Networking map
People you can actually ask, grouped by how you know them.
A map of real asks
A networking map puts you in the center and groups people by the context where you know them: current team, former classmates, family friends, a community group. Each person gets one question you could ask without inventing a relationship. 'Former manager: may I see a job description you have hired for?' is a node. A logo of a company you have never contacted is not.
This is different from stakeholder mapping, which is about power and interest on one decision. A networking map is about your own next conversation. It can live as a mind map with one level of branches.
A filled center, with roles
Branch: current team. Node: the person who reviews your drafts. Ask: which section of the last report was thin? Branch: school. Node: the teacher who runs the lab. Ask: which instrument is free after school on Thursday? Branch: outside. Node: a neighbor who hires junior designers. Ask: what does a portfolio piece need to show in the first screen? Three branches, one ask each. Send one ask this week. A map that produces no message is a diagram of anxiety.
Questions
- What is a networking map?
- A diagram of people you know, grouped by context, with a specific question you could ask each one.
- Who belongs on it?
- People who would recognize your name. Categories are fine as branches. Famous strangers are not nodes.
- How is it different from a stakeholder map?
- A stakeholder map scores people on a decision's power and interest. A networking map lists conversations you can start from the relationships you already have.