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by ryanSrich 2146 days ago
Can you explain why? I really don’t see the draw of public roadmaps. I buy a product because it works for me now. If there are improvements I need in the future the company either implements them or they don’t. A public roadmap doesn’t improve my experience at all. In fact, I might be less likely to buy the product.

This feels like it opens github up to the vocal minority to scream and yell publicly about features they want. Some of which could negatively impact other users. And github will have to succumb to the pressure of that minority.

3 comments

I fail to understand how an open roadmap would make you less likely to buy a product. If you compare two products with the same current feature set but one has an open roadmap and one has none - are you saying physical access to a roadmap would deter you from buying that product and instead buy a product that has no roadmap?
Not necessarily access itself, but what’s on the roadmap. It seems like an unnecessary risk. Clearly not many agree with me.
A public roadmap functions as a communications tool and sounding board. However, it does not negate strong product leadership or moderation of course.

Interestingly, my small SaaS was using GitHub projects as a public roadmap for the last 2 years already! Even at our small scale it has already proven useful for finding beta users, getting feedback etc.

https://github.com/checkly/public-roadmap/projects/1

The only vocal minority that counts in business is the minority writing the biggest checks. They probably get access to roadmaps anyway.
With Github I’m not so sure. The online mob usually gets what they want. Having said that, the overlap between those paying the most for Github and those demanding the most might be 100%.
Absolutely, when you are a big enterprise customer, you get access to the roadmap of most of your partners.