknowns that that a team can execute against]] <!-- #stub --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Roadmaps+can+enable+faster+progress+than+blind+exploration) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Roadmaps+can+enable+faster+progress+than+blind+exploration)