How to Build a Continuous Improvement

Roadmap: a Practical Guide

Emma Harris
20 October 2020

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In this article I explore what a Continuous Improvement Roadmap is and then take you through
the detailed steps to set one up, using Ask the Crowd. If you want to just skip to that part, please
click here.

What is a Continuous Improvement Roadmap?

It is actually very simple; an Improvement Roadmap is an approach for achieving
improvement. And because there is never a time when anything is perfect, all improvement
roadmaps are in fact Continuous Improvement Roadmaps. (For a more detailed explanation have
a look at 'The Complete Guide to Continuous Improvement in Business'.)

There are many, many ways to build a Continuous Improvement Roadmap, quite a few of them
eye-wateringly complex. However, it is important that we remember that a Continuous
Improvement Roadmap is just a tool; something to guide you through the implementation of a
long-term objective or project.
 As
such it must be really simple to use, only helping you to achieve your goal, and should absolutely
not add another layer of complexity.

USE IT NOW

So, where to start?

Improvement starts with objective setting. Your objective can be anything but should be broken
down into SMART goals.

SMART goals are:

 Specific
  Measurable
 Achievable
 Relevant
 Timebound

For more information on SMART goals please read this article, but I find it most helpful to think
of a SMART goal as being the full address of where I want to get to next. This may not be my
ultimate objective, but it’s where I want to arrive first. So, for example if my objective is to
improve my website to help grow my business, just leaving it at that gives me a very vague place
to head to – which means I will really struggle to plan a route to get there.

If, however, I set my first goal as a 100 new, good fit contacts a month, within 3 months – then I
have the a very clear place to head to, and now all I need to do is set up my Improvement
Roadmap of what I need to do to get there. (And once I do, I set my next smart goal and so on…)

How To Set Up An Improvement Roadmap

Of course as you start to set up your Improvement Roadmap, you won’t know exactly what you
need to do to achieve your smart goal – otherwise you would just do it. Achieving improvement
is about making lots of changes and measuring the results to see if they are taking you towards
your goal. If they are, you do more of them and if they aren’t, you stop doing them!

Your Improvement Roadmap should help you to keep track of all those changes, whose making
them, which ones are top priority and when they have been completed.

A Practical Guide to Using a Free Tool for Your Continuous Improvement Roadmap

As improvement is best achieved as a culture or an approach involving all interested parties, your
Improvement Roadmap should be easy for everyone involved to share and contribute to.
Realistically that means using a software tool; but it doesn’t necessarily mean additional
complexity or expense.

I promised you a practical guide using a free tool and so I am going to show you how to set up a
Continuous Improvement Roadmap using Ask The Crowd.

Sign-up for an Ask The Crowd Free Trial

You can sign-up for a free 14 day trial of Ask The Crowd at: https://www.triaster.co.uk/atc-free-
trial-sign-up and start using it immediately.

As you sign up, Ask The Crowd will set up your first ‘Crowd’. Your Crowd is the group of
people you want or need to work with to deliver on your improvement objective, this is likely to
be the business or organisation you work for - but doesn’t have to be.

If you are a Consultant, for example, delivering improvement projects for several clients, you
will want to set up a Crowd for each client.