Is it possible to join an objective to more than one theme on a strategy map? We have objectives that logically support multiple themes.

Also, when viewing the strategy map in the analytics tab, is there a way to display a "legend" to show the theme descriptions? When I view the map I see the various themes identified by the color outlines of the various objectives, but how does a general user know what those colors represent?

Thanks in advance!

PMF 5.1.1

You're right that Themes are currently designated as many Objectives to one Theme. Can you provide an example of how many Themes would map to a single Objective and we'll consider this as a new feature?

We're planning a legend on the Strategy Map for a future release of PMF. We'll let you know when. You're right that it's a good idea.

Currently I am interested in identifying one objective to two separate themes. My workaround is to pick one of the two themes to attach to the objective, but to make sure when I create the links (arrows) that I set pointers from both themes upward to the single objective on the map.

This way at least users can see the contribution of certain objectives directed toward a single upward objective.

This situation I would think is common. If I have a Financial objective titled Revenue Growth for example, I could have a theme titled Expand Market Share, and a theme titled Increase Sales of New Products. Both would have independent process objectives, but both could be linked to the Revenue Growth outcome.

Thanks for your quick response!

PMF 5.1.1

I'm not trying to argue this point too strenuously, as everyone has their own interpretation of how to do a Scorecard, but classically those things you mention are Objectives.

Themes are typically things such as "Responsibility to shareholders," "better corporate governance," "optimize efficiency," and more modernly, "Be green." Following from this, many objectives can be tagged with one of these.

We are planning to introduce a new type of Objective in PMF 6 called a "super Objective." (Theatre people should be thrilled.) This is a type of Objective that takes its color from the performance of linked Objectives. It would have a different shape on the strategy map to differentiate it. You tend to link regular objectives to these. Think of them as sub-groups within Perspectives. These might be closer to what you're trying to do than Themes are.

How does that sound?

Thanks for your reply, Bob. I look forward to seeing that functionality in the future.