Capability Map

What can you actually do — and where are the gaps?

CAPABILITY MAP
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

  CAPABILITY                   MATURITY     GAP?
  ──────────────────────────   ────────     ────
  [capability-1]               ████░ (4)
  [capability-2]               ███░░ (3)
  [capability-3]               ░░░░░ (0)    CRITICAL
  [capability-4]               █░░░░ (1)    GAP
  [capability-5]               ██░░░ (2)

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

The Capability Map is the fourth flow engineering map. It answers the question the other three maps depend on: can you actually execute?

Maturity Levels

Level	Name	Description	Evidence
0	Not Built	Capability doesn't exist	N/A
1	Ad-hoc	Depends on individuals	Individual doing it
2	Repeatable	Basic processes exist	Process exists
3	Defined	Documented, standardised	Documentation
4	Managed	Measured, data-driven	Metrics tracked
5	Optimised	Continuous improvement	Improvement data

Capability Categories

Category	Description	Investment Strategy
Core	Differentiates from competitors	Build internally, invest heavily
Supporting	Enables core, not differentiating	Make efficient, consider buying
Generic	Commodity, everyone needs it	Buy, don't build

Build core capabilities. Buy generic ones. The investment mistake is building what you should buy and buying what you should build.

Integration

Map	Connection
Outcome Map	Obstacles often reveal capability gaps
Value Stream	Bottlenecks correlate with capability gaps
Dependency Map	Critical path requires capability timeline

The full sequence: Outcome -- Value Stream -- Dependencies -- Capabilities -- A&ID

Gate

Before executing:

• All capabilities assessed with evidence-based maturity
• Capabilities categorised (Core / Supporting / Generic)
• Gaps identified and prioritised (P1 / P2 / P3)
• Investment strategy matches category
• Action plan has owners
• Critical gaps have escalation paths

If core capabilities have P1 gaps, address before project execution.

Context

• Dependency Map — Previous: understand blockers
• A&ID — Next: how agents orchestrate
• Flow Engineering — The methodology these maps serve
• Knowledge Stack — Capabilities graduate through the stack

Questions

When a core capability sits at maturity level zero, is the right move to build it or to redesign the strategy around its absence?

• What evidence would distinguish a genuine capability gap from a resourcing gap?
• If the investment mistake is building what you should buy, how do you tell which is which before you commit?
• How does a capability map change when agents replace people — do the maturity levels even apply?