Strategise method guide
Push/Pull Linking Grid
Push/Pull Linking Grid connects technology push with market pull to reveal matches, gaps and actions.
Beginner-friendly guide · 4 min read
What Push/Pull Linking Grid does
Push/Pull Linking Grid connects technology push with market pull to reveal matches, gaps and actions.
A push/pull linking grid compares technology opportunities with market, customer or societal demand. It helps teams avoid two common errors: developing technology without a credible need, and promising customer value without a feasible enabler.
Each link should preserve separate evidence for the technology side and demand side, then assess the strength, timing and readiness of the connection between them.
Cambridge roadmapping templates use linking grids to examine relationships between market pull and technology push. The grid is a translation surface between intelligence and action.[1][2][3]
From analysis to a living plan
How this connects to roadmapping
In a layered roadmap, market and business drivers sit above product, service or application choices, while technology capabilities and constraints sit below them. Market pull works downwards from an evidenced need towards a response. Technology push works upwards from a capability towards applications and value that it could enable.[1][2][3]
The two directions should meet in the middle layer and remain connected across time. A credible opportunity needs both a worthwhile reason from above and a feasible enabling route from below. Roadmapping makes the balance, timing and gaps visible without assuming that innovation always starts from the market or always starts from technology.[1][2][3]
Demand pulls down from the market layer. Capability pushes up from the technology layer. Both meet in product, service or application choices over time.
NowNear termMedium termLong term
InnovationFlow explanatory schematic, synthesised from the method sources[1][2][3].
Understand the method
The parts in plain language
Fit and action
Assess whether the technology can address the need at the required performance, cost and time. Different patterns suggest testing, sourcing, searching or monitoring.[1][2][3]
Illustrative example
Strong need plus promising but immature technology suggests a bounded pilot, not immediate scale.
When to use it
- After technology scouting and market or customer analysis.
- When promising technology lacks an application, or strong demand lacks an enabling capability.
A practical workflow
- 1
Select a technology signal and a demand-side need.
- 2
Record evidence and score push strength, pull strength, fit and readiness.
- 3
Interpret the pattern as accelerate, source, search, test, monitor or park.
- 4
Promote strong links and material gaps into roadmap or sourcing work.
Fictional worked example
Example: edge diagnostics
This example is illustrative rather than a reported case. A team links new edge-computing capability with customer demand for secure remote monitoring.
Observation:Models can now run on low-cost industrial devices.
Implication:Performance and reliability need testing in operating conditions.
Observation:Customers resist sending raw process data to the cloud.
Implication:Local analysis addresses a specific barrier.
Observation:The approach fits security needs but adds device-management complexity.
Implication:Pilot both analytical value and operating burden.
From analysis to decision
How to interpret the result
- 1Do not infer demand from technical excitement.
- 2Keep maturity and timing visible.
- 3Promote strong matches into experiments or the roadmap and gaps into scouting or customer research.
The interpretation guidance is an InnovationFlow synthesis of[1][2][3].
What a useful output looks like
Common pitfalls
- Do not force links because both sides sound strategically attractive.
- Keep the evidence for push and pull separate.
References and method basis
- [1]Phaal, R. and collaborators (n.d.). Cambridge Roadmapping templates. Cambridge Roadmapping. Source ↗Originating institution
- [2]Phaal, R., Farrukh, C.J.P. and Probert, D.R. (2001). T-Plan: The fast start to Technology Roadmapping - planning your route to success. Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge. Source ↗Original method source
- [3]Phaal, R. and Muller, G. (2009). An architectural framework for roadmapping: Towards visual strategy. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 76(1), 39–49. Source ↗Peer-reviewed research
This guide synthesises the named sources into practical questions for strategy and innovation work. It does not claim that using a tool by itself produces a successful decision.