The Circle Map depicts an organization and its workflow, transparently identifying roles, responsibilities and commitments.
It is color-coded and interactive and may also include circles representing customers and other external entities like suppliers. Each Circle contains the team or teams that do the work, with the overall map providing a view of the whole workflow, centered on the value chain.
Circles can be connected to show that a relationship exists. The relationship may be to provide services or could take the form of delegated work, perhaps to a specialist circle. Other circles may exist to resolve problems or to escalate essential issues.
Each Circle is a dynamic entity containing information about its members, their skills and commitments, which anyone with access rights can view.
Circle Types
Circle types correspond with the framework Agile Lean Leadership but provide enough flexibility to define all organization forms accurately. Circle types include:
Primary Circle – This is where the work happens. Examples might include an inner Circle doing software development or one on periphery handling customer support.
Customer Circle – These Circles allow the customer to engage fully with the process, where appropriate, as Agemba users.
Supplier Circle – Like Customer Circles, these allow suppliers to be represented in the organization and may comprise Agemba users from the host organization and the supplier.
Secondary Circle – When issues crosscut Circle boundaries, requiring input from multiple Circles, Secondary Circles are formed temporarily to address the issue.
Level Circle – Primary Circles typically include a Commanding Officer dealing with strategic business issues, an Executive Officer dealing with the tactical or technical issues and Team members who do the work. When problems require “pan-Circle” coordination or resolution, Level Circles provide the forum, typically bringing together those with similar roles, such as Commanding or Executive Officers.
Circle Status
Each Circle has red, yellow, and green “traffic light” indicators denoting its status. A “Comment” function also conveys additional information or progress reports to other users.
Circle Relations and Delegation
The Circle relationships illustrated by lines and arrows can be edited by users with the right permissions at any time. The working terms of each relationship and delegation are described in the Circle Manifest and must be updated when changes are made.
Once the relationship between Circles is established, Epics and Stories can be delegated from other views, such as the Storymap, Outline, Product Backlog or Tactical Backlog.
An exact copy of the delegated Epic/Story will then be created in the Circle it was delegated to. Then its properties including comments and attachments will be kept in sync with the copy.
“How to” Video
This video offers a “how-to” go-through of how to use the Circle Map for creating relations between circles
