Some basic business capability map patterns (level 0)

| Jörgen Dahlberg

Don’t be scared, level zero in a capability map is just a way to structure the map so that we have a consistent way of communicating. It’s really not that important if all you wish todo is create an excellent set of capabilities for your business. However if you are intent on changing the foundation of your business then level zero is absolutely imperative to get right. Capabilities and capability maps are not organization structures, they do however serve as a powerful instrument when one need to create an organization architecture, in fact they are best thought of as organizing structures.

Basic patterns for capability map level 0

Are these patterns better than any other pattern one may ask and the answer is that they are not. There is probably more than a enough patterns to this problem of layout if you Google for capability maps. It’s just that I’ve used these patterns a lot and have seen others use them and have found them to be highly effective to influence the future of a business.

Remember that any business capability map can be reordered into any of these patterns, so do not let the choice of pattern for level zero stop you from investigating what is important.

The system perspective is highly influenced by the viable systems model created by Stafford Beer and the OODA Loop created by John Boyd.

When you should use this

  • Whenever you need to create a capability map
  • Whenever you have a desire to change the business

What you should consider when you use this

  • Use this is a guide, change it to fit your needs
  • Use the patterns many times to understand what works and refine those
  • Add your own patterns and create a pattern library
  • From a training perspective I’ve found that the hierarchical pattern works best

License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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Post change log
2015-11-09: Published initial post

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