Another benefit of having a public roadmap is it can eliminate a lot of useless speculation talk about ideas people have for the future of GM:S and what they'd like to see in upcoming versions.
Instead of having conversations like:
"Hey it would be great if YYG did XYZ;
no that would never happen;
but it should;
but it's dumb;
but it isn't;
you can already do ABC instead;
but XYZ is better;
no it isn't;
yes it is;
doesn't matter they'll never do it;
you don't know that;
i'm more plugged into the rumor sources than you are so i do."
or
"Hey does anyone know if YYG are going to do XYZ?;
No no one knows except YYG and they're not talking;
Well I hope they do;
Maybe they will;
Any idea when?;
No it'll be done when it's done, if it's ever done."
We could be having conversations like:
"Hey i can see that YYG is planning on doing XYZ in the 1.7 branch, but I see am opportunity for them to do WXYZ instead, which would allow game developers do even more with LMNOP that we'll be getting in 1.6.;
but how would that work, exactly?;
specifics;
i think it would be even better if;
yes that's a good idea;
YYG here -- we were thinking this as well, but W probably can't happen until 1.8, due to priorities and limited resources, so we're currently projecting that it may happen then but as always things may change;
Huh, cool! ok."
Which is a lot more focused and productive, because it starts from an established, official source and not pure speculation, it can therefore get right into talking about specifics without a bunch of wasted back-and-forth about whether it's even likely to happen, and it gets YYG's customers involved in the development of the product, such that YYG gets some useful feedback and insight into what their customers really want and need, and gives them direction about where to go next or how to go about providing future features.