Capability Modeling Guidelines | How to Structure a Capability Map
Ensure Clear Names and Descriptions
You want Capability Maps to be created collaboratively and understood in a broadly consistent way by “everyone.” In a large group, however, a truly shared understanding of the concepts behind terms rarely exists; they are often used and interpreted in surprisingly subjective ways, with each department maintaining its own jargon.
To achieve the clarity necessary for aligned action, you must choose the language used in names and descriptions with meticulous care. Keep in mind that working with language is a challenging part of your modelling journey.
Establish a Glossary
Maintain a well-established glossary and define all relevant terms as simply as possible. This way, you create a clear and consistent set of definitions for key concepts across the organisation.
Make maintaining the glossary a team effort.
Make it easy for people to add or edit terms and descriptions (for example, by using a wiki). Run term-clarification workshops with co-creators to foster shared understanding. Test definitions with someone who is unfamiliar with the term.
Embrace the enterprise’s dialect.
Over time, enterprises develop their own terminology, which may not always align perfectly with dictionary definitions. It is usually more effective to use terms that are already in everyday use than to impose strict syntactic rigour on people.
Example: use “Finance” as a capability name instead of “Manage Financial Assets” if the shorter name is well understood.
Don’t accept poorly defined concepts.
We have seen enterprises where concepts such as “customer”, “product”, and “train schedule” were defined inconsistently across departments. When people disagree on the meaning of core terms, communication breaks down, data becomes unreliable, processes grow inefficient, projects lose alignment, and decision-making suffers.
Start with the existing use of language, but improve it gradually to make it more consistent.
Introduce new terms with care.
It takes time for a large group to understand and adopt a new term. People only make sense of new concepts in relation to what they already know. If you need to introduce a new term, you must translate it into the existing vocabulary.