Practice : Impact Mapping

Purpose and Strategic Importance

Impact Mapping is a strategic planning technique that helps teams align delivery work with business outcomes. It connects features and initiatives to the behaviours they’re intended to influence and the goals they support—creating traceability from “what we build” to “why it matters.”

It’s a powerful tool for clarity, focus, and collaboration. By identifying desired impacts before deciding on features, teams avoid building for the sake of output and focus instead on creating measurable value.

Description of the Practice

  • Impact Mapping starts with a clear goal, then explores actors (who can help or hinder), desired impacts (how behaviour should change), and deliverables (what we’ll build to enable that change).
  • It is visual, collaborative, and typically facilitated via a whiteboard, mural, or digital canvas.
  • The map acts as a living artifact for delivery and stakeholder alignment.
  • It shifts conversations from “what should we build?” to “what outcome are we trying to achieve?”

How to Practise It (Playbook)

1. Getting Started

  • Gather product, design, engineering, and stakeholders for a shared workshop.
  • Use the four-question structure:
    • Goal – What are we trying to achieve?
    • Actors – Who can influence this goal?
    • Impacts – How do we want their behaviour to change?
    • Deliverables – What can we build to support this?
  • Start small—impact map a single epic or goal.

2. Scaling and Maturing

  • Embed impact mapping into quarterly planning, discovery phases, and epic kickoff sessions.
  • Reuse the structure to explore dependencies, validate assumptions, or cut scope with confidence.
  • Use impact maps to prioritise features and align roadmaps to business strategy.
  • Keep maps visible and updated—tie hypotheses, experiments, and delivery items to them.

3. Team Behaviours to Encourage

  • Ask “what impact are we aiming for?” before starting any large piece of work.
  • Use impact maps to align cross-functional teams and clarify scope.
  • Encourage challenging the deliverables if the impact or actor isn't clear.
  • Review impact maps in retros and planning to validate assumptions.

4. Watch Out For…

  • Treating the map as a checklist of features—not an outcome tool.
  • Focusing on deliverables first and retrofitting impacts to match.
  • Running a one-off workshop and never looking at the map again.
  • Mapping goals that are too vague or unmeasurable (e.g. “improve UX”).

5. Signals of Success

  • Teams discuss impact and behaviour change before deciding what to build.
  • Features and epics are clearly tied to business goals and actor outcomes.
  • Delivery plans change based on new insights—not just status updates.
  • Teams ship less but deliver more—fewer features, higher value.
  • Stakeholders trust and understand why the team is building what it is.