Impact Mapping

Impact maps, which are highly visual, show how items from the product delivery plan relate to the high-level goals and help align tactical work with strategic priorities.

Linking Work Items to High-Level Goals

Taking the latter view, the goal is to connect everything top-down and bottom-up. In other words

• starting from an impact, to think about who to influence, what is the desired change of behavior and then think about product features that might lead to that change, or

• starting from a product feature to ensure a link to a higher-level goal, i.e., to ensure that the feature is literally having an impact—why else would we even do it?

When starting fresh, an impact map can be created by following a sequence of questions:

• Why do we tackle that initiative and how would we measure success?

• Who can produce the desired effect? Or else, who can obstruct it?

• How should these people change their behavior?

• What can the team do to support that change? What is needed product-wise?

As a hint, think broadly. Sometimes, some indirect actors might not be apparent right away. For example, to increase pedestrian safety (the impact), car drivers (the actors) may need to slow down (the behavior change), which is forced by speed limits or speed bumps (the product features).

Also, while the visuals suggest a strict hierarchy, it may be that, for example, a single feature supports multiple outcomes or affects multiple actors. So, the tree could become a directed graph, mathematically speaking. In the example above, installing traffic lights would increase safety for pedestrians by making car drivers stop and pedestrians cross the road at safe places.