Why is this problem worth solving? : Impact Mapping

What is Impact Mapping?

Impact Mapping is a method of strategic planning that helps to establish and visualize the causal relationships between an objective, the actors involved, the expected impacts on these different actors, and the deliverables or initiatives that will lead the actors to have an impact. This workshop is done within the organization to promote collaboration and interactions in strategic thinking, in particular between business owners and representatives of development teams.

More specifically, Impact Mapping encourages teams to define the assumptions on which their strategic plan is based, offering them the opportunity to challenge both their objectives and their constraints. Just like Mind Mapping, the visual aspect of the method facilitates the emergence of a common understanding of the problem while allowing a certain perspective.

Impact Mapping is part of a medium-term decision horizon and turns out to be a judicious tool in the implementation of the Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop of The Lean Startup method. Conducted at the end of each cycle, this workshop makes it possible to measure the progress made and to validate or invalidate past hypotheses, leading to exploring in more detail certain branches of the Impact Map or, on the contrary, to abandon some.

How to build an Impact Map?

An Impact Map is broken down into 4 levels of reflection:

1. The objective (the why?): The central element of the Impact Map is the strategic objective pursued, by focusing on the rationale of such a choice for the organization. The question to ask is then: Why are we doing this?

Improve data quality index by X% before Q4

Increase the number of Weekly Active Users by x until the end of the year

1. The actors (the who?): In this second level, it is a question of identifying which actors can influence the result by answering the following questions: On whose behavior do we want to have an impact? Who can produce the expected effect? Who can help us achieve the goal? Who can prevent or hinder us from achieving this goal?

The marketing department

Old Users

1. The impacts (the how?): The third level of the Impact Map focuses on the desired impacts on the actors. we should find answers to these questions: How can we bring about a change of behavior among the actors? How can they help us reach our goal? How can they prevent or hinder us from achieving this goal?

Collect Consents

Collect feedback 

Invite new users

1. The deliverables (the what?): The last level focuses on determining the scope of the features and initiatives that are supposed to have an impact on the previous elements. The question then is: What can we do, as an organization or as a development team, to produce the expected impacts?

Consent Page

Survey Page

Referral Program

By relating deliverables, impacts, and objectives, Impact Mapping provides the strategic plan with an essential logical context to subsequently judiciously reassess certain decisions and possibly redefine the roadmap. This workshop provides a relevant overview of strategic issues and, therefore, turns out to be an ideal complement to taR which, in turn, deals with operational objectives in more detail.

Image courtesy: https://t2informatik.de/en/smartpedia/impact-mapping/