What Is Current State Mapping?
Most businesses are running on assumptions, from how the work gets done, to who owns what process, to where the bottlenecks are, and more besides. Current state mapping is the effort of replacing those assumptions with facts - and the results are almost always surprising.
In more concrete terms, Current State Mapping is a methodical process of documenting how your business currently operates, either as a whole, as a department, or even just within a specific process. This can include workflows, handoffs, systems, roles, technology, decision points, and more. It’s not an org chart, or a strategy document, or even a wishlist. It’s a grounded picture of reality, developed with people on that run through these processes on a daily basis. The output of this effort is usually a combination of process maps, documentation of existing tools or SOPs, and a summary of findings.
So, if this is such a useful tool, why do most businesses skip it? There are a few reasons, usually falling into one of the following:
It feels slow when there’s pressure to move fast and demonstrate a quick ROI
Leadership often believes they already know how things work
It requires getting candid, detailed information from people who may be protective of their turf
It takes a lot of effort and time and some businesses can’t spare the expense
There’s often no immediate ROI, so it feels like research, not progress
Nobody gets credit for “we mapped what we already do”
But ultimately, what really happens if you skip it? To be completely honest: sometimes, nothing. Sometimes a business comes up with the perfect process, and the process happens as leadership expects it to, and current state mapping is a redundancy. However, vastly more often, if a business skips it, then: process improvements are built on broken foundations, transitions fail because dependencies weren’t visible, new tools get bolted onto dysfunctional processes, and the same problems resurface time after time. Consultants or internal teams that are there to solve a different problem can spend weeks untangling a system that was never documented. All of this adds up to significant cost, wasted time, and lost opportunities.
Now, for those interested in creating an effective current state map, there are a few keys. First, conduct stakeholder interviews across levels, from entry-level all the way to executive. A process can look very different from different places in the organization, and it’s important to capture the truth in each perspective as you compile this initial information. Next, walk through each key process with the people doing the actual work - shadowing is a time-consuming but simple and highly effective tool. As you shadow them, compare the process with how people believe that it works from the interview information. Then, compile, analyze, and document the systems, tools, and data flows you’ve observed. Identify pain points, redundancies, informal workarounds, and bottlenecks. Summarize what leadership and frontline workers would both recognize as true, and add comments on any areas that require any further clarification. Refine the process by answering those questions, and there you have it: a current state map.
The payoff here is that every subsequent decision is grounded in reality. Even if you don’t go through the steps of creating a future state map or a transition plan to get there, you’re still able to understand more about the business and how decisions you make impact it. If you do decide to create a future state map, your transition plan will be able to be sequenced correctly because dependencies are visible. Teams feel seen and heard since their actual experience was documented, and decisions are taking that into account moving forward. Overall, you’ll be able to move faster and more effectively in the long run because you stop solving the wrong problems. If you've ever launched an initiative that didn't stick, skipping current state mapping is likely a contributing factor. Before your next project, it's worth asking: do we actually know where we are?
— Basile
