Map is not territory

There's always a map of the territory, but not always territory on a map.

My humble interpretation :-

A map is an outline of all possible stakeholders who are likely to directly or indirectly influence or are likely to be directly or indirectly affected by the outcome of your project but the territory is a group of stakeholders that are involved with delivering the day-to-day or specific outcomes for the project e.g the Project Team or key stakeholders.

You need to be aware of the Map at a high level or regions in the Map should be aware of what you are delivering . But when it comes to territory you must know it at the back of your hand.

I hadn't heard this phrase, but I have since researched and do like the concept.

For me, it makes absolute sense. I think a good comparison would be the difference between a Scope Document and a Functional or Technical specification.

The Scope document would be representative of the Map, whilst the more detailed Functional or Technical spec would be the territory.

A nice post Luis, giving me "food for thought"

Dear Sante
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.

We absolutely agree with: "There's always a map of the territory, but not always territory on a map"

And here comes the question :-):
How can we apply this concept to the relationship between different stakeholders (with particular reference to project team members?)

While we are in the land of metaphors, let me continue: if we posses a working compass, the wind is blowing in our direction more than against us, and the crew is not having mutanous thoughts against the captain, we will be in a good position :-)