The 3EO Map

#The problem this canvas solves

Traditional org charts show reporting lines but not how work actually gets done. In a platform organization, value creation happens through complex interplays between strategy-setting, performance integration, and execution across multiple autonomous units. The 3EO Map provides a visual operating system that shows how activities are coordinated among internal and external actors at each organizational layer, revealing gaps and misalignments in the current model.

#When to use it

The 3EO Map is the central visual representation of how a platform organization operates. It maps three concentric layers: Identifying the Strategy (outer), Valorizing and Integrating Performance (middle), and Performing Execution (inner/center: Architecting).

Use this canvas to understand and design how activities are coordinated among multiple internal and external actors. It reveals the interplay between ecosystemic, enabling, and entrepreneurial functions at each organizational layer.

#The canvas

The canvas in the updated Boundaryless brand (full resolution — click to zoom). A print-ready PDF and editable SVG are also available on request.

#Canvas structure

#Identifying the Strategy

Continuously choosing what to do, where to allocate resources and the directions of exploration

#Valorizing and Integrating Performance

Setting objectives and orchestrating how the nodes reach them together through motivation, targets, incentives and value sharing

#Architecting (Center)

Which actors, mechanisms and structures let desired dynamics and outcomes emerge coherently?

#Performing Execution

Distributing and coordinating effort through natural leadership, decision making, collaboration and feedback

#How to use it

Work from the outside in, mapping each layer's functions across the three dimensions.

#Steps

1. Strategy Layer — Define who/what drives strategic direction and external engagement
2. Performance Layer — Map how objectives are set and value is shared
3. Architecting — Identify the structural mechanisms that enable coherent outcomes
4. Execution Layer — Detail how work gets coordinated and done

#Tips

• Use as a diagnostic tool to identify gaps in current operating model
• Map both formal and informal mechanisms
• Consider how information flows between layers
• Update as organizational experiments change the structure

#Connections with other canvases

#Feeds into

• Micro-Enterprise Canvas — Map informs how Micro-Enterprises should be designed
• Ecosystem Micro Community Canvas — Map context helps design EMC structures
• 3EO Organizational Experiment Canvas — Map reveals areas needing experimentation

#Informed by

• Envisioning Canvas — Vision shapes the map's design
• Strategy Setting Canvas — Strategic positions determine map configuration

#Used in techniques

• Analyzing Organizational Elements

#Used in pipelines

• Restructuring the Portfolio

#Related reading

• Building Ecosystem Organizations — Explains the three organizational layers and how they interact
• The Elements of the Platform Organization — Provides context for the map structure

#Resources

• Guide reference: 3EO Toolkit User Guide - 3EO Map chapter
• License: Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 4.0 International
• Version: 1.0

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Part of 3EO Toolkit · v1.0