Career in a horizontal position. Horizontal and vertical career types: pros and cons

04.11.2009

The term "career" comes from the Latin carrus - cart, carriage and Italian carriera - running, life path, field. The most common definition of “career” is advancement in a certain field of activity, for example, obtaining greater authority, higher status, prestige, power, money. The phrase “make a career” also means achieving a prestigious position in society and high level income. However, “making a career” does not always mean constantly climbing the career ladder – often, having reached certain heights, a person risks rapidly “sliding” down and losing everything that he has achieved for a long time.

Life as a career

It is a mistake to believe that the term “career” refers exclusively to service activities. Sometimes when asked by an employer “How much time do you plan to devote to your personal career?”, the applicant finds it difficult to answer intelligibly and begins to get confused. He perceives the definition of “personal career” as synonymous with “personal life” and begins to talk about his plans that do not relate to issues professional activities. On the other hand, a “personal career” is perceived as an opportunity to develop individual qualities, for example, communication skills, attentiveness, friendliness, flexibility, etc. In this case, you will be partially right when you answer that “ at any convenient opportunity, without compromising your direct responsibilities, structure your work so that your positive personal qualities are reflected in the positive results of the company.” But even with such an answer, there is a risk that the potential employer will conclude that the opportunity for self-realization in a team is more important for you than your immediate responsibilities. Therefore, dear applicant, do not confuse your personal career with your personal life or your personal qualities. A personal career can be like a manager's career (that is, how exactly you see your work in this position), as well as a sports, military, artistic career, student career, etc.

It is not without reason that a potential employer asks a question about a personal career, because a person’s life outside of work is significant influence for a business career is part of it. Therefore, it is best to say that you are ready, if necessary, to sacrifice part of your personal career in the interests of the company. Of course, you shouldn’t go too far and flaunt: they say “If necessary, I’ll be at work day and night”. The recruiter will doubt that everything is in order with your personal career (or even in your personal life), or will come to the conclusion that extreme diligence may well be caused by the fact that you have not been able to find a job for a long time.

Vertical and horizontal

Often job seekers ask the recruiter “Why do you want to work in our company?” answer: "You have a perspective career growth». In addition, a similar answer can be heard to the question regarding the reasons for the candidate leaving his previous job: “lack of career prospects.” Further, the potential employer is completely affected logical question: “How do you plan for career growth?”. And this is where many job applicants get lost and cannot give a clear answer. Some still respond using templates such as “I want to head a department” “I want to be a director.” And it’s really bad when the recruiter asks what career a potential candidate prefers: horizontal or vertical? Therefore, dear applicant, in order to avoid such misunderstandings at an interview, do not forget that “career” implies the most various options professional growth and career advancement. In general, there are two types of careers – horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal career

Horizontal career(career breadth) is a definition of more wide range duties and powers at your place of work. The ability to do something that others cannot do. That is why the responsibilities of an employee during horizontal movement most often change, but the position held remains at the same level. In addition, this is also an opportunity to manage a project or teach part-time, primarily in your own company; joining the circle of company owners. A horizontal career also implies expansion of powers, responsibility, increased status, increased bonuses and direct remuneration.

Most often, career breadth is characteristic of experts, researchers, consultants, subject matter experts who are the best in their field. They often combine such activities with work in another company or subsequently open their own companies.

Designers, programmers, journalists, copywriters, etc. have also “actively proven themselves” in horizontal careers. These specialists are improving professionally within the framework of their position, but, as a rule, they are not going to occupy the boss’s chair in the near future.

Vertical career

Vertical career - moving up the career ladder. In other words, this is a promotion with an increase in salary level. In this case, career growth is so obvious that it is sometimes identified with the very concept of “career.”
The scheme of this type of career is outwardly simple, but at the same time it is fraught with many dangers for those who are especially eager to reach the very top. Among them are the most common: readiness to “go over the head”, disregard for personal life, open and secret sycophancy to a superior leader, etc. The slogan of such people usually sounds like “The end justifies the means.” But often many people forget the proverb “From rags to riches”, having taken only half a step up the career ladder. Such caliphs usually love to take advantage of the slightest opportunity to demonstrate their power in the team, for which they soon instantly fall from the very first heights they achieved.

So, here's what a vertical career in finance might look like. A graduate of a financial institute works for some time as an assistant accountant, then becomes an accountant, then deputy chief accountant, chief accountant, deputy financial director general director, General Director. But at the same time, a young man can, at a certain stage of his career growth, “leave the game” and create his own company. Maybe, on the contrary, he can remain as an accountant or financier.

Dear applicant! Once again, we would like to draw your attention, so as not to be caught off guard at an interview by questions about your career and career types, you must clearly understand the balance of power: “Your professional abilities, personal qualities and ambitions and opportunities for career growth in the proposed position.” At the same time, it is very important to decide in which direction it is better for you to develop: “in breadth” or “in height”? And one more thing: sometimes rapid upward movement leads to a rapid fall. Therefore, you should not forget that a horizontal career at a certain stage of your professional activity can serve as an excellent “springboard” to vertical ascent. After all, experience, skills, and knowledge are acquired and improved not by the number of “promotions,” but by the quality of work in a given specialty.

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" - advancement in a certain field of activity, for example, obtaining greater powers, higher status, prestige, etc. The phrase “make a career” also means achieving a prestigious position in society and a high level of income.

For every person, the decision to build a career is a serious and responsible step. Having taken this path, a person strives to accumulate knowledge, practical experience and skills. The need for self-affirmation will grow and a desire to achieve a higher status and even greater independence will appear. You can't do this without planning.

And in such a situation, it is necessary to competently assess one’s needs and the socio-economic conditions in which the person finds himself. After all, if a specialist has chosen a path that is too difficult for him or does not suit him, then gradually his desire to work decreases and advanced training loses all meaning for him.

Therefore, it is very important for an employee to understand how he will advance in the system of positions and jobs. And in order not to be captured by your own delusions and ignorance, such concepts as “vertical and horizontal” come to the rescue. What is this?

Vertical and horizontal

Often candidates when asked by a recruiter “Why do you want to work in our company?” They answer: “You have the career prospects I need.” A similar answer can be heard to the question regarding the reasons for the candidate leaving his previous job: “lack of career prospects.” This is followed by a completely logical question: “How do you plan?” And this is where many applicants begin to get lost and cannot give a clear answer. Of course, there are template answers, such as “I want to head a department”, “I want to be a director”. It is important to remember here that “career” implies a wide variety of options for professional growth and career advancement.

Horizontal career

Not everyone is interested in the position of manager; many people simply want to improve in their chosen specialty. A horizontal career (career in breadth) is just for such people. Civil Code is the definition of a wider range of responsibilities and powers at one’s place of work. The ability to do something that others cannot do. That is why the responsibilities of an employee during horizontal movement most often change, but the position held remains at the same level.

Most often, career breadth is typical for experts, researchers, consultants, and specialized specialists who are the best in their field. They often combine such activities with work in another company or subsequently open their own companies.

Designers, programmers, journalists, copywriters, etc. have also “actively proven themselves” in horizontal careers. These specialists are improving professionally within the framework of their position, but, as a rule, they are not going to occupy the boss’s chair in the near future.

Pros of horizontal career development

Opportunity to manage a project or teach part-time

joining the circle of company owners

A horizontal career also implies increased powers, responsibility, increased status, increased bonuses and direct remuneration.

Vertical careermoving up the career ladder

A vertical career is a promotion to a position with an increase in salary level. This type of career scheme is quite simple, but it is fraught with a number of nuances. Among the most common difficulties it is worth noting: the willingness to “go over the head”, disregard for personal life, obvious and secret sycophancy to a superior leader, etc. It is the vertical career that is inseparable from the concept of “career ladder.”

Example of a vertical career in finance

A graduate of a financial institute works for some time as an assistant accountant

Accountant

chief accountant

financial director deputy general director

general director

The following qualities are required for a vertical career:

Energy
- Ability to quickly navigate a new information environment;
- Ability to take into account details;
- Ability to highlight the main thing;
- Interest in the development of colleagues and the company;
- Ability to make decisions and bear responsibility for them;
- Communication skills;
- Leadership and management abilities.

An employee striving for a vertical career must build up both professional and managerial skills. His goal is to become the best, and ideally the only one.

It is worth noting that these two concepts are indifferent to each other, and are created to help you understand more clearly what exactly you want to do in life. It is important to clearly understand professional abilities, personal qualities and ambitions. And everyone here decides for themselves “broadly” or “heightly”?

However, I would like to add that a horizontal career at a certain stage of your professional activity can serve as an excellent “springboard” to vertical ascent. After all, experience, skills, and knowledge are acquired and improved not by the number of “promotions,” but by the quality of work in a given specialty.

Today, given the shortage of technical specialists, companies are ready to use any means to attract and retain them. What growth prospects can an employer offer a future employee?

In some companies, a program is developed for each IT specialist individual plan development over a certain period of time. It is compiled by HR or the manager together with the employee. It reflects all the necessary factors to increase the efficiency of an IT service employee for further transition to a new, higher position. Basically, such actions and methods are reflected in fairly large IT companies that are interested in the internal growth of specialists, thus providing an internal personnel reserve. Smaller companies focus on the IT specialist’s experience and ambitions, taking into account his own desire to develop and grow.

Let's look at a possible career path using the role of a programmer as an example.

There are different paths to professional development. This can be vertical growth, which is more dependent on the ambitions of the individual, or horizontal growth, which involves obtaining new tasks, knowledge, opportunities, and expanding functionality. After all, even moving from one project to another, studying new technologies, increasing the project team, for example, from 3 to 5 people, can be regarded as professional growth.

Let's look at the types of programmer development, but note that the example given is not a rule, but only one of possible options, of which there can be many and which also depend on what company the specialist works for.

VERTICAL CAREER GROWTH

Junior Developer

This is the very first step from which programmers usually begin their professional journey, often while still studying at a university. Usually, novice developers are required to have requirements such as, for example, higher (incomplete higher) technical education and proficiency in programming languages ​​at a general level.

When entering a company, young professionals can rarely count on large projects. First you have to act as a performer, try yourself in different roles. It is unlikely that at this stage you will be able to fully realize all your ambitions, but it is at this moment that the necessary professional skills are developed and practiced.

Software Developer

Requirements:

Responsibilities:

• Development (implementation) software for the company's activities.
• Development of new and support of existing projects.

If an employee shows himself well and learns quickly, if he has good relationship in a team, then most likely the next step in his career will be the position of senior or lead developer. A small clarification: the specificity of Russian companies is that these positions in them, as a rule, are separated and the requirements for each of them are somewhat different. This often depends on the programmer's experience, how long he has been working as a developer. There is no such gradation in foreign companies.

Senior Developer/Lead Developer

Requirements:

• Education - completed higher education (technical, mathematical, physical).
• Practical experience: from 2 years (for a senior developer), from 3 years (for a leading developer) of participation in commercial projects of the company as a developer or work experience of at least two years outside the company as a programmer.
• Knowledge of the Software Engineering Process, analysis and design methods and tools.
• Proficiency in programming languages, understanding of web services, server technologies, DBMS, operating systems.

Responsibilities:

• Perform detailed design work (creation of specifications) of components based on the provided general specifications.
• Carrying out programming and initial testing of assigned components.

Also note that the salary range for this position is quite wide. The level of remuneration may depend on programming experience and on the demand or rarity of a particular language platform/database.

An IT specialist who has excellent knowledge not only of professional development (programming) skills, but also has the potential in team management, has good communication skills and knows the specifics of working in a team, can become the head of a development team.

Team Leader

Requirements:

• Education - completed higher education (technical).
• Experience leading a development team of at least 2 members for at least 3 months.
• Management skills: knowledge of the basics of project management; preparing and conducting technical presentations; developed or natural communication skills; ability to identify problems and escalate them.
• Proficiency in Software Engineering Process, methods and languages ​​of structural analysis and design.
• Knowledge of concepts and technologies for designing and developing information systems, DBMS.

Responsibilities:

• Managing small projects or project teams within large projects.
• Solving technical problems.
• Preparation and adoption of design decisions, participation in their implementation.
• Managing part of a project team responsible for a specific list of tasks, which includes specialists in various fields (experts, analysts, designers, programmers).

The next step is project manager. This position can be applied for by a person who can combine the skills of both design and technical activities and management work. And, despite the fact that there are options when a person with no development experience becomes a project manager, technical specialists still cope better with their responsibilities.

Along with the transition to project managers, there is also the opportunity to transition to architects. It is sometimes difficult to say what type of growth this role belongs to, since in terms of the level of competencies it is, of course, no less responsible. But at the same time, here we are more likely talking about development in terms of expertise, the development of knowledge in technology, and a deeper immersion in the technological and strategic part of the project itself.

Further, the path of a project manager depends only on the area in which he wants to prove himself. A project manager can move to another, larger project, or become a Program Manager who manages several teams at once. There is an option for development to a position development director, who is responsible for all development carried out in the company. There is another way - to develop and improve yourself to a position IT directors who is already dealing with IT issues in general (in particular, infrastructure), but this strongly depends on the desire of the specialist himself to continue working in the field of development familiar to him or to go beyond its limits.

HORIZONTAL CAREER PROGRESS

Vertical career growth is not the only development option. Many IT specialists hone their professionalism and improve horizontally, expanding their functionality, performing new tasks, and becoming more versatile workers.

So, programmers can move on and try their hand at architecture, detailed design, or analytics. The experience of a developer can serve as a good basis for new expertise in the event of a transition to architects. As already mentioned, this can also be considered as moving up a step.
As for analytics, programmers don’t get there very often. This is mainly due to the fact that analysts are essentially communicators, while programmers prefer to understand the code and find the most correct and optimal solutions.

The absence of any movement within the profession, on the contrary, is a warning sign that employers must pay attention to when hiring.

What is a career, and what does it look like? Career- this is the result of a purposeful movement in one’s profession. Career determines an individual's position in the company's organizational structure. Nowadays, career achievements are a sign of a successful individual. Very often, unfortunately, “achievements” are usually measured in monetary terms and the amount of time spent. Therefore, the opportunity for rapid and productive growth is valued. And few people know that they exist different types professional development, also considered a career.

There are two main types of career advancement – vertical And horizontal. It will be easier to understand if you remember that any organizational structure The company contains vertical and horizontal lines along which the main interactions are carried out: the movement of orders, the distribution of responsibilities, the chain of command. Career growth occurs along these lines. Let's take a closer look at each type.

Vertical view of career growth

Vertical career is a movement up the structural levels of the hierarchy. Vertical movement occurs from lower positions to management positions with corresponding increases in salary and level of responsibility. This is a classic case of development - from to.

Career takeoff is most noticeable in the case of vertical growth, so the concept of a career is most often associated with it. It is not necessary to build such a career in one company, but always in one area. Sometimes moving up in position requires learning new skills and areas while maintaining the same focus.

An example of a classic vertical career in, say, tourism business: courier of one of the offices, assistant account manager, senior manager, office director, etc.

Horizontal view of career growth

Horizontal career involves the professional growth of an employee as a specialist. This is an increase in the level of skill, an increase in knowledge and skills. As well as obtaining specialized and unique skills possessed by small number people (or no one), which makes the employee very valuable and sometimes irreplaceable in his company.

With horizontal advancement, an employee’s responsibilities change, wages, the functionality is expanded, but the position in the structure, most often, remains the same. IN in this case concept directly career ladder not entirely applicable. An example of horizontal movement is an increase in ranks, scientific degrees, etc.

Vertical growth is possible in any field. A horizontal career, most often, is the prerogative of creative professions (artists, programmers, journalists, designers). Not everyone is interested in administrative and management activities, many people want to improve in their chosen specialty without claiming to be the boss.

I came to the company to work as the head of the content department. After some time, the project manager quit, and I was temporarily appointed to act as his responsibilities. Having successfully completed the responsibilities assigned to me, management decided to promote me to general director. I refused, because by this time I realized that financial and administrative affairs were not interesting to me, and in the position of general director I would have to say goodbye to my specialty. I am a creative person, and doing endless financial reports is a challenge for me. During the acting project, I was in a state of stagnation as a specialist in my field. On at the moment I have achieved the highest result on the horizontal ladder and have now settled on the vertical development of my career. Personally, this is more interesting to me, although management did not understand my decision. Elena, head of department

The second criterion by which career development can be classified is the place where this career is made. There are inter-organizational and intra-organizational careers.

Development in one company

Intraorganizational career assumes that a person works and improves in one company almost his entire life: from the end educational institution until retirement. In this company he studies, expands his skills, deepens his specialization, and grows professionally. This option was popular in our country in Soviet era However, now such cases are very rare. IN modern world This practice can be found in Japanese and American companies.

Development in one area

Interorganizational career is a career within the same field, but in different companies. This career is also called diagonal. With a change of position, an employee also changes the company. This form of career growth is very popular and loved, first of all, for its speed and efficiency. After all, within one organization you can wait a very long time for the desired position to become available, while moving to another company, even with some demotion, gives a more tangible result. In many European countries It is believed that you need to change your job on average once every three years, without staying too long in one company.

The obvious disadvantage of diagonal growth is the need to adapt each time to a new team, the company’s corporate policy, and other values. As soon as the employee finally joins the team, gets used to his colleagues, already knows all the pitfalls and intricacies of relationships, he has to leave again.

A diagonal career is most applicable in the case of vertical growth, i.e. promotion. In the case of professional growth, its effectiveness is much lower and can only help enrich experience and expand functionality. And in principle, there is no need to talk about speed here - a horizontal career does not imply rapid growth, often this can even be a negative indicator (if speed comes at the expense of quality).

Regardless of what career path an employee follows, management needs to provide him with prospects for growth so as not to lose valuable personnel. In the case of a horizontal career, it is important that the effectiveness and quality of work is somehow assessed; it is good if development is prescribed in stages. It's quite difficult in creative professions, and the steps are very conventional, however, this allows a person, leaning on them, to feel that he is moving and not standing still. In the case of a vertical career, it is necessary to provide prospects for promotion, especially to the lowest employees in the hierarchy, because it is unlikely that they plan to remain janitors or couriers for a long time. If it is not possible to promote an employee forward, then it is necessary to stimulate his activities, making it clear how important and valuable he is to the company.

So, to summarize, you can see that there are several types of careers and you can grow in any direction you are interested in. In our time, the value of achievement and success has become widespread. Almost any psychological training contains a block on training leadership skills, developing determination and ways to achieve success. A person of a different type in such conditions feels inferior. And not because he is unable to be a leader, but because he is simply not interested in it. Not everyone likes managing people, some people just like doing what they do. And it is necessary to understand that in this case the term career is applicable and works.

I work as a tea master - I lead the Chinese tea ceremony. The work is creative. I’ve been doing this for 5 years and recently I thought about the fact that a lot of time has passed, but it’s like I’m not moving anywhere. It’s sad to realize this, especially if you like the work. Imagine my joy when I read that there is not only a classic vertical way of career growth, but also a horizontal one - deep into the profession. After all, this is exactly what is happening to me! I think our profession does not have any special vertical prospects. Where should we go? Become a manager? But why if it’s not interesting! It’s interesting to make tea, have conversations with guests, and not do administrative work. And all these five years, I naturally improved in my profession, gained experience, and expanded my boundaries. Now I am sure that time is not wasted, and I am moving, but not upward, but deeper. Elizabeth,

Any workable system, created by nature or man, consists of subsystems and itself, in turn, is part of the supersystem.

The sphere of human influence is still limited to the planet. At the upper level there are energy, agro-industrial, manufacturing, satellite, transport, economic and other global systems of the Earth. These systems were not created by individual people, they are the result of world history and technological progress. They consist of subsystems-clusters: hydrocarbon energy, economies of continents and superpowers, production and agriculture regions.

The lower level of human influence is still limited to molecules - in industrial chemistry and nanotechnology, atoms and electrons - in energy and electronics, and elementary particles - only in scientific experiments.

Between these boundaries there is an almost infinite number of intermediate levels and subsystems.

• Progress occurs simultaneously at all levels in three directions:
• In horizontal: evolutionary - systems appear, develop and die; revolutionary - fundamentally new systems appear for the same tasks. In the twentieth century, aviation appeared and developed rapidly. In September 2017, Elon Musk proposed the idea of ​​a new type of earthly transport - space rockets.
• Up: evolutionarily - systems are united into a supersystem; revolutionary - a new upper level is created. Scientists predict the emergence of global artificial superintelligence. Someday humanity will colonize Mars, or maybe even move on to a Type II civilization.
• Down: evolutionary - systems have subsystems that appear, improve or are replaced; revolutionary - the same problem is solved at a new sublevel. Humanity will move one level down globally when the field of quantum information science emerges.

Individual companies also operate on multiple levels. The company creates a product:

This is the basic level. The company improves individual parts of the product and produces additional accessories. Improves technology. These are the sub-levels of the product.

It turns out that even separate company deals with a whole hierarchy of systems and must not only maintain their performance, but also develop it.

At any moment in time, a product at each level can go in one of the directions: forward, up or down, and sometimes back - and this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Horizontally

Let's start with horizontal movement. From an unsolved problem or useful idea, a minimal workable product emerges:

Underformula → Simple formula

For example, one fine day a car appears with an engine internal combustion, iPod, iPhone and Facebook. As well as bureau courses on design, editing and management.

The system is developing and becoming more complex. For example, it improves controllability by adding a subordinate or parallel formula:

Simple formula → Complex formula

The car becomes a hybrid - with both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. On Facebook, personal messages are added to friends' feeds.

The bureau's courses offer the possibility of remote participation - the horizontal line of their development has stopped there for now. Then we will fantasize.

At the next step, the product may change qualitatively. For example, elements or their interaction radically change. Basic function remains, but becomes much more effective.

Complex formula → New formula

The car becomes electric, the mechanical wheel on the iPod is replaced by touch screen iPod Touch.

The next version of the bureau's courses will hypothetically become completely remote. Why not?

The new formula can be dynamized, that is, changeable elements or interactions appear in it:

New formula → Dynamized formula

The car becomes a transformer, say, from a coupe to a convertible or from a minivan to a truck. Third-party applications are appearing on iPod and iPhone, and products are becoming multifunctional.

Bureau courses begin to adapt to the level of each participant.

The effectiveness of the product can be enhanced by the use of physical, chemical, physiological and psychological effects:

Dynamized formula → Formula with effects

At some point, the feed of friends’ publications on Facebook turned from chronological to algorithmic and used psychological effects to the fullest. The creators of the system began to determine what to show to users and in what order. Users began to return to the feed more often and spend more time in it.

Electric cars may at some point learn to use the effect of electromagnetic induction to wirelessly charge on the go.

Bureau courses are beginning to use new ways to motivate participants.

The iPhone has already learned to charge wirelessly. And in the future, for example, it will learn to bend or give tactile feedback.

Formula with effects → Self-administered formula

The bureau's courses are being taught by a computer teacher. The car drives without a driver. The iPhone gets a voice interface. Or let's look further into the future - the Neuro-IOS operating system with artificial intelligence.

Can a product develop not forward, but backward? Certainly.

Simplified formula ← Complex formula

After the regular iPod, the iPod Shuffle appeared - the smallest and cheapest version of the iPod without a screen with a simple interface.

For the sake of being on time, the product may contain .

I deliberately mixed together fantastic and real examples. Changes can be radical or not so radical. Any product can stop developing or die before it has completed the entire horizontal path. But the horizontal movement of a product can stop for another reason: it begins to develop upward or downward. This opportunity exists at any step.

Vertical

Vertical development is development in a supersystem or subsystem of a product.

Step down - instead of a product, its separate subsystem is developed:

For example, in iPhones with the S index, the design and functions generally do not change, but performance, camera parameters are improved, and some noticeable technical detail appears.

But it’s more interesting when the entire product’s functions are transferred to a lower level, to a subsystem. The product itself may lose value or cease to exist over time.

The iPod came out six years before the iPhone. And when the first iPhone came out, all the functions of the iPod fit into one of the iPhone applications. At first it was called “iPod”. For iPhone owners, the iPod itself has become a pointless purchase (except for the lightweight iPod Shuffle for sports).

A simple step up is to create a common supersystem of two products:

iPods and iPhones in different times were produced in the form of a line of products from simple to expensive.

A sharp leap of a function into a supersystem is also possible, when the entire function is transferred to another product and implemented differently. For example, the functions of phone screens and watches will someday be transferred to other devices - glasses, lenses, projections or holograms.

A step even higher - product lines constitute and develop the ecosystem:

Apple not only develops its products, but also invests resources in the ecosystem of application developers and electronics manufacturers: languages, interfaces and programming environments, application stores, educational events and conferences.

System Matrix

At any given time, the product can move forward and backward, up and down. See possible directions product development and decision-making is helped by a two-dimensional map, which we call in the bureau “product matrix” or “system matrix”. It is useful to draw up for long-term plans.

The product matrix analyzes the product from all angles. Filled-in cells of the “past” - before the product appeared - help to better formulate its real benefits. And the “future” cells are to see the potential of a product line, accessories or additional services.

Since the users of the product are always part of the working system, they should also be included in the analysis. For example, the analysis matrix of a museum will contain not only halls and exhibits, but also visitors and their supersystems - a family with children and an excursion group.

Levels above the company - industry, market - should also fall into the matrix. This will help to understand the global role of the company.