målbilds

Målbild is a Swedish term used to describe a vivid, shared description of the desired future state of a business, project or system. The genitive form målbilds is used to express possession in phrases such as målbilds syfte or målbildsarbete. In practice, a målbild serves as an anchor for strategy, planning and change management by translating high-level goals into a concrete, recognizable image.

The purpose of a målbild is to align stakeholders, communicate the strategy and guide decision-making in transformation initiatives. It is typically collaborative, often created through workshops, scenario thinking and backcasting, and it may include both qualitative descriptions and quantitative targets.

Contents often cover scope and boundary, customer value and experience, business processes, organizational arrangements, technology and data architecture, governance and metrics. A målbild should be actionable, testable and revisable as circumstances change.

Relationship to roadmaps: the målbild informs roadmaps and prioritization, providing a reference against which options and investments are evaluated. In enterprise architecture and digital transformation contexts, it may be described as a to-be or target state.

Examples: a målbild for a digital government service that provides a seamless cross-platform customer journey, real-time data sharing and standardized workflows; a manufacturing firm aiming for end-to-end visibility and automation.

Limitations: if too vague, it fails to guide decisions; it must be maintained and revisited; governance structures are needed to keep it aligned with reality.