We’re making the roadmap for Cambridge Open Engage public. Here’s the explanation for why we’re doing this:

What is Cambridge Open Engage?

Cambridge Open Engage is the early research platform from Cambridge University Press. Its purpose is to offer researchers a home for their early research prior to publication in academic journals, as well as providing an online space and resources for them to connect with their community, collaborate with their peers, & rapidly disseminate their work.

Why co-creation and making the roadmap public?

Over the last few years it has become common for tech-focused organisations to share their product roadmaps publicly and welcome feedback from their customers/users. Organisations at the forefront of technology development such as Monzo, Trello, Slack, etc, have all used publicly available roadmaps to share how they are prioritising new features. The technique of making a roadmap public has established itself as an important part of the development process, and combined with other initiatives like creating a co-creation panel of researchers and running detailed customer surveys, it’s a powerful way to connect with customers.

Why will this help?

Taking an analytics-based approach to assist the decision-making process can help organisations make more progress in a shorter space of time, and when taking an analytical approach the larger the dataset the more reliable the conclusions. Opening up the roadmap to a larger audience increases the transparency of the development process and will help us deliver a truly valuable open platform.

How can I contribute?

We are still recruiting for our co-creation panel of researchers. If you are interested in joining the panel please register here.  You can also let us know your thoughts by completing this survey.