A maturity map places each practice in two ways at once: how mature it is, from left to right, and how key it is to the stage, from bottom to top.

The four levels

The same guides open on the maturity map when you click a level's name.

Novel. One person, or a small group, is trying this for the first time. It goes differently each time and depends on who does it. Nobody would notice yet if it stopped. Signs to look for:

  • Only one or two people know how to do it.
  • Nothing is written down.
  • Results vary a lot from one time to the next.
  • People ask what it is.

Emerging. A few people do it, and a rough shared way is starting to settle. It still changes as people learn, and newcomers need someone to show them. Signs to look for:

  • There are some notes or a template.
  • People disagree about the right way to do it.
  • It gets skipped when the team is busy.

Good. Most people do it the same way, and it rarely gets skipped. It is written down well enough for a newcomer to pick up, and when it goes wrong someone puts it right. Signs to look for:

  • There are clear steps or a checklist that people use.
  • It still happens in a busy week.
  • New starters learn it in their first few weeks.
  • People can say why it matters.

Best. It is part of how the team works, and people would push back if it went away. Someone checks whether it is working, and other teams copy it. Signs to look for:

  • Other teams ask to borrow it.
  • It is quick, and nobody has to think about it.
  • There is a way to tell whether it is working.
  • The people who do it keep improving it.

Within a column, a practice can sit further left or right, so you can show that one Good practice is nearly Best and another has only just become Good.

How key a practice is

The up and down position says how central the practice is to what the stage is for. A practice at the top, "Key to the stage", is one the stage could not reach its shared end without. A practice at the bottom, "Supporting", helps but is not at the heart of the stage.

One practice, two stages

A practice that sits in two stages has a separate place on each stage's maturity map, because it can be key and mature in one and new and peripheral in the other. Its record lists the maturity for each place, and says "Its maturity differs between the places it sits." when they are not the same.

The Maturity lens on the map colours every practice by its level. Use a lens explains it.