1 Dialogue Mapping: Dialogue Mapping: Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org Breaking the Chains of Linear Process

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 2 Overview nYou and I are engaged in ‘knowledge work’ nOur tools do not support knowledge work nKnowledge work is … –Design (creating something new) –Sense making (‘don’t know what we don’t know’) –Non-linear (creative, not mechanical) –Conversations (not documents) –‘The perfect is the enemy of the good’ nDialogue Mapping & Compendium support this kind of work

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 3 Overview nDialogue mapping features: –Process control and creative dynamics –Stakeholders who disagree strongly –Conflicting, contradictory information –Large amounts of data –Non-linear process –Context of decisions, actions

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 4 Cognition of Design: The Old View Time Gather the data about the problem Analyze the data Formulate a solution Implement it PlanDo

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 5 Cognition of Design: The Data Time Guindon, R. (1990) “Designing the Design Process: Exploiting Opportunistic Thoughts”, Human- Computer Interaction, Vol. 5, pp

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 6 Cognition of Design: The New View Time Plan Do Plan Do Plan Plan Plan Do Do Do

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 7 Design process is non-linear, ‘Opportunity-Driven’ Early attempts at solutions Experiments Prototypes Hunches Late efforts to understand the real problem How We Humans Actually Approach Novel Problems

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 8 Key Characteristic of “Wicked” Problems Every proposed solution … You have to “do” to “plan”. … exposes new aspects of the problem. Conklin, J. (2006) “Wicked Problems and Social Complexity”, white paper, Chapter 1 of Dialogue Mapping book The red line fails on wicked problems!

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 9 Most wicked problem solving happens in … Meetings n Social Complexity n “Symmetry of Ignorance” (Rittel) n Intense social dynamics – Politics, hidden agendas, power moves n Debate instead of dialogue n Truth by repetition n Ineffective and inefficient process n But … it’s all we’ve got! 

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 10 Dialogue mapping for nonlinear process

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 11 The “Secret Sauce” of Dialogue Mapping nFacilitation and mapping –A designated listener nIBIS (Issue Based Information System) –Question-based knowledge representation nShared Hypertext Display –Shared: Depersonalizes conflict –Hypertext: Non-linear

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 12 IBIS: The Deep Structure of Conversation n The basic elements of design conversations: –Questions –Ideas (possible answers) –Arguments n Pros for and Cons against Ideas n Robust representation of design process – Allows for inconsistent facts, incompatible options, contradictory points of view n Preserves context of action items and decisions

13 Demo What should we do about global warming?

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 14 Getting Traction in Deep Mud nAction items are followed up and results captured (“Do”) nDecisions and their rationale are captured in context (“Think”) nRepetition is dramatically reduced nHypertext: Maps embed, structure scales, links connect nNetworking: Maps publishable as outlines, web-sites, pictures, …

© 2007 CogNexus Institute 15 Buy the book Download Compendium White papers on our website: “Wicked Problems and Social Complexity” “The Age of Design” “Designing Organizational Memory” Further information go to …