Purpose
When work needs to move between different states or columns, it makes that movement and its handoffs legible. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a ROAM Board and an Owner List.
Agile Decision method
ROAM Board
Assigns every relevant risk a treatment as Resolved, Owned, Accepted, or Mitigated.
ROAM is a collaborative risk-treatment practice for planning and review. Owned is an interim state with accountability, Accepted requires an authorised decision, Mitigated requires a concrete plan, and Resolved requires evidence that the concern has ended.
How will each relevant risk be treated, and what must happen before the next review?
- Participants
- 3-15
- Time
- 20-40 min initial, dann laufend
Owned is not done. Accepted needs an authorised risk acceptor; Mitigated needs an action and residual uncertainty.
Prepare
Qualify risks for ROAM
Provide a bounded, understandable list of relevant risks with consequence and context.
Decide
ROAM every risk
Choose the appropriate treatment and record the decision rationale.
Commit
Add ownership and review dates
Make open risks actionable with owners, actions, acceptance authority, and the next review.
Review
Update status from evidence
Review risks regularly, justify transitions, and close completed cards traceably.
Review Owned and Mitigated risks at the agreed cadence; change status only with new evidence or an executed decision.
A good fit when
Useful after risk identification, especially for cross-team planning risks. It does not replace risk assessment or a detailed register.
Ideal for
- PI planning follow-up
- Program reviews
- Cross-team risks
Not good for
- Detailed risk assessment with probabilities
Outputs
ROAM board
Risks with an explicit treatment and documented rationale.
Review list
Open owners, actions, dates, acceptances, and status triggers.
ROAM Board
Fictional worked example
Four treatment states with status-specific required information.
Resolved
Test environment capacity
Additional capacity confirmed; risk ended on 14 June.
Owned
Certificate approval delayed
Clarification blocked
Owner Security; escalation by 21 June; treatment still undecided.
Accepted
One-day shipping delay
Business owner accepted on 12 June; reconsider at >1 day or >5% of orders.
Mitigated
Identity provider outage
Fallback tested; residual switch-over risk up to five minutes; review 30 September.
- Resolved
- Evidence shows the concern has ended; record rationale and date.
- Owned
- An owner investigates; next action and date are required.
- Accepted
- An authorised person accepts residual risk with rationale and trigger.
- Mitigated
- A treatment reduces likelihood or impact; keep residual risk visible.
First step
Include only concrete risk scenarios and clarify the required ROAM decision for each.
Good to do first
Deep dive
How it works
It keeps tasks on an easily movable board and shows where work is stuck or can move forward. This makes flow control in daily work more visible than in static lists, especially when demand keeps changing.
In detail
The ROAM Board is a simple state tracker often used in scaled agile after PI planning. Resolved means done, Owned means deliberately monitored with an owner, Accepted means consciously accepted without action, and Mitigated means active countermeasure. Each risk stays visible until it is Resolved or explicitly Accepted.
Facilitation
Keep the definitions of the four categories visible. Allow only one bucket per risk so clarity remains high. Set a review cadence, for example weekly.
The method guide walks execution through 4 phases, timing, 4 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.
Open method guideYour perspective
Does this method help with your work?
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Sources and topics
In playbooks
Artifact templates
ROAM Board: WorksheetSet up the board once and establish a recurring review practice.markdown
ROAM Board: WorksheetSet up the board once and establish a recurring review practice.
markdownroam-board-working-template.md
Set up the board once and establish a recurring review practice.
ROAM Board: Worksheet
Question
To be confirmed
Desired outcome
To be confirmed
Scope
Establish ROAM practice Time: Ongoing practice with 10–20 minutes per review
Complete this worksheet on paper or in your own document during the work.
Preparation for this scope
Method setup
- Materials: Four-column board, prioritised risk list, planning objectives, owner directory, and review calendar.
- Roles: Facilitator or RTE, risk owners, affected teams, subject experts, and authorised risk acceptor.
- Advance information: Prepare risks with consequences, current assessment, and existing treatments.
- Overall time needed: 20–40 minutes initially; 10–20 minutes per review.
- Setup: Display column criteria and required fields for owners, dates, treatments, and acceptance.
Prepare for the work steps
Prepare: Qualify risks for ROAM
- Current risks from planning or register
- Objectives and affected dependencies
- Existing assessment or urgency
Decide: ROAM every risk
- Qualified risks
- Response options and decision authority
- People with risk and delivery knowledge
Commit: Add ownership and review dates
- ROAM board
- Responsibilities
- Review cadence and escalation path
Review: Update status from evidence
- Current ROAM board
- New evidence and treatment results
- Changed objectives or dependencies
ROAM Board
Resolved
...
Owned
...
Accepted
...
Mitigated
...
Working policies
Resolved ...
Owned ...
Accepted ...
Mitigated ...
U.S. Department of Commerce Agile Framework
Prepare: Qualify risks for ROAM
Expected artifact: Qualified risk list
Risk scenario · consequence · context · urgency
Entry:
...
- Is every item a risk rather than a task or issue?
- Is the affected objective clear?
Decide: ROAM every risk
Expected artifact: ROAM assignment
Category · rationale · residual uncertainty
Entry:
...
- Can the category be traced to a criterion?
- Is Owned kept distinct from Mitigated and Resolved?
Commit: Add ownership and review dates
Expected artifact: Actionable board
Owner · action · date · evidence · acceptance
Entry:
...
- Can every open card be actively tracked to the next review?
- Is acceptance documented by an authorised person?
Review: Update status from evidence
Expected artifact: Versioned risk picture
Status history · new evidence · escalations
Entry:
...
- Does every status change have a clear trigger?
- Are overdue Owned risks visibly escalated?
Open questions and next steps
...
Method guide: https://methodatlas.meierhoff-systems.de/en/methods/roam-board/run-sheet
Alternatives and neighbors
Fitting alternatives with decision guidance, followed by other related methods.
Delivery
RAID Log
Instead of ROAM Board, choose RAID Log when you want to keep risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies concisely in one project record.
Agile
Acceptance Criteria Workshop
Moves backlog, sprint work, and team flow toward a concrete result through "pin the story summary to the whiteboard", "write the happy path as Given-When-Then", and "copy the criteria into the story tool".
Agile
Ideal Days
Moves backlog, sprint work, and team flow toward a concrete result through "explain the ideal day unit", "calibrate with a reference item", and "do not confuse it with calendar days".
Agile
Planning Poker
Compares stories relatively, surfaces knowledge gaps, and produces a shared estimate with traceable assumptions.
Agile
T-Shirt Sizing
Sorts backlog items roughly by reference sizes and flags early on which items will later need splitting or clarification.
Agile
Working Agreements
Jointly formulates valid working rules and clarifies how the team handles expectations, conflicts, and reviews.
Constraints and origin
LowWorkshop + async20-40 min initial, dann laufend
Profile
- Method form
- Decision method
- Participants
- 3-15
- Time
- 20-40 min initial, dann laufend
- Maturity
- Established
- Origin
- SAFe Community
Next up: RACI Matrix