Transformation 2.0 Methodology
May 9, 2024

IOM

Initiative Overview Map (IOM)

The Initiative Overview Map (IOM) describes an initiative in 9 dimensions. It is initially created during the preparation phase, and consistently maintained throughout all stages of the endeavour.

At Management Level

The most fundamental part of the IOM revolves around the question of why an initiative is being launched in the first place. The purpose of the initiative is translated into specific goals and criteria for measuring success. Throughout the initiative, these success criteria serve as the ultimate benchmark for any decision making.

The IOM serves as an agreement with the sponsors on what they will receive in return for their investment.

In addition, the IOM contains the financial valuation and the business case.

At Team Level

While the goals and success criteria must be defined by the sponsors, the delivery teams must break down the entire endeavour into meaningful pieces that together ensure that the overall goals are met.

In this decomposition process the initiative carves out the building blocks of the target picture which consists of the delivered value, functional and technical deliverables.

In addition, the IOM contains organisational specifications on how exactly the initiative is to be carried out, i.e. who delivers which work packages and when, and what risks and uncertainties are associated with it as well as the estimates of the teams.

Consistency And Reliability Of Information

The key idea behind the IOM is that it provides a consistent basis for the entire initiative, unlike many cases in project delivery, be it traditional or agile.

This means, for example, that success criteria that are defined at the beginning are followed through to the end. Or once design decisions have been made, they are followed until they are explicitly discarded in a deliberate decision.

This is extremely helpful to ensure efficient collaboration between different teams. Everyone can rely on the documented facts, which will also be valid in the future. Deviations cannot go unnoticed due to isolated interests but are recognised as such.

Planning

Every initiative requires top-down planning to a certain extent. This is because different teams are interdependent and duplication, waste or gaps should be avoided. It is an unrealistic dream that everything will magically fall into place once the sponsors have defined the desired outcome.

It is therefore essential to divide the entire endeavour  into work packages, assign them to teams and analyse dependencies and prerequisites.

However, the planning relating to the internal activities of the delivery teams should be left to these teams. There is no point in increasing the complexity of planning an initiative by going into too much detail.

Fact-based Decision Making

Ideally, every critical decision of an initiative should be based on its goals, which are well documented in the IOM.

Consequently, each work package and ultimately each work step can be evaluated based on its contribution to the initiative’s objectives.

In practice, of course, there are limits to such evaluations, but the written objectives should always be consulted for decisions critical to success. Bias, preferences of teams and individuals or personal interests cannot be completely ruled out, but their impact on decisions can be significantly reduced.

Communication

IOM can make communication simpler, more precise and faster.

Examples of this are

  • Onboarding new team members
  • Report to a board member
  • Starting point for planning a new work package

In each of these cases, the IOM makes it possible to build on previous work in a consistent manner.

Format Of An IOM

There are many potential ways to implement an IOM. The exact type certainly depends on the culture, skills and available tools of a specific company.

However, it is important to remember that the IOM must be easily accessible and simple to use.

In practice, it has emerged that the IOM can best be implemented using a content management system because many different content types have to be stored or linked there.

For example, functional content should be mapped as informal graphics in the planning phase and specified in more formal modelling tools in the course of the implementation.

Demarcation From Other Information Sources

There are numerous sources of useful information in every company.

For example, portfolio management keeps a list of projects, enterprise architecture records data on applications and business processes, or product development keeps a catalogue of end customer products.

The IOM has no claim, nor should it have, to replace these sources of information or to duplicate this data.

For example, let’s assume that the enterprise architecture manages a well-maintained list of applications. In this case, the initiative should record basic data about the required applications itself and describe any necessary changes, but all details remain within the data sovereignty of the enterprise architecture.