Impact Mapping

Software is everywhere today, but countless software products and projects die a slow death without ever making any impact. The result is a tremendous amount of time and money wasted due to wrong assumptions, lack of focus, poor communication of objectives, lack of understanding and misalignment with overall goals. There has to be a better way to deliver!

This handbook is a practical guide to impact mapping, a simple yet incredible effective method for collaborative strategic planning that helps organisations make an impact with software. Impact mapping helps to create better plans and roadmaps that ensure alignment of business business and delivery, and are easily adaptable to change. Impact mapping fits nicely into several current trends in software product management and release planning, including goal-oriented requirements engineering, frequent iterative delivery, agile and lean software methods, lean startup product development cycles, and design thinking.

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
• Make an Impact!
• Why Should You Care?
• What Is an Impact Map?
• Goal
• Actors
• Impacts
• Deliverables
• Example: Online Gaming
• Example: Financial Transaction Processing
• The Role of Impact Maps
• Three Key Roles
• Impact Map Solve Common Problems
• Delivering Business Goals, Not Just Features
• Setting Measurable Objectives
• Adaptive Planning
• Iterative Delivery
• User Stories
• Design Thinking
• Effective Meetings
• Switch from Cost to Investment
• Creating an Impact Map
• Preparation Step 1: Discover Real Goals
• Preparation Step 2: Define Good Measurements
• Preparation Step 3: Plan Your First Milestone
• Mapping Step 1: Draw the Map Skeletone
• Mapping Step 2: Find Alternatives
• Mapping Step 3: Identify Key Priorities
• Mapping Step 4: Earn or Learn
• Fitting Measurements Into the Map
• Rinse and Repeat
• Typical Organisational Mistakes
• Typical Facilitation Mistakes
• Typical Mapping Mistakes

Just a short study on how to apply "Why", "Who", "What" and "How… Like in a beginners mind-mapping course. And then the author tries to dress it up as something Agile, Strategical and about software.

Not really bad, but of no practical use whatsoever.