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Roadmap and Epics

The roadmap turns active work into a visible plan. In TOW, roadmap items are epics: larger execution outcomes that can contain child tickets, dates, dependencies, owners, priority, and progress.

Use the roadmap when leaders and teams need to answer:

  • What are the major outcomes in progress?
  • Which epics are blocked, overdue, or missing owners?
  • Which child tickets support each outcome?
  • What dependencies exist between major efforts?
  • Has current work drifted from the plan?

Epics​

An epic is a ticket with type epic. Epics appear on the roadmap and can contain child tasks, stories, and bugs.

An effective epic includes:

  • A clear outcome title.
  • Context or success criteria in the description.
  • Priority.
  • Owner.
  • Start and due dates when known.
  • Child tickets for execution detail.
  • Dependencies on other epics where sequencing matters.

Epic progress is calculated from child ticket progress and completion. If an epic has no child tickets, use the epic description, owner, and dates to clarify the intended plan before accepting it as roadmap work.

Roadmap Views​

The roadmap page combines:

  • Active epics.
  • Proposed epics.
  • Child-ticket progress.
  • Dependency information.
  • Drift signals, such as deadline risk, no progress, blocked epics, and missing owners.
  • A timeline view for dated epics.
  • A list of undated epics.

Use the roadmap during planning, executive review, and project health checks. Use ticket boards for day-to-day execution inside each epic.

Generate a Roadmap​

Roadmap generation asks TOW to draft proposed epics from workspace context, current tickets, memory, decisions, risks, and project scope. Generation runs as an Agent Run and may take time.

Use generation when:

  • A project has tickets but no coherent epic structure.
  • A team has just completed onboarding or planning intake.
  • You want TOW to suggest milestone-level work from current context.
  • You need an initial roadmap for review.

Generated roadmap items are proposals until accepted. Review titles, descriptions, dates, dependencies, and child-ticket attachments before accepting.

Accept a Roadmap​

Accepting a roadmap applies pending epic proposals. TOW creates the proposed epics, attaches existing tickets when the proposal specifies them, and links epic dependencies where possible.

Accept only after reviewing:

  • Whether each proposed epic should exist.
  • Whether project scope is correct.
  • Whether child tickets belong under the epic.
  • Whether dependencies are accurate.
  • Whether dates and priority are realistic.

After acceptance, the epics become normal tickets and can be edited, linked, archived, or used as parents for child work.

Regenerate a Roadmap​

Regenerate is a forceful reset. It is useful when the current roadmap is stale, misleading, or built around the wrong operating model.

Regenerate Side Effects

Regenerating the roadmap archives active epics in the selected scope, detaches their child tickets so they remain open, rejects pending epic proposals, and then asks TOW to draft a fresh set of epic proposals. Use regenerate only when you are ready to replace the current roadmap structure.

Regeneration does not delete child tickets. It preserves the execution work and frees it to be reorganized under the next accepted roadmap.

Reject a Roadmap​

Reject roadmap when the current active roadmap should no longer be treated as the plan.

Reject Side Effects

Rejecting the roadmap archives active epics in the selected scope, detaches their child tickets so they stay open, rejects pending epic proposals, and pauses automatic roadmap generation until a user asks for it again.

Rejecting is appropriate when the roadmap was created from incorrect context, a planning reset has happened, or the team should temporarily operate from tickets without epic structure.

Scan the Roadmap​

Roadmap scan checks active epics and tickets for planning issues. It can surface drift signals such as:

  • Deadlines that are close or at risk.
  • Epics with no progress.
  • Blocked child tickets.
  • Missing owners.
  • Incomplete or unclear structure.

Use scan before leadership review, sprint planning, launch readiness, or customer implementation checkpoints.

Maintain Roadmap Quality​

Review roadmap epics regularly:

  • Keep child tickets attached to the right epic.
  • Update epic dates when the plan changes.
  • Link dependencies between epics.
  • Archive completed, canceled, or superseded epics.
  • Convert durable planning decisions into decisions.
  • Convert important uncertainty into risks.

The roadmap should explain the plan. Tickets should explain the work needed to execute it.