Maps

Most of what we call maps in business are actually graphs.

Consider a business process map:

[ invoice sent ] --- [ customer pays ]

We can draw it like this, and it means the same thing:

[ invoice sent ]
        |
        |
        |
[ customer pays ]

Graphs focus on the relationships, and ignore the position.

Consider the following 3 maps:

   N
W -|- E
   S

 New York
    |
    |
    |
California

California --- New York

             New York
            /
           /
          /
California

Each of these maps are distinctly different. Some are more correct than others.

What’s the difference? That odd little symbol at the top left. It anchors our understanding of the map, and gives meaning to components.

So… this begs the question. What if instead of graphing our businesses, we could map them?