The blockchain industry isn’t as traditional as other industries, as a result, it can be difficult for many people to learn about Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. We’ve created this helpful guide to effectively read any cryptocurrency roadmap. Enjoy!
(All About Roadmaps was originally created: Feb. 2018 but has been re-formatted here to fit Medium’s platform. You can see the original here: [ link ])
Introduction:
What is a Roadmap?
A roadmap displays detailed plans and goals that a company, business, or start-up has. Roadmaps project ideas, outline goals, show product plans and predict completion dates.
Why Make a Roadmap?
Roadmaps are created to appeal to potential investors and customers, creating buzz & excitement around the potential growth of the business. Typically serving as visual aids, roadmaps aim to measure the plans and strength of the future of the business.
Different Types of Roadmaps:
Roadmaps are a super effective and there are a few different kinds, here’s the 3 most common roadmaps in the cryptocurrency industry:
- Product Roadmaps
- Product roadmaps are created by product managers for potential investors and customers. These roadmaps typically do not include completion dates, but aim to show the planned product advances instead.
- These types of roadmaps do not contain every detail because they aim to reassure the customer, that the product will do exactly what it has set out to do. - Technology Roadmaps
- Technology roadmaps are usually built by engineering/operations teams.
- These roadmaps include details about plans to produce technical capabilities, track technical growth or outline what the business must build to support the product.
- Technology roadmaps emphasize what the company wants to do to support their product or service, step by step. - Project Roadmaps
- A project roadmap is a series of tasks or plans that a company must complete and implement over a set period of time.
- Each project has a specific end date, or projected completion date. Project roadmaps are unique because they always have end dates or detailing completion.
- Most cryptocurrencies are regarded as projects, due to the favorable nature of decentralization.
All About Roadmaps:
Does Every Crypto Have One?
No, not all crypto projects have a roadmaps. Likewise, not every cryptocurrency has a product. The value of many cryptocurrencies lies in the network itself. Network growth can be difficult to predict, but you’ll often find crypto projects that have products or “release dates” typically show roadmaps for their products.
Perks of Roadmaps
Roadmaps are incredibly important, because they allow anyone inside or outside the company to grasp all of the goals and tasks for the business to have success in the future. A roadmap shows goals for internal growth, technology, work force, and support. The main goal is to project company strength, create excitement, and increase overall confidence in the business.
Updates, Changes & Rebrandings
When analyzing the fundamentals of a business, you should be fully aware of any changes or updates that may have been made, or are in-progress since the first roadmap was published. This information can effect your investment, so it’s an important thing to check.
Roadmaps can be a great source of company credibility. Reading different roadmaps is an important step to expanding your knowledge on the industry, and the changes that are taking place.
Roadmaps Today:
Roadmaps are often shown in images, and some can require a small amount of technical knowledge. Reading the associated whitepaper can help. Check out: All About Whitepapers for more information on reading whitepapers. Below are a few examples of blockchain project roadmaps:
Today, roadmaps can serve as indicators. An effective roadmap can indicate which projects have serious, or timely ideas and projections. Posted below is a “market overview” originally taken from coinmarketcap in Feb. of 2018. This shows the top 40 cryptos by market cap with hyperlinks to available roadmaps. To view the full market overview, as well as the links to the cyrptocurrency whitepapers, please see the original word document: [ link ].
Every roadmap varies, and you should read the roadmap and whitepaper for every cryptocurrency investment you think you might make. You may be able to save yourself some pain by spotting a “fake” or “scam” whitepaper. Do your due research as an investor.
Easy Living Crypto Project Roadmap
Above is a “for-fun” project roadmap for Easy Living Crypto, submitted by a few members that worked together over our community discord.
Conclusion — a few key points:
- Roadmaps are an important part of the crypto world! Cryptocurrency is a young, exciting industry with a lot of buzz around it. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the jargon, or frequent price fluctuations.
- Roadmaps come in many shapes and serve as a sense of deadline for growth/product announcements. These build hype from the community, pre-launch/announcement.
- When looking at the fundamentals of a cryptocurrency business, it is extremely important to note whether the team can complete goals on time. Did the team complete previous goals? Is the team usually running late on announcements or updates? Did they set big enough goals as a company? Do they update their roadmap frequently?
