målbild

Målbild is a Swedish term that translates roughly to "target image" and refers to a descriptive statement of the desired future state for an organization, system, or process. It is intended to be concrete enough to guide decisions while avoiding overly prescriptive detail.

It typically describes what capabilities, processes, data flows, governance, and performance are needed, what the organization will look like, and what success will entail at a defined time horizon. The målbild often combines a short narrative with diagrams or a high-level to-be architecture to illustrate the future state.

Development of a målbild is usually collaborative, formed through workshops and analyses of the current state, gaps, and constraints, and aligned with strategy and budgets. It provides a reference point for prioritizing initiatives, designing solutions, setting requirements, and building roadmaps.

Usage and benefits include alignment of stakeholders, clarification of objectives, and support for risk assessment and decision-making. In IT transformations and public-sector reform projects, a målbild helps measure progress against concrete criteria and guides investment and implementation priorities toward the desired end state.

Relation to other concepts: a målbild is more concrete and time-bound than a broad vision, and it serves as a bridge between strategy and implementation. It complements a roadmap by supplying the target state that each milestone aims to achieve and should be revisited as context changes.