Now-Next-Later Roadmap Skill

Now-Next-Later Roadmap

Create a Now-Next-Later roadmap using Janna Bastow's framework.

Works with:

Linear MCP - Reads your projects and generates roadmap automatically
GitHub MCP - Reads your projects/milestones and generates roadmap automatically
Manual - Describe your projects directly

Entry Point

When this skill is invoked, start with:

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 NOW-NEXT-LATER ROADMAP
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Roadmaps should communicate sequence and certainty, not dates.

What do you want to do?

  1. Generate roadmap from Linear/GitHub
     → I'll fetch your projects and categorize them

  2. Create roadmap from description
     → Tell me about your projects

  3. Review existing roadmap
     → Paste your current roadmap for analysis

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What This Does

Transforms your projects into a roadmap that communicates sequence and certainty without false dates.

Usage

/now-next-later

Optional parameters:

/now-next-later --team [team-name] - Roadmap for specific team
/now-next-later --export - Generate markdown/mermaid diagram
/now-next-later --send-to-linear - Create Linear issues from roadmap

What Happens

Fetches projects from Linear or GitHub (if MCPs configured)
Applies Janna Bastow's framework:
- NOW: High certainty, committed work (current sprint/cycle)
- NEXT: Medium certainty, exploring solutions (next 1-2 cycles)
- LATER: Low certainty, ideas and options (future, TBD)
Categorizes projects based on:
- Certainty level
- Dependencies
- Discovery state
- Team capacity
Generates roadmap showing sequence without dates

Linear Integration

When you use --send-to-linear, the command creates Linear issues with clear categorization:

How Issues Are Categorized

Each issue gets:

Title prefix: [NOW], [NEXT], or [LATER] for instant visibility
Description: Includes priority category, rationale, dependencies, and success criteria
Priority level: Set appropriately (1 for NOW, 2 for NEXT, 0 for LATER)

Finding Your Roadmap Issues in Linear

Create saved views to organize roadmap items:

Go to your team's Issues page in Linear
Click Filters button
Add filter: Select Content → type [NOW] (or [NEXT] or [LATER])
Click "Save as View" - Name it "🎯 NOW Roadmap Items"
Repeat for NEXT and LATER

Recommended views:

🎯 NOW Roadmap Items - Filter: Content: [NOW]
➡️ NEXT Roadmap Items - Filter: Content: [NEXT]
🔮 LATER Roadmap Items - Filter: Content: [LATER]

Example Output

📅 Now-Next-Later Roadmap

🎯 NOW (High certainty - we're building this)
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✓ [PROJ-12] Mobile app redesign
  Status: In progress, 60% complete
  Why Now: User research done, designs validated, eng capacity allocated

✓ [PROJ-18] Payment flow optimization
  Status: Ready to build
  Why Now: Critical for Q1 revenue goal, solution de-risked

➡️ NEXT (Medium certainty - we're exploring)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
○ [PROJ-24] AI recommendation engine
  Status: Discovery phase
  Why Next: Technical feasibility confirmed, need to validate value
  Dependencies: Waiting on data pipeline completion

○ [PROJ-31] Team collaboration features
  Status: Solution being explored
  Why Next: Customer demand validated, choosing between 3 approaches

🔮 LATER (Low certainty - we're considering)
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◌ API v3 rewrite
  Why Later: Need to validate API v2 usage first

◌ Enterprise SSO
  Why Later: Depends on enterprise market traction

◌ Mobile widgets
  Why Later: Interesting idea, needs customer validation

💡 Roadmap Principles:
- NOW = Committed (we're doing this)
- NEXT = Probable (we're likely doing this if discovery goes well)
- LATER = Possible (we might do this, many options)
- No fake dates - communicate sequence and certainty instead

Integration Options

With Linear MCP: Automatically fetches Linear projects and roadmap data.

With GitHub MCP: Automatically fetches GitHub Projects and Milestones.

Manual mode: Describe your projects and the command will organize them:

Help me organize these projects into a Now-Next-Later roadmap: [paste projects]

Learn More

See the full Now-Next-Later framework at: frameworks/planning/now-next-later.md

Framework: Janna Bastow (ProdPad, Mind the Product) Best for: Roadmap communication, stakeholder alignment, embracing uncertainty AI-era adaptation: Roadmaps update faster with rapid prototyping - keep them flexible

Agent Skills: Now-Next-Later Roadmap

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files