Root Mapping is a product strategy framework that makes decision logic visible as a living source of truth. Paste a URL, describe your product, or dump your research or roadmap — and Claude generates an interactive visual map of the outcomes your product must produce, who they serve, and why they matter.
Works for products, practices, roles, and career clarity.
You give Claude any of these starting points:
- A product marketing page URL
- A feature list with no strategy behind it
- Research insights or interview notes
- A business mandate looking for customer grounding
- A LinkedIn profile or consulting website (for role/practice maps)
Claude generates an interactive HTML Root Map — a zoomable, clickable, editable visualization showing:
- Outcome hierarchy — what must be true for customers, organized by enabling relationships
- Needs — the customer problems each outcome addresses, with strength indicators
- Business outcomes — why the company cares
- Solutions — current implementations with effectiveness ratings
- Confidence indicators — how sure we are about each belief
- Essential Value Scope (EVS) — the irreducible core vs. nice-to-have
- Key differentiators (★) — where you win, not just where you must compete
- Competitive landscape — how each outcome stacks up against alternatives
- Detail panels — click any node for reasoning, sources, team beliefs, competitor tables, and editable notes
Every generated Root Map is a living, editable artifact. Open it in any browser and start facilitating — no specialized knowledge required.
- Inline editing — click any node to edit outcomes, needs, business outcomes, and solutions in the detail panel
- Clickable indicators — change confidence, need strength, and effectiveness by clicking dots
- EVS toggle — flip EVS on/off with automatic parent cascade
- Star (★) differentiators — mark where you distinctively win, separate from EVS (must-have)
- Outcome & business indicators — proposed metrics for how you'd measure each outcome
- Add/remove nodes — hover any node for a + button; add branches, features, or sub-features
- Drag to reposition — rearrange nodes on the canvas
- Undo/redo — full history with ⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z
- Auto-save — edits persist in browser storage; restore prompt on reload
- Save snapshot — download a self-contained HTML file with all edits baked in and a changelog comment
- Change log — tracks every edit with before/after and timestamps
- Animated connectors — subtle flow pulses on connector lines showing outcome relationships
- Dark mode — automatic via
prefers-color-scheme - Keyboard & accessibility — Tab through nodes, Enter to open, Escape to close; respects reduced motion preferences
- Go to claude.ai → Projects → New Project
- Upload these files from this repo to Project Knowledge:
| File | What it does |
|---|---|
SKILL.md |
Framework instructions — teaches Claude how to think about outcomes, needs, EVS, competitive context, and how to populate the visual template |
root-map-template-v4.html |
Visual template v4 — CSS, layout engine, rendering, detail panels, interactive add/remove for business outcomes and solutions, star (★) badges, outcome/business indicators, sub-feature support. Claude replaces only the data section. |
airpods-pro3-root-map.html |
Canonical example — a complete Root Map of AirPods Pro 3 showing all features |
spotify-root-map.html |
Canonical example — Spotify product map with star differentiators, EVS/non-EVS, competitive landscape, and v4 features |
Try any of these:
"Root map this: https://www.apple.com/vision-pro/"
"I'm building a project management tool for freelancers. Here are my planned features: [list]. Root map this."
"Here are 12 user interview insights from our discovery sprint. Turn these into a root map."
"Map my consulting practice. Here's my website: [URL]"
Claude will generate an interactive HTML file you can download, open in any browser, edit live, and share with your team.
Nobody cares about your product. They care what it enables them to do.
An outcome is the thing that will be true in customers' lives if the product succeeds. "Now they can ____."
Outcomes must be solution-agnostic — if the implementation changed completely, the outcome statement should still be true. "Always know where things stand" not "Track progress with real-time dashboard."
The map organizes outcomes into a hierarchy of enabling relationships:
- Root outcome = the overall differentiated value proposition
- Category outcomes = major branches of value (2–6 is the sweet spot)
- Feature outcomes = specific problems solved within each branch
Everything else attaches to outcomes:
- Needs sit above (the problem)
- Business outcomes and solutions sit below (why the business cares, and how we currently deliver)
EVS (Essential Value Scope) = the irreducible core. Remove this outcome and customers won't want it.
Star (★) = where you distinctively win. Orthogonal to EVS — a node can be both, either, or neither.
6 categories, 18 features, full detail panels with competitive landscape, team beliefs, and sources. Demonstrates EVS vs. non-EVS, star differentiators, confidence indicators, and competitive position tags with icons.
Maps an individual's professional practice as outcomes to ensure. Shows how the same framework adapts for people — "your role is the outcome you're most directly responsible to ensure."
4 categories (discovery, access, library, social), 10 features, with star differentiators on algorithmic discovery and Spotify Connect. Demonstrates EVS vs. non-EVS branches, confidence variation, and v4 template features including indicators and interactive add/remove.
Root Map of the Root Mapping framework itself. Useful as both an example and a way to understand the framework's own value proposition.
Root Mapping (formerly Outcome Laddering) was created by Peter Lewis.
- Original article: "Nobody cares about your product."
- Companion: "Responsibility Without Territory"
- Video: IxDA talk on Root Mapping
CC BY-SA 4.0 — use it, adapt it, share it. Attribution required. Share-alike for derivatives.
Found a bug in the template? Have a great example map to share? Open an issue or PR. Framework feedback goes to @thispeterlewis.