Drawing a map of the customer organization | Hacker News Reader

Drawing a map of the customer organization

skmurphy.com

16 pointsskmurphy5 comments

I think it is a good reminder that these mapping are helpful, not just for sales but also for internal getting buy-in. I wonder what tool would now be the best or even if there is a business opportunity there. I would use miro/mural at the moment and check for some templates. Anyone knows a good tool? Optimally it would guide you to list people and their function/skillset and then make those maps.

I think there is a significant business opportunity, not just for mapping the "org chart" but for making sense of the more complex social structures and communities of practice that live in the "white space." Niels Pflaeging in "Organize for Complexity" suggests there are at leas three overlapping networks active:

Formal Reporting Hierarchy: manages formal budget and compliance with laws and regulations. -> Org Chart

Informal Networks: hold social capital and operate in the “white space.” -> Community of Practice Maps / Networks

Expertise Networks: hold intellectual capital and procedural knowledge that enables value creation. -> Value Stream Maps

See https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2018/10/24/7-sets-of-insights-...

This kind of assumptions mapping can be really helpful in many cases, not just sales. Customer journeys for the user experience, for example. Or for driving change internally in large organisations.

A good enterprise sales person, or a founder selling to enterprise, is acting as a change agent. What enterprise sales calls an early adopter, champion, or coach is often an intrapreneur / internal change agent using the new technology offering provided by the outside vendor to enable change.

The "Hardware Best Practices" initiative mentioned in the conversation was an internal process improvement effort that also relied on mapping the organization to make sure that any team affected would be consulted.

Summary: an exploration of what's involved in drawing a map of the relevant aspects of the customer organization involved in a sale. In addition to the technical evaluation there will be a business team and several decision process owners in the legal, security, and purchasing functions.

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