Getting started with product development can be daunting and challenging as there are many approaches that you can adopt. This is where impact mapping comes into play. This strategy planning method can become the guide you need to reach your goal. And what’s even greater about this technique is that it allows you to view all of your available options.
In this article, we will thoroughly explain the technique of impact mapping and show you multiple examples to help you understand how to use it. Let’s dive in.
What Is Impact Mapping
Impact mapping connects a goal to the people who can influence it, the changes in their behavior, and the work that could support those changes. In the method’s four-part structure, a feature is a deliverable; the impact is what an actor does differently.
Gojko Adzic explains the method in Impact Mapping: Making a Big Impact with Software Products and Projects. A map makes the reasoning behind a proposed feature visible, so the team can challenge its assumptions before committing to delivery.
When and Why Use Impact Mapping
As you already understand, incorporating impact mapping into your planning has numerous benefits for your business. In particular, it is a great tool for project managers that aim to make planning more efficient. The main benefits that you are going to enjoy from an impact mapping example are the following:
- Efficient strategic planning – an impact mapping example plays a significant role during the initial stage of a project. With this tool, you identify your main goal and then visually connect it to the relevant actors and the desired deliverables.
- Alignment with stakeholders – showing a project’s goal and expected behavior changes helps stakeholders discuss competing assumptions and priorities.
- Definition of the project’s scope – one of the greatest advantages that impact mapping has is that it allows you to understand the full scope of your project. This way, you can evaluate the impact of each deliverable on the goal you have set, thus allowing you to focus only on the ones that really matter.
- Continuous improvement – an impact map encourages all team members to assess their progress and make any corrective moves they find fitting. This framework is perfect for evaluating the success of their endeavors up until now.
- Identification of new options – in this diagram, you can also spot new options that you haven’t yet explored. If you find that their impact is significant, you can incorporate them into the roadmap.
5 Impact Mapping Examples
The following illustrations start with broad project ideas. The accompanying branches make each actor’s behavior more specific, so that the map can guide a test rather than become a list of promised benefits.
Impact Mapping Example – 01
Nowadays, cybersecurity has become a priority in every organization. That’s why the first impact mapping example we are going to see is about a project that aims to enhance the cybersecurity of a company. In this instance, we can clearly see how the goal of strengthening the company’s infrastructure takes the form of numerous deliverables.
Therefore, the example will look like this:
- Goal: Strengthen the organization’s digital security infrastructure to prevent cyberattacks.
- Actors: Employees handling messages and files, the IT security team, IT operations, and senior management.
- Impact: Employees report suspicious messages through the agreed channel; security staff triage those reports and act on confirmed threats. Protecting data is the intended result of these behavior changes, not the behavior itself.
- Deliverables: Upgrade firewall and intrusion detection systems, conduct regular security audits, and implement employee cybersecurity training programs.
Impact Mapping Example – 02
The next example imagines a nonprofit program that helps young entrepreneurs establish businesses in a rural region.
This impact mapping diagram will be as follows:
- Goal: Encourage young entrepreneurs to move to rural areas, and contribute to the economic development of these regions.
- Actors: Young entrepreneurs, government agencies, local business associations, and rural development organizations.
- Impact: Prospective entrepreneurs seek business advice, apply for suitable grants, and take concrete steps toward opening local businesses. Employment and economic development remain longer-term goals to measure.
- Deliverables: Provide business consultation for small business initiatives, offer business management training workshops, establish networking events to connect entrepreneurs with potential investors and mentors, and help young entrepreneurs apply for government grants.
Impact Mapping Example – 03
Another great impact mapping example is for a company that wants to become environmentally sustainable. Since more and more people are concerned about the sustainability of the businesses they associate with, this is something that every organization wants to implement.
In this case, the example will be this way:
- Goal: Minimize the organization’s carbon footprint.
- Actors: Sustainability team, operations team, and supply chain management.
- Impact: Purchasing staff select suitable lower-impact inputs, and operations teams adopt the agreed waste-reduction practices. The team then measures whether those changes reduce its environmental impact.
- Deliverables: Shift to recyclable materials, use sustainable materials in the products’ packaging, and transition to renewable energy sources during the manufacturing process.
Impact Mapping Example – 04
In the next impact mapping example, we are going to analyze the development of a corporate training program. This particular example shows you the versatility of this tool as any department can use it for their projects.
This is how this example of impact mapping looks like:
- Goal: Enhance employee productivity by developing their skills.
- Actors: Employees learning the skills, their department managers, Human Resources, and training staff.
- Impact: Employees apply the trained skill in their work, while managers provide practice opportunities and feedback. Attendance at a workshop alone does not demonstrate that the skill is being used.
- Deliverables: Develop a comprehensive training curriculum, organize skill-specific workshops, and provide extra resources for further development.
Impact Mapping Example – 05
In the final impact mapping example, we will see how to utilize this diagram in app development. In this particular case, we are examining a productivity mobile app. Therefore, the example will be as follows:
- Goal: Enhance user productivity and task management.
- Actors: People using the productivity app, supported by the development team, UX/UI designers, and product managers.
- Impact: Users review their priorities and complete the tasks they have chosen for the day. The map should name the user behavior that a proposed feature is meant to support.
- Deliverables: Create an intuitive user interface, enable cross-platform synchronization, and add an insights screen.
Turn one branch into a test
For the productivity app, consider this branch: help users complete planned work → people who plan their day in the app → review priorities before starting work → a simple daily-planning screen. The screen is only one possible deliverable; a reminder or a clearer existing list might support the same behavior.
Before building the larger feature, observe whether users can choose priorities with the current interface. Try a small change, then compare priority reviews and completed planned tasks over an agreed period. If the behavior does not change, revisit that branch instead of adding more features to it.
Impact Mapping Template & Tool
From the examples above, impact mapping is a flexible tool that you can use on any type of project. Now, you can easily create this diagram by using a well-designed template offered by Boardmix. Boardmix allows you to dig deeper into the world of impact mapping by providing you with a ready-made impact mapping template that you can use as a base for your project. Just select it from the template library and you will have an efficient impact mapping diagram in just a few clicks. Create your free account today to get started!
