You can use Impact Mapping for any type of project planning, it can also help you to:
- decide what should be in a product
- prove to a client that it’s not worth investing in a particular feature
- plan your next sprint or release
What are the key steps of Impact Mapping?
There are generally four key steps to impact mapping: setting and describing business goals, identifying the personas, defining the actions these personas will take, and brainstorming the deliverables that will prompt these actions to take place.
How do you create an Impact Map?
You can easily create an impact map by following these steps. Use our Impact Mapping Template and discuss everything with your team in real-time using FigJam’s virtual collaboration platform.
Step 1: Decide on your goals
Draw a box that contains your goal. Why are we doing this project? What do we hope to achieve?
Step 2: Identify the actors
Draw a line from your goal to your next box: the actors. This will help you to visualize who can produce the effect you're looking for, who can obstruct progress, and who your customers or users are. Who will be most impacted by your goal? Many people choose to have a separate box for each actor. Connect each box to your goal with a line.
Step 3: Determine the impacts or actions
What are the potential impacts of your goal on your actors? How can they help you achieve your goal? How might they prevent you from achieving your goal? Draw a box for each potential impact and connect them to your actors.
Step 4: Define the deliverables
The third branch of the map deals with deliverables. Once you have answered the questions in the previous two branches, you can start thinking about what you can hope to achieve within the scope of the project. This will help you to increase the likelihood that the project's goals will be achieved.
