Product Roadmap

product-roadmap

What this skill does

Tracks product milestone progress across four layers of truth — because "done" is a stronger claim than "tasks complete":

| Layer | Question | Source | |---|---|---| | Decision | Was the decision made/approved? | PDR status (Proposed → Accepted → Completed) | | Execution | Was the work done? | Live issue states via MCP (GitHub / GitLab / Jira / Linear) | | Evidence | Does the code actually show it? | Code-vs-PDR verification (init concept) | | Gates | Was the bar cleared? | Milestone PDR gate table |

A milestone is live only when all four layers are green. Anything less gets a done-means warning.

When to use

• Weekly progress check
• Before release to verify milestone completion
• Quarterly roadmap review
• After closing issues to check if milestone can be promoted

When NOT to use

• No PDRs exist (use /product-specify or /product-init first)
• You want to create PDRs (use /product-specify)

Execution Steps

Phase A: Load PDRs

sh: scripts/bash/setup-product-roadmap.sh [--json]
ps: scripts/powershell/setup-product-roadmap.ps1

Read PDR files (memory first, drafts fallback):

1. {REPO_ROOT}/.adlc/memory/pdr/PDR-*.md (Accepted/Completed)
2. {REPO_ROOT}/.adlc/drafts/pdr/PDR-*.md (Proposed/Discovered)

Identify milestones: PDRs with Category: Milestone. These define the roadmap structure and contain the ### Gates table, ### Features Included table, ### Done Means definition, and optional ### Tracker Milestone URL.

Phase B: Issue State via MCP

Extract issue URLs from all PDRs — look for ### Issues sections containing full URLs.

Detect tracker from URL host:

| URL host | Tracker | MCP tool pattern | |---|---|---| | github.com | GitHub | github_* MCP tools | | gitlab.com | GitLab | gitlab_* MCP tools | | *.atlassian.net | Jira | jira_* MCP tools | | linear.app | Linear | linear_* MCP tools |

Query issue states — for each issue URL, use the matching MCP tool to get state (open/closed/in-progress):

GitHub:   gh issue view NNN --json state,title,labels  (CLI fallback if MCP unavailable)
GitLab:   glab issue view NNN                            (CLI fallback)
Jira:     jira issue view ISSUE-KEY                      (CLI fallback)
Linear:   linear issue view ISSUE-ID                     (CLI fallback)

Native milestone link — if a milestone PDR has a ### Tracker Milestone URL:

• Pull native progress directly from the tracker (closed/total + due date)
• Use as the authoritative execution rollup; skip per-issue queries for that milestone

Degradation ladder (when MCP or CLI unavailable):

1. Try MCP tool for that tracker
2. Fall back to CLI (gh/glab/jira/linear)
3. If neither available → report issue refs as "state unknown" + one warning per tracker

Execution status per issue:

| State | Meaning | |---|---| | closed / done | ✅ Work complete | | open + in-progress label/assignee | 🔄 In progress | | open + unassigned | ⏳ Not started |

Phase C: Code-vs-PDR Verification (Init Concept)

> Code is ground truth; PDRs are claims. A feature marked complete where the code shows nothing is drift.

For each feature PDR in a milestone, verify code evidence:

Mode A — Explicit Evidence (preferred):

• Read the PDR's ### Evidence section (list of code paths/symbols)
• Verify each path exists: test -f "{path}" or test -d "{path}"
• Status: verified (all paths exist) | stale (some paths missing) | missing (no Evidence section)

Mode B — Heuristic (fallback, init-style):

• No Evidence section → reuse product-init's directory-detection logic
• Check if the PDR's Feature-Area directory exists: test -d "src/{feature-area}/"
• Optionally grep for title keywords in the codebase
• Lower confidence — reported as "heuristic evidence"

Hand-off rule: deep re-discovery is NOT roadmap's job. When evidence is missing/stale on a "Completed" item, the report says: "⚠️ Code evidence missing — run /product-init to re-discover". Roadmap does lightweight checks; full discovery stays in init.

Phase D: Gate Rollup

Read each milestone PDR's ### Gates table. For each gate:

| Gate type | How to check | |---|---| | engineering | Check linked issue states or Evidence verification | | sign-off | Check for approval evidence (date recorded, approver named) | | time | Calculate elapsed days since cutover date vs. required period |

Gate status: green (criterion met + evidence recorded) | pending (not yet met) | unknown (no gates section — legacy PDR)

Phase E: Report

Generate the combined four-layer progress report:

## Product Roadmap Progress

### M01: Q2 User Auth — *Done means: production traffic on new auth, legacy login retired*
Tracker: github.com/org/repo/milestone/3 (native: 67% closed, due Sep 5)

| Item | Decision | Execution | Evidence | Status |
|------|----------|-----------|----------|--------|
| PDR-003: OAuth2 login | ✅ Completed | ✅ 3/3 closed (#142–#144) | ✅ src/auth/oauth/ verified | Live |
| PDR-004: SSO | ✅ Accepted | 🔄 2/4 closed (#186–#189) | ⚠️ no evidence section | In progress |
| PDR-005: Password reset | 🔄 Proposed | ⏳ 0/2 (#190, #191) | ❌ src/auth/reset/ missing | Not started |

| Gate | Type | Owner | Status |
|------|------|-------|--------|
| Security review passed | engineering | Sec team | ✅ green |
| Clinician sign-off | sign-off | Maya | ⏳ pending |
| 7-day cooling period | time | Lead | ⏳ pending (day 3/7) |

**Features**: 1/3 · **Issues**: 5/9 closed · **Gates**: 1/3 green · **Live**: No

⚠️ Done-means check: "production traffic on new auth" cannot be true while
2 items lack execution and 2 gates are pending.

Done-means warnings — when a milestone claims "live" or "complete" but layers aren't green:

| Condition | Warning | |---|---| | All features Completed but issues still open | "⚠️ Features claim complete but N issues still open — execution not finished" | | All issues closed but code evidence missing | "⚠️ Issues closed but code evidence missing — verify with /product-init" | | All features done but gates pending | "⚠️ Features done, milestone NOT live — N gates pending: [list]" | | Milestone marked Completed but no gates section | "⚠️ Milestone has no gates — consider adding acceptance criteria" |

Summary across milestones:

## Overall Roadmap

| Milestone | Target | Features | Issues | Gates | Live |
|-----------|--------|----------|--------|-------|------|
| M01: Q2 User Auth | Sep 5 | 1/3 | 5/9 | 1/3 | No |
| M02: Q3 Enhancements | Oct 15 | 0/2 | 0/5 | 0/2 | No |

Phase F: Update Status (Optional)

Only if user explicitly requests update (e.g., "update" in arguments):

For each feature PDR:

• All linked issues closed AND evidence verified → update status to Completed
• Issues still open OR evidence missing → block update, report: "Cannot mark PDR-XXX as Completed: N issues open / evidence missing"
• Override: user explicitly says "force" → update with a warning annotation

For each milestone PDR:

• All features Completed AND all gates green → update status to Completed
• Otherwise → block update, report pending items/gates
• Override: user explicitly says "force" → update with warning

Write updated PDR files with new status, preserving all other content.

Regenerate pdr.md index after any updates.

Tracker Detection Order

When querying issue states, detect available tools in this order:

1. MCP tools (preferred) — check which MCP servers are connected:

• GitHub: github_* tools available
• GitLab: gitlab_* tools available
• Jira: jira_* tools available
• Linear: linear_* tools available

1. CLI fallback — if MCP for that tracker is unavailable:

• GitHub: gh CLI
• GitLab: glab CLI
• Jira: jira CLI
• Linear: linear CLI

1. No access — if neither MCP nor CLI is available for a tracker:

• Report issue URLs as "state unknown"
• Emit one warning per unresolvable tracker
• Continue with decision/evidence/gate layers

Key Rules

Four-Layer Honesty

• A milestone is live only when ALL four layers are green (decision + execution + evidence + gates)
• Never report "complete" based on one layer alone
• Done-means warnings are mandatory when layers disagree

Issue References

• Issue URLs in PDRs must be full URLs (host determines tracker)
• Native tracker milestone links are optional but preferred (pull native progress)
• Missing issue refs → execution layer reported as "no tracker linkage"

Code Verification

• Mode A (explicit Evidence) is preferred — PDRs should carry ### Evidence with code paths
• Mode B (heuristic) is a fallback — lower confidence, reported as such
• Deep re-discovery is init's job, not roadmap's — hand off with a suggestion

Status Updates

• --update blocks on pending issues/gates/evidence unless explicit override
• Only update PDR status, not PRD directly — /product-implement regenerates PRD
• Preserve all other PDR fields when updating status

Backward Compatibility

• PDRs without ### Gates → gates layer = "no gates declared" + hint to add them
• PDRs without ### Issues → execution layer = "no tracker linkage"
• PDRs without ### Evidence → evidence layer = heuristic (Mode B)
• Legacy milestones still work — completion = features only, with a suggestion to adopt gates

Configuration

• PDR_DRAFTS_DIR — {REPO_ROOT}/.adlc/drafts/pdr
• PDR_MEMORY_DIR — {REPO_ROOT}/.adlc/memory/pdr
• PRD_FILE — {REPO_ROOT}/PRD.md
• MCP servers — GitHub, GitLab, Jira, Linear (auto-detected)
• CLI tools — gh, glab, jira, linear (fallback)

12-Factor Alignment

• Factor III (Mission Definition): Tracks mission progress with honest done-means semantics
• Factor IX (Verification-First): Verifies claims against code evidence and live tracker state
• Factor XI (Directives as Code): Gate state is version-controlled inside PDR files

Common Rationalizations

| Rationalization | Reality | |-----------------|---------| | "The issues are all closed, so it's done." | Closed issues don't prove the code works. Evidence layer catches drift. | | "I'll just mark the PDR as Completed manually." | Without gates green, "Completed" is a claim, not a verified state. --update blocks this. | | "We don't need issue tracking — PDR status is enough." | Self-reported status drifts. Live tracker state is ground truth for execution. | | "The roadmap can't reach the tracker, so let's skip it." | Degradation is built in — report "state unknown" and continue with other layers. |

Red Flags

• Marking a milestone live with pending gates — gates are the bar, not a suggestion.
• Trusting issue state without code evidence — closed issues can close prematurely; code is ground truth.
• Skipping the done-means check — "code ready" ≠ "production traffic moved". The Done Means field exists precisely to prevent this confusion.
• Running full discovery inside roadmap — deep re-discovery is init's job. Roadmap does lightweight checks and hands off.

Verification

• [ ] All PDR files loaded (memory + drafts)
• [ ] Milestone PDRs identified with their Features Included and Gates tables
• [ ] Issue URLs extracted from PDRs
• [ ] Issue states queried via MCP (or CLI fallback, or reported as unknown)
• [ ] Native tracker milestone progress pulled where links exist
• [ ] Code evidence verified (Mode A explicit, Mode B heuristic)
• [ ] Gate states rolled up per milestone
• [ ] Four-layer report generated with per-item status
• [ ] Done-means warnings emitted for mismatched layers
• [ ] Overall roadmap summary table generated
• [ ] --update blocked correctly on pending layers (if requested)
• [ ] pdr.md index regenerated after any updates
• [ ] Zero files modified unless --update explicitly requested

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: tikalk
• Source: tikalk/adlc-team-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/tikalk/agentic-sdlc-12-factors

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.