Module 10 — Capability Map and Stakeholder Story

Theory 20 minutes + Workshop 60 minutes

Duration: 80 minutes. Artefact produced: capability map and stakeholder story.

What you will learn

Map capabilities

Represent stable business capabilities without confusing them with teams, systems, or projects.

Connect to change

Show which capabilities are affected by the architecture decision.

Tailor the story

Translate the architecture into language that different stakeholders can understand.

Build alignment

Use the map to align sponsors, delivery teams, risk, operations, and technology.

Capability maps give architecture a business anchor

A capability map helps architecture escape system-first thinking. It shows what the business must be able to do, regardless of the current organisation chart or technology stack. The stakeholder story then connects the architecture change to outcomes, constraints, and decisions that matter to each audience.

Build the stakeholder narrative

Use the course scenario to identify affected business capabilities and write a stakeholder story for sponsor, delivery, security, and operations audiences.

Workshop task

Create a capability map and four stakeholder story summaries.

Assessment prompt

Explain the same architecture decision to four different stakeholder groups without changing the decision.

What to submit

Capability map; affected capability list; four stakeholder stories; alignment risks.

Next module

Module 11 — Executive Architecture Pack.