What’s a strategy diagram?

It quickly communicates what a policy, joint venture, organization, program, project or initiative is trying todo. Used for planning, implementation and evaluation.

Extracting the ‘mental model’ of an initiative

The technical name for a strategy diagram is that it is a specific type of ‘intervention logic.’ We can think of building a strategy diagram (also called an outcomes model) as a matter of extracting from peoples’ heads, the initiative’s documentation and various discussions about the initiative, the outcomes that an initiative is trying to achieve and the lower-level steps that it is believed need to be undertaken in order to get to these outcomes. Strategy diagrams are built in the form of Duignan Multi-Layered Strategy Diagrams. Once they have been built, strategy diagrams are used for planning, prioritization, organizational alignment, monitoring, implementation and impact evaluation. For example, see how a strategy diagram can be used to develop a visual monitoring and evaluation plan.

How to build a strategy diagram

How to build a strategy diagram is described below. This shows a bottom-to-top strategy diagram, but they are also often drawn as left-to-right diagrams . These diagrams are drawn according to a set of 13 rules. If you want to get our 13 rules for drawing strategy diagrams, then contact us. (7 min).

Example of a strategy diagrams

You can build a strategy diagram for any type of organization or initiative.

References

Duignan, P. (2008). Drawing logic models and evaluation plans using DoView - logic model and evaluation planning software. United Kingdom Evaluation Society Conference. Bristol, 23-24 September 2008.

Duignan, P. (2008). Encouraging better evaluation design and use through a standardized approach to evaluation planning and implementation. 8th European Evaluation Society Conference. Lisbon, October 2008.

Duignan, P. (2008). What added value can evaluators bring to governance, development and progress through policy-making? The role of large visualized outcomes models in policy making. 8th European Evaluation Society Conference. Lisbon, October 2008.

Duignan, P. (2009). Using Outcomes Theory to Solve Important Conceptual and Practical Problems in Evaluation, Monitoring and Performance Management Systems. American Evaluation Association Conference 2009, Orlando, Florida, 11-14 November 2009.

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