Method guide · Progress through phases
Outcome Mapping
Connect a goal to expected effects, obstacles, and named next actions rather than pursuing disconnected measures.
- People
- 3–15
- Base procedure time
- 120 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Make a decision; Build working relationships.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A method for connecting a goal, expected effects, obstacles, and next actions from left to right on one sheet. Use it when a large goal has been announced but people pursue separate measures without being able to describe expected effects or obstacles concretely. Expand perspectives with everyone, use voting to narrow them to one goal, examine effects on customers, the business, and employees and distinguish internal from external obstacles before moving to next actions. This brings objections and omissions into the route map instead of relying on momentum alone. The outputs are a route map and next actions with owners decided. It is not suitable for projects already in execution with a settled goal and implementation plan, or where trust between participants has not yet been built.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Expand the starting points0–28 minutes from the start (28 minutes)
Action: Expand. Participation: Everyone.
Individual record
- Narrow the focus28–46 minutes from the start (18 minutes)
Action: Narrow. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
- Arrange expected effects46–68 minutes from the start (22 minutes)
Action: Arrange. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Distinguish obstacles68–96 minutes from the start (28 minutes)
Action: Distinguish. Participation: Groups of 3–5.
Shared record
- Decide next actions96–120 minutes from the start (24 minutes)
Action: Decide. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 28 minutes, each person writes goals, obstacles, questions, and observations on sticky notes, then collects similar content together to expand the starting points.
- For 18 minutes, vote on the collected ideas with 3 votes per person and narrow the goal to one sentence stating what will change, by when, and by how much.
- For 22 minutes, split into groups of 3–5 and arrange expected effects for customers, the business, and employees respectively.
- For 28 minutes, each group separates internal from external factors and distinguishes common patterns.
- For 24 minutes, separate actions that can start immediately from those to carry over to the next meeting, and decide owners.
If something changes
If
After 5 minutes of expanding ideas, the number of written sticky notes is still less than half the participant count.
Then
The facilitator gives one example of a goal, obstacle, or question, narrows the writing perspective to that one category, and resumes.
If
The vote produces 2 themes tied for the highest vote count.
Then
Hold one more runoff vote restricted to the top 2 themes.
If
At the stage of deciding next actions, 5 minutes pass with the number of actions with an owner still at 0.
Then
Replace the action with one that only the people present can start by the end of next week, and nominate one owner.
Preparation
Materials
- One long whole-group route map made by joining large sheets horizontally, with four columns: goal, expected effects, obstacles, and next action
- About 20 sticky notes per person, with different colours for expected effects and obstacles
- 3 voting stickers per person
- One broad-tip writing implement per person
Room and setup
- One wall surface at least 3 m long for the whole-group route map
- One island table per group of 3–5, with participants distributed evenly
Adjust for people and time
With fewer than 3 people, idea expansion from several perspectives does not work. With 3–15, divide the participant count by 5 and round up to determine the number of groups, then distribute people evenly into groups of 3–5. With 2 or more groups, assign half to expected effects and half to obstacles. With only one group, the same group considers expected effects and then moves to obstacles. With 16 or more people, split into separate sessions of no more than 15 people each.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not use this where the goal and implementation plan are already settled and execution is underway, or where trust has not yet been built. Retain objections and omissions in the route map rather than moving forward on momentum alone.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- Scaling assigns half the groups to effects and half to obstacles, but ceil(participants/5) gives three groups for 11–15 people, with no rule for dividing that odd number in half. The translation does not invent an allocation.
- The timed steps have each group consider effects and then internal/external factors, while scaling divides responsibilities between groups when there are two or more. Both source instructions remain without silently selecting one procedure.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Steve Pereira: Outcome Mapping
https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/outcome-mapping/
Adaptation under CC BY 4.0; changes made
- CC BY 4.0
Current-page licence notice
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Credits on the checked source page
- Named contributors on the source page: Steve Pereira
- Contributors listed in the official practice source (repository handles): @stevepereira
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Outcome Mapping.
Source lineage
CC BY-SA 4.0 — this site's adaptation and translation contributions · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.