Intro
You want the future in a spreadsheet.You want a date.You want a guarantee.
Verse
You want next year's numbers by a quarter after nine,A perfect little curve with every risk outside the line.I built it from the baseline, split the brand from all the rest,Low and high scenarios, put assumptions to the test.But the board wants one percentage and a date they can defend,As if the search results were frozen till the quarter ends.I can show you all the working, every lever, every cost.I can't promise that the ground beneath our feet will never drop.
Pre-chorus
Every roadmap has a reason.Every forecast has a range.You can plan for the direction,But you can't forbid the change.
Chorus
The roadmap is on fire,But we're not giving in.The ground moves underneath us,So we draw the lines again.You want a straight line to the skyline,I see the space between.It's a forecast, not a promise.Don't demand a guarantee.
Verse
Competitors are shipping while our fixes wait in queue,Google drops an update and the landscape splits in two.The ranking holds, the clicks fall, there's an answer at the top,Shopping, maps and videos take space we thought we'd got.Search demand is shifting and the season turns the wheel,That click-through rate from last year isn't written into steel.The roadmap needs developers, the sprint is already full.You can't book the gains from work that never leaves the backlog.
Pre-chorus
Show the risks beside the upside.Put the unknowns in the frame.When the evidence is changing,We don't hide it. We explain.
Chorus
The roadmap is on fire,But we're not giving in.The ground moves underneath us,So we draw the lines again.You want a straight line to the skyline,I see the space between.It's a forecast, not a promise.Don't demand a guarantee.
Breakdown
NO GUARANTEES!CHECK THE BASELINE!NO GUARANTEES!READ THE SIGNS!Impact! Effort!What gets shipped?Measure the outcome!Then adjust it!
Bridge
I'm not giving up on planning.I'm giving up pretending.A roadmap isn't carved in stone.It's the next move, not the ending.
Final Chorus
The roadmap is on fire,But we're not giving in.The ground moves underneath us,So we draw the lines again.You want a straight line to the skyline,I see the space between.It's a forecast, not a promise.Don't demand a guarantee.
Outro
It's a forecast.Not a promise.Now let us ship the work.
