Product development happens every day in various businesses. Each has different approaches and processes they use to achieve project goals. Instead of focusing on features other companies impose, developing an impact mapping template tailored to your business is beneficial. It lets you focus on essential elements significantly impacting the company’s goals. Customizing the template allows you to align your strategies precisely with your unique objectives.
What is impact mapping?
Impact mapping is a diagramming tool used when building projects or products. It allows teams to identify which features they must include in their product roadmap. This concept was first introduced in 2012 through a book called Impact Mapping: Making a Big Impact with Software Products and Projects, authored by Gojko Adzic, a software delivery consultant. Adzic discusses how the framework develops better plans in the book, ensuring the roadmap aligns with the business strategy.
As you use impact mapping, you’ll discover it differs from other feature planning approaches. It explains precisely and clearly why your team must include a particular feature in the roadmap. Everything you do indeed aligns with the company objectives and customer needs.
What should be included in the impact mapping template?
Your impact mapping template will have four essential components, and it’s vital to supply them with innovative insights accordingly.
- Goals.This falls on the first section or column of your impact mapping template. It’s essential to flesh out the core objective of the project or product. You can write it as precisely as possible, as the goal influences the entire direction of the project. It’s crucial to get this right from the start.
- Actors. This refers to any individual who plays a significant role in the business product's success or failure. Like your goals, identify the actors as specific as possible. Besides the customers, it’s also vital to determine other actors who will have a significant role in the project’s success. Also, you can include actors who might hinder the efficiency of your project.
- Impact. The third element on your impact mapping template will have insights about the roles your team wants every actor to fulfill to help you reach the project objective. You can take note of the desired behaviors you want to see, like completing tasks efficiently, recommending the product, or spending time on websites or apps.
- Deliverables.The last component of the impact mapping template will have features the identified actors will use to guarantee impacts. You can include in the final column the factors that let you use and incentivize the desired behavior more easily.
How to write an impact mapping template?
The impact mapping template is straightforward but offers excellent returns when created accordingly. You can use Boardmix’s template library to choose among its diagrams in developing your template design. It’s customizable, so you can add colors and images and use tools on the workspace to edit the template.
Below are some helpful steps in writing the impact mapping template for your team.
- Decide on the goals. You either directly write your goals on the whiteboard or create a box containing the desired outcomes of the product or project.
- Identify your actors. Draw another box or column to write the actors. They’re responsible for producing the effect your team is aiming for. These actors can be users, customers, or those responsible for possible hurdles in your processes.
- Determine the actions or impacts. Ensure to record possible changes in the actor’s behavior due to the defined goal. It can also be fitting to list how they can help you reach your goals.
- Discuss the deliverables. Think about the project scope and initiatives to increase the probability of achieving your goals. For example, you’re developing a translation app that helps users understand Spanish. Your goal is to boost the app’s user activity. The impact you desire is for end users to access the app more often.
Remember that Boardmix lets you share your template immediately with team members through a unique link. You can allow access to the diagram from anywhere.
FAQs about impact mapping
What is the purpose of impact mapping?
A well-structured impact mapping template serves multiple purposes.
- Strategic planning. The template is an excellent tool to engage technical experts and senior businesses as the company starts working on a project. It develops a shared understanding of the project scope, resulting in better collaboration. The framework also ensures that decision-makers and other stakeholders are aligned with the objective.
- Roadmap management. Impact mapping communicates priorities, goals, and scopes. In short, the template covers the necessary elements and processes in product development so teams can track if the project is gearing towards the desired result.
- Defining quality. The map is also an excellent visual tool showing the impacts technical deliverables are expected to produce. It keeps the delivery department focused and helps prioritize initiatives to ensure the product’s quality.
