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16 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2024 Technological road mapping plays a funda- mental role in many companies' innovation strategies. While doing product development and organizational planning in the industry, I found roadmaps to be excellent tools for stra- tegic and future planning. ey are a crucial skill in today's rapidly evolving tech landscape. While I would love to have a crystal ball that was as detailed and as accurate as our GPS mapping tools that I worked so hard to develop a couple of decades ago, that just isn't the real- ity. Technology roadmaps are more like "rout- ing by billboards" than utilizing road signs with specific turns and street names. Billboards advertise potential; they give you general information without many spe- cifics. Technology roadmaps are somewhat similar. We believe each new technological marvel will lead us to the promised land, but Mastering Technology Prognostication they can quickly go by the wayside to obso- lescence as our landscape shis and changes rapidly. I remember being incredibly excited by the prospect of FMD-ROM. It was light years ahead of DVD and even better than Blu- ray, but I would wager most of you have never even heard of it and it certainly didn't make it to mainstream. ere are several examples that always seem to grab the technologist in me. NeXT computers, for example were a marvel, but in retrospect, I am glad we didn't fill up the office with them. Technology roadmaps are helpful, but not granular enough to provide that crystal ball into the future. at is not to say they are not helpful; a well-craed roadmap can convey tremendous information in a single slide. at is the level that is useful: Including potential dates for new technology launches, basic One World, One Industry Feature Column by Dr. John W. Mitchell, IPC PRESIDENT AND CEO