Goal First Means Goal First
For Aha! to Drive Strategy, It Must Be Implemented Strategically
4 minute readBefore a single feature is mapped, before the first workflow is connected, before even thinking about integrations, pause. Breathe. Step back.
There is a powerful simplicity in beginning with the end in mind.
I’ve written recently about strategy in its purest form: the discipline of saying what matters, saying it clearly, and measuring it honestly. And I’ve shared a method for crafting well formed outcomes: goals with depth, detail, and a sense of felt direction, the kind of goals you can stand inside like a room, not just glance at like window dressing.
This week’s piece brings that thinking into the realm of tooling, with a special focus on Aha! Roadmaps
Let me be transparent: I have no affiliation with Aha! I don’t benefit from speaking highly of it. But I do know the tool intimately, from the inside and the outside. I worked at Aha! for nearly five years and supported hundreds of companies through their implementations.
Since setting up my own consultancy, I’ve continued that work and seen the full spectrum, from implementations that became part of the fabric of decision-making to those that remained on the margins, gradually fading from view as the initial energy dissipated.
What was it that most often separated the two?
Purpose.
Not configuration. Not integrations. Not the depth of your Jira setup or how many custom fields you spin up.
“The most important factor in determining the successful implementation of Aha! is Enterprise-wide clarity on why you’re using Aha! at all.”
Aha! calls itself a “goal first” company. And it’s true. That’s not just branding. The internal mechanisms of the company and the tool it builds support a strategic, top-down approach. But Aha! Roadmaps will only ever be as powerful as the thinking that precedes it and walks down your implementation roadmaps with you, hand in hand.
So… why are you bringing Aha! in? Really?
That’s not a rhetorical question. That’s the question. Until you can answer it, clearly, precisely, in your own context, nothing else matters.
Here are just a few real-world purposes that companies I’ve worked with have anchored their Aha! use around:
Prioritising product decisions based on an organisation-wide strategy.
Creating radical transparency across a wide-ranging and thoughtfully integrated product portfolio.
Aligning customer insights with roadmap decisions.
Balancing capacity with strategic ambition and technical possibility.
Making internal mobility and onboarding seamless through shared systems, processes and expectations.
Aha! Success Starts Before Aha! Begins
Your implementation should start not with fields and statuses but with reflection and inquiry:
What will success look like?
What will people be doing when Aha! is working well?
What will people be saying about it, spontaneously, in meetings or coffee chats?
What will they no longer need to do, because Aha! takes care of it?
How will the data be used? When? By whom? And to what effect?
If these questions feel familiar, they should. They’re lifted from the Well Formed Outcomes approach I shared recently; a coaching technique, yes, but also a sharp, structured way of turning ambition into action.
Owning the Change: Roles, Influence, Mandate
The best implementations I’ve seen didn’t come from IT or a tool admin working in isolation. They came from collaboration with teams embedded in the real work of the business. Backed by leaders who were signing off on budget, yes, AND championing the purpose behind it, visibly, with joy.
The people leading successful rollouts tend to have a few things in common:
Deep organisational knowledge.
A strong track record of influence.
Clear permission (and pressure) to drive change.
Alignment with leadership and strategy.
“Take your team beyond implementers. They’re storytellers, bridge-builders, translators between the promise of the tool and the heartbeat of the business.”
Communication: Setting the Stage for Adoption
If Aha! is going to become part of the way you work and not just another place where information goes to die, you’ll need to invest in how you bring your teams on board, connecting them and your purpose as one.
Ask yourself:
How will we communicate ‘the why’ with clarity and authenticity?
What mix of channels will reach people - messaging tools, email, meetings, workshops?
What expectations will we set for behaviour, timing, milestones?
Who are our champions? How will we empower them to live and breathe our vision?
How will we respond to resistance, listen deeply, and adjust without losing direction?
“Change is planned. And then it's felt. So think in terms of the lived experience within you rollout plans.”
What do you want people to feel? Curiosity? Relief? Excitement? Hope? Visualise the outcome and build from there.
Let ‘the Why’ Lead the Way
Whether you’re integrating Aha! with Jira, DevOps, Salesforce, Slack... Whether your organisation builds platforms, delivers services, manages internal IT projects, or brings new products to market... Whether you follow SAFe, Scrum, or a home-grown blend...
“The success of Aha! will always track back to one thing: did your teams believe in the purpose of using it?”
Aha! is flexible. It can be tailored endlessly. But complexity without direction leads to chaos. When the tool feels disconnected from the day-to-day, it quickly becomes burdensome; another system; another report, another layer. Ultimately, another nudge towards employee disengagement and mediocrity.
When it’s grounded in purpose, Aha! becomes a source of clarity. A place where strategy and delivery meet in real time. A tool that documents what’s happening and makes better things happen.
So before you touch a field or import a record, start here:
Why are we doing this?
What do we want to be true?
What will success feel like, look like, sound like?
Just like your company strategy, let your Aha! strategy start with the goal and let everything else follow.
Steve Dagless
I am the Founder of Your Roadmap - Coaching & Consulting.
Life, work and business can be so simple. Let me help quieten the noise.
Helping leaders find
Balance - working in harmony with the world
Fulfilment - by doing what matters most
Process - to be at their best
Helping business deliver
Strategy - purposefully connecting with ‘why’
Operations - what, when and how; smoothly and simply
Roadmapping - alignment around a compelling visual
