Roadmaps are not democratic
I once interviewed at a fairly big company. The process was going well. I had the story, the background, the industry experience, the presentation, and a strong connection with the executive team. It all clicked until I got into the product interview and asked what I thought was a simple question: how do you decide what is actually worth building?
Their answer was a vote. Every quarter, product managers, executives, and whoever else had ideas would put them on a board, pitch them, and then the group would vote. That vote became the roadmap. Very democratic. Very inclusive. Everyone gets a say.
My reaction was: okay, but how do you know the thing that wins the vote is the most impactful thing to build? They said the point was that everyone had a voice. I said I understood that, but voice is not the same thing as judgment. Some people are better at pitching than others. Some ideas sound better in a room than they perform in a market. Some ideas are popular because they are comfortable, not because they are correct.
That was the moment the interview died. The product team got defensive. They were proud of the process, which I understand, because they had built it and it probably felt fair. But fairness is not strategy. Democracy is not judgment. And a roadmap is not a school election where the best poster wins (I know, I know, slightly dramatic, but also true).
The feedback afterward was clear. The executives liked me, but the product team was worried I would come in and change the culture. And honestly? They were right. I would have. Because a voted roadmap is usually a roadmap optimized for internal politics, presentation skill, and consensus comfort. Not impact.
I used to hold back on saying this because I thought it would make me sound hard to work with. Maybe it does. But I realize now I probably would not work well in those companies anyway, and those companies probably should not hire someone like me. Some companies want process that makes people feel heard. I care much more about whether the process helps us make the right decision fast.
I read an article recently about how the best companies are not democratic, and it made me think about that interview again. I think most leaders have to perform democracy. They have to show they are listening, collecting input, making space for everyone, all the good words. And yes, sometimes you are genuinely asking for feedback because you do not know the answer yet. But most of the time, leaders are looking for gaps in their thinking, missing evidence, risks they did not see, or someone brave enough to say, "this does not make sense."
That is the real value of input. Not voting. Not consensus. The value is sharper thinking, better evidence, and faster correction. If someone changes your mind, amazing. That is a great day. But if the only way your company can make a decision is by collecting opinions until the room feels emotionally safe enough to move, you are not building strategy. You are managing anxiety.
You see the truth immediately when things get hard. When revenue drops, margins shrink, customers pull back, or the market punishes you, decision making almost always moves to fewer people. Why? Because crisis exposes what was always true: speed and judgment matter. You cannot deliberate forever. You need clear ownership, tight feedback loops, and decisions that are precise enough to survive contact with reality.
This does not mean leaders should ignore people. That is stupid in the opposite direction. The best leaders listen aggressively, but they do not outsource judgment. They take in the signal, separate it from the noise, make the call, and own the consequences. That is the job.
So no, I do not believe roadmaps should be democratic. I believe they should be argued, tested, challenged, and owned. Everyone can have input. Everyone should be able to bring customer evidence, market evidence, operational pain, and product intuition into the room. But at the end, someone has to decide what matters most.
Because the market does not care who got a vote. It only cares whether you built the right thing.