Impact Mapping
Impact mapping is a strategic planning technique that helps organizations align their goals with the outcomes they want to achieve.
The main goal of impact mapping is to visualize and communicate how a
project or initiative can create value for the organization and its
stakeholders. It provides a structured way to explore and define the
potential impacts of a project, making it easier to prioritize
activities and make informed decisions.
The key goals of impact mapping include:
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Aligning Goals: Impact mapping helps teams align their efforts with the overall goals and objectives of the organization. By mapping out the connections between project activities and desired outcomes, it becomes clear how each task contributes to the broader mission.
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Focusing on Value: Impact mapping encourages a focus on delivering value. It helps identify the most critical aspects of a project that will contribute to the desired outcomes and allows teams to prioritize activities that have the greatest impact.
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Facilitating Communication: Impact maps are visual tools that provide a shared understanding of the project's purpose and goals. This makes it easier for teams to communicate with stakeholders and ensures that everyone involved has a common understanding of the project's direction.
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Managing Scope: By explicitly defining the goals and outcomes of a project, impact mapping helps teams manage scope. It becomes clear which features or tasks are essential for achieving the desired impact, which helps in making decisions about what to include or exclude from the project.
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Adapting to Change: Impact mapping supports adaptability by providing a framework for continuous feedback and adjustment. As circumstances change or new information emerges, impact maps can be updated to reflect the evolving understanding of the project's goals and impacts.
Why use impact mapping?
Gojko Adzic, the author of the book Impact Mapping, briefly explains the impact Impact Mapping has.
In Agile, you as a team are focused on continuously delivering customer
value. For this, it is necessary to have a clear picture of the impact
that the business expects from the product that you realize together.
Impact Mapping is a visual technique for strategic planning. It gives
the product owner, stakeholders, and the team a shared view of the
purpose and assumptions that led to the requested solution to be
developed.
To create an Impact Map, follow these steps:
- Look for the real goal together (ask why five times). This goal is the core of your mind map.
- Collaboratively name two or three obvious or known solutions.
- Map who can help to achieve or hinder the goal. P
- Brainstorm on how each actor can help you get closer to the goal. What behavioral change does this involve?
- Think about what your team (department or project) can do (deliver) to support this behavior change. Which tools or services make the desired behavior easier.
- Now you have a good overview of the possible paths to follow to your goal. Choose the most impactful paths from this overview. Prioritize the realization of the corresponding “What” notes accordingly.
Our partner Connective Partners developed a dialogue sheet that will help your team create an Impact Map together with your stakeholders.