Impact Mapping

What is Impact Mapping?

Impact Mapping is a strategic planning and alignment technique designed to help teams visualize the cause-and-effect relationship between the outcomes they aim to achieve and the deliverables they plan to build. It creates a shared understanding among cross-functional teams about what will drive meaningful mission or business impact.

At Rise8, we use Impact Mapping to: - Align work with measurable Business/Mission Impact - Facilitate strategic conversations with stakeholders - Prioritize deliverables that create real change - Avoid building outputs that don't serve user or mission needs

Vakye Strans

While you may find a different standard format for Impact Mapping tools outside of Rise8, we have modified the four key dimensions to match how we speak about outcomes in prod which was borrowed from Josh Seiden's framing of Outcomes over Outputs: - Business / Mission Impact (what we want to measurably change for our customer/organization; formerly “Goal”) - Actors (who can influence outcomes) - Outcomes (system or user behaviors we want to change; formerly "Impact") - Deliverables (what we might build)

Vakye Strans

Why It's Valuable

Impact Mapping helps teams avoid the feature factory trap by focusing on what needs to change, for whom, and why. It's a natural complement to: - Value Stream Mapping, which confirms how value currently flows (or doesn’t), and how to measure it - OKRs, which define the measurable company or business level goals we’re aiming for - Event Storming, Boris, and Swift Method, which models domain events and interactions

When used correctly, Impact Maps: - Uncover hidden assumptions - Clarify intent before jumping to solutions - Strengthen outcome-first thinking - Improve stakeholder alignment

Framework	What it is	Compared to Impact Mapping
Opportunity Solution Tree (OST)	OST starts with an Outcome - meaning a change in behavior that is, for example, derived from a team level key-result.	An Impact Map looks for a company-wide health indicator (Impact) as the primary anchor, starting with a company or business level OKR.
OKRs	The Key Results of a more tactical OKR set typically express a specific change in behavior, aka Outcome.	Theres a strong correlation between the HOW level of an Impact Map and the Key Results of a team. Discovery work leads to validated Outcomes (documented in an Impact Map).
North Star Framework	Product strategy and leading indicator alignment with a single North Star Metric and supporting inputs.	Impact Mapping helps explore questions about the Who, How, and What.
JTBD	Understanding and predicting motivations and context related to Consumers' Jobs (their unmet goals and constraints), and a common language for demand, opportunity and growth.	Helps teams ensure that everyone remains in alignment and focus throughout their discovery efforts.

Prerequisite: Have a Clear Impact Target

Before running an Impact Mapping exercise: - Confirm that your team has a clearly defined and quantified Business/Mission Impact and current state Outcome targets - Without these, you risk generating a list of disconnected activities with no clear prioritization logic, or way of determining success as you run experiments

If you don’t have these yet: - Start with Value Stream Mapping, Event Storming, Boris, Swift Method and Service Blueprint exercises to clarify impact and outcome opportunities - Use those outputs to anchor your Impact Map

How to Facilitate an Impact Mapping Session

Prep Checklist

Item	Description
Canvas	Apply Rise8’s custom layout: Impact → Actors → Outcomes → Deliverables
Facilitator	One lead facilitator to guide the session and prompt critical thinking
Participants	Balanced team members (Product, Design, Engineering) + Key stakeholders
Context Brief	Background material on problem space, relevant data, and mission objectives
Timer	To time-box each mapping phase and ensure momentum
Whiteboarding Tool	Miro, Mural, Figjam, or physical whiteboard with sticky notes

Facilitation Steps

Step	Actions to take
1. Frame the Mission Impact	- Revisit the VSM or OKR related quantified impact you’re targeting - Write this at the top of the canvas under Business / Mission Impact - Ensure shared clarity across all participants
2. Identify Actors	- Who can enable or block this impact? - Consider internal roles, external users, partners, and regulators - Capture each actor in the second column
3. Define Behavioral Outcomes	- For each actor, what specific behavior must change? - Use the format: _"We need [actor] to [do something measurably differently]" - Focus on behavior, not sentiment
4. Brainstorm Potential Deliverables	- What could we build to influence these behaviors? - List multiple options per outcome — don’t filter too early - Use this moment to provoke critical conversations ("Will this actually cause the behavior change?")
5. Cluster and Prioritize	- Group deliverables that support the same outcome - Assess risk vs impact to focus efforts - Use dot voting or effort-impact 2x2 prioritization if needed

Tips for Better Output

Encourage divergent thinking early, then converge later
Keep the language behavioral and concrete
Use data or anecdotes to challenge assumptions
Ask "If we build this, why do we believe it will cause that outcome?"

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Pitfall	How to Avoid It
Jumping straight to, and working backwards from, deliverables	Force conversation to stay in Outcomes layer until well-explored
Vague impact statements	Quantify impact — don’t settle for "improve UX" or "streamline workflow"
Overloading the map	Limit deliverables to high-impact bets, not every possible idea
Groupthink	Actively invite dissenting views to expose blind spots

After the Session: What’s Next?

Synthesize the output into a cleaned-up map
Highlight any assumptions or validation needs
Connect prioritized Impact, Outcomes and Deliverables to your Outcome-Oriented Roadmap
Use the map in stakeholder conversations to justify choices