[Initiative]: Public roadmap documentation standards

### Name

Public roadmap documentation standards

### Short description

Standardize how CNCF projects maintain a persistent, discoverable public roadmap with a documented change process.

### Responsible group

TOC

### Does the initiative belong to a subproject?

Yes

### Subproject name

Project Reviews

### Primary contact

TBD

### Additional contacts

@angellk (TOC Chair, DD finding source)

### Origin

DD finding (automated)

### Initiative description

**This initiative is a request from the TOC.** During due diligence reviews, the TOC evaluates projects against incubation and graduation criteria. When the same finding appears across multiple projects, it signals an ecosystem-wide gap that would be better addressed through standardized guidance than repeated per-project recommendations.

This finding has appeared in **34 of 42 DD reports** (81%) scanned over the last 5 years, including cncf/toc#2198 (HAMi), cncf/toc#2057 (Kyverno), cncf/toc#2038 (Microcks), cncf/toc#1754 (Fluid), cncf/toc#1468 (wasmCloud), cncf/toc#1416 (cert-manager), and others. The most recent DD to surface this was [HAMi incubation DD](https://github.com/cncf/toc/pull/2198) (merged 2026-07-02).

Projects routinely have closed roadmap issues, outdated milestones, or no public roadmap at all. Governance docs frequently lack a documented roadmap change process. The TOC recommends a persistent public roadmap but has no standardized guidance for format, location, or freshness expectations.

**Scope:** Define recommended roadmap format (project board vs in-repo document vs milestone-based), minimum content expectations, change process documentation requirements, and freshness expectations.

**Timeline:** TBD

### Deliverable(s) or exit criteria

- [ ] Guidance document: public roadmap standards (format, location, change process, freshness)
- [ ] Template: roadmap document or project board configuration
- [ ] DD checklist item update — PR to incubation and graduation application templates

### Tracking document for meeting and progress

TBD

Start by reviewing the cited due diligence findings, including cncf/toc#2198, and compare how projects currently document roadmaps. Define the recommended format, minimum content, change process, and freshness expectations, then produce the guidance document, roadmap template, and DD checklist template updates listed in the exit criteria.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.