Impact Mapping - a cheatsheet

Impact mapping is a great way to engage senior business and technical experts at the start of work on a product module or project milestone to create a shared understanding of scope – not from a technical but from a business perspective.

first level of an impact map provides answers to the following questions: Who can produce the desired effect? Who can obstruct it? Who are the consumers or users of our product? Who will be impacted by it? These are the actors who can influence the outcome.

Impact mapping is a strategic planning technique.

impact maps are helpful as they lay out visually the WHY, WHO, HOW and WHAT of the problem we are confronting.

impact maps allow us to prioritise whole branches easily.

Impact maps can also facilitate four out of the ten key tools for design thinking listed by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie in Designing for Growth:

See www.impactmapping.org/poster for more information.

What is an impact map?