Where this was said
Why 37signals doesn't do roadmaps
At 17:45 · chapter starts 7:37
DHH introduces the concept from Getting Real: the illusion of agreement. A bullet on a roadmap says 'upload permissions' or 'guest access' — one line that customers read and project their entire mental model onto. The feature ships. It's in the right vicinity but has the wrong handle, the wrong shape, the wrong defaults. Now the customer feels suckered: they bought the product on a promise that never existed except in their imagination. [1] — David Heinemeier Hansson "A one-line bullet on a roadmap means nothing. Customers imagine their specific version of 'calendar' or 'guest access,' while the final pro…" 09:54 Jason makes this visceral with the calendar example: announce you're adding a calendar, and every customer imagines their own perfect calendar. The one that ships won't sync with Outlook, won't have an agenda view, won't allow jumping four years ahead. Useless, they'll say — even though a fully functional calendar did ship. The word 'calendar' was never a promise about any specific capability; it was just wrapping paper. And the illusion, Jason observes, only grows larger and stranger as you move outside your own team: internal misalignment is bad enough, but external misalignment with customers who share none of your vocabulary or mental model is an order of magnitude worse.
37signals plans only about one month ahead at any given time, down from a previous six-week cycle, intentionally avoiding long-horizon roadmaps.
37signals plans roughly one month ahead and nothing more. Launching one feature opens trails to the next — rigidly pre-planning six months out kills that optionality. Basecamp's 22-year track record is the argument: if you're worried about uncertainty, look at the longevity.
Basecamp has operated successfully for over 22 years without public roadmaps, relying instead on iterative, near-term planning.
A bullet point on a roadmap makes customers believe a future feature will solve their specific problem, when in reality the final shape of the feature may not match their expectations at all.
A one-line bullet on a roadmap means nothing. Customers imagine their specific version of 'calendar' or 'guest access,' while the final product takes a completely different shape. Buy software for what it is today — everything else is gravy.
Every time 37signals has publicly promised a future feature on a timeline, it has ended in regret — not necessarily because the feature was wrong, but because the deadline was constraining.
