Impact Mapping: Making a big impact with software products and projects

To use impact maps for roadmap management, you need: agreement that your aim is to achieve a business goal, not deliver pre-set scope frequent, iterative releases to measure progress agreement on metrics that express stakeholder expectations for the central business goal

If you can't find any objectives, start with suggested features and ask whose behaviour will this change and in what way. Then ask why those behaviour changes are important.

Mapping step 1: Draw the map skeleton

Senior product or project sponsors will learn how to communicate their assumptions more effectively to delivery teams,

Consider negative or hindering impacts as well as positive ones.

It visualises assumptions. Alternative models mostly do not communicate assumptions clearly. Impact mapping does, and because of that it helps teams to make better decisions in rapidly changing environments

Wrong assumptions

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.

Measurability is the key element here – if a goal is measurable, the other elements are easier to pin down.