Rota support team
Now vs next slide with two icon columns
A now and next slide turns into a wish list the moment the right column loses its dates, and an audience that has seen one wish list treats every later roadmap the same way. This one belongs to Rota, a fictional shift planning product, and everything in the next column is funded, staffed and dated to 31 March 2027.
What is on the slide
- Framing
- Support is one shared inbox and two people fitting it around other work. Everything in the right column is funded, staffed and dated, so none of it is a wish. All three land by 31 March 2027.
- Now
- One shared inbox checked between other work. Median first reply 26 hours, with 14% of tickets over two working days. No help centre, so eleven repeat questions are answered by hand each week.
- By 31 March 2027
- Live chat inside the roster screen, staffed 8am to 6pm on weekdays. A four hour first reply target on every ticket, published and reported monthly. A help centre covering the eleven repeat questions.
- Pairing
- The inbox pairs with chat, the 26 hour median with the four hour target, and the eleven repeat questions with the help centre that answers them.
When this is the right slide
Two icon columns suit a now and next slide when the present state has been measured and every item in the next column is funded, staffed and carries a date.
What to swap it for
Context: Product Now & Future Cards. Swap to the product now and future cards when the subject is a product roadmap rather than a team capability, since those cards give each release its own block and framing.
What this slide shows
A title reads Rota Support, Now and From March, with a three line framing paragraph saying support is one shared inbox and two people fitting it around other work, that everything in the right column is funded, staffed and dated so none of it is a wish, and that all three land by 31 March 2027. Two tinted columns follow, headed Now, one inbox and By 31 March 2027, each with three icon led rows on one shared panel. The now column says every question arrives in one shared inbox that two people check between other work, that the median first reply is 26 hours with 14% of tickets waiting longer than two working days, and that there is no help centre so the same eleven questions are answered by hand each week. The next column says live chat inside the roster screen staffed 8am to 6pm on weekdays from 31 March, a four hour first reply target on every ticket published and reported each month, and a help centre covering the eleven repeat questions written before chat opens.
When this is the right slide
Use it in a quarterly business review, a customer update, a board paper or an all hands, where the audience needs to know both what is true today and what is committed. It suits a team that has measured its current state and can put a date on the change. It is the wrong slide when the right column is a roadmap of features rather than capabilities, since a product roadmap needs release windows and dependencies that two icon columns cannot carry. It is also wrong when nothing on the right is funded yet, in which case the honest version is a single column of today plus an options slide. And it is wrong when the audience has already been shown the same next column in a previous quarter without it landing.
How to adapt it
First, date the next column and use one date if you can. Three rows with three different quarters invites a conversation about sequencing rather than about the change, and a single date makes the commitment checkable in one diary entry. Second, measure the now column before writing the next one, because a target of four hours means nothing without the 26 hour median beside it. Third, pair the rows so each future item answers a present one. If something in the next column answers nothing in the now column, it is a new initiative rather than an improvement, and it belongs on a different slide where it can be justified on its own terms.
What makes this slide work
The next column carries one date, repeated
By 31 March 2027 is the column header, the first row names the same date, and the framing paragraph says all three land by it. A single dated commitment is far harder to slip than three separate soon items, and an audience can diary it. The word coming does not appear anywhere on the slide.
The now column is measured, not apologised for
One shared inbox checked by two people between other work, a median first reply of 26 hours, 14% of tickets over two working days, eleven repeat questions a week. Those four facts are what make the right column believable, because the team has clearly measured the thing it is proposing to fix.
The three rows pair without being forced
The inbox pairs with live chat, the 26 hour median with a four hour target, and the eleven unanswered questions with a help centre covering exactly those eleven. Nothing in the next column is new capability bolted on for effect, so the slide reads as one plan rather than as a today list and a wish list.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a now and next slide and a roadmap?
A now and next slide compares a measured present with a dated commitment, usually for a capability or a service level. A roadmap sequences releases over several periods, with dependencies and windows. Now and next answers what changes and when; a roadmap answers in what order and what has to come first.
How many items belong in each column?
Three or four a side, and the same number in both. This layout takes three comfortably. Matching counts matters because unequal columns read as an unfinished plan, and a next column longer than the now column suggests the team is adding capability rather than fixing what it already measured.
Why does the next column need a date?
Because without one it is a wish, and an audience that has seen an undated next column before will discount every roadmap that follows. A single date for the whole column is stronger than three separate ones, since it is checkable in one diary entry and cannot be slipped item by item without anyone noticing.
Should the now column admit bad numbers?
Yes. A median first reply of 26 hours and 14% of tickets over two days are what make the four hour target credible, because they show the team measures the thing it is promising to improve. A now column written defensively leaves the audience wondering what the real figures are, which is a worse position.
When should this be split into two slides?
Split when the next column spans more than two quarters, because a single column cannot hold three different dates without becoming a timeline. Split also when one item needs its own business case, such as a hire or a purchase. A now and next slide is a summary, and anything needing approval deserves its own page.
How should this slide be presented out loud?
Read one pair across, give the date once, and stop. The strongest version is 26 hours today, four hours from 31 March, everything else is on the slide. Reading six rows takes a minute and buries the one number the audience will remember, which is the difference between the two medians.
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