Dialogue Mapping: Revealing the Deep Structure of Conversations Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org Overview  Opportunity Driven Problem Solving  Wicked problems Surface Structure – how we communicate.

Transcript Dialogue Mapping: Revealing the Deep Structure of Conversations Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org Overview  Opportunity Driven Problem Solving  Wicked problems Surface Structure – how we communicate.

Dialogue Mapping:

Revealing the Deep Structure of Conversations Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org

Overview

  Opportunity Driven Problem Solving Wicked problems Surface Structure – how we communicate about an issue Deep structure – the organization of the content Linear Process & Media Non-linear Process & media  Dialogue Mapping: mapping linear process into non-linear media © 2008 CogNexus Institute 2

Work is planned as a linear process …

Gather the data about the problem Analyze the data Formulate a solution Implement it

Time

… but cognition is

non-linear.

Guindon, R. (1990) “Designing the Design Process: Exploiting Opportunistic Thoughts”, 305-344.

Human Computer Interaction, Vol. 5, pp. “Opportunity Driven” Problem Solving Time

Key Characteristic of “Wicked” Problems

Conklin, J. (2006) “Wicked Problems and Social Complexity”, white paper, Chapter 1 of Dialogue Mapping book

Characteristics of problem “wickedness”         cannot be easily defined so that all stakeholders agree on the problem to solve; require complex judgments about the level of abstraction at which to define the problem; have no clear stopping rules; have better or worse solutions, not right and wrong ones; have no objective measure of success; require iteration-every trial counts; have no given alternative solutions-these must be discovered; often have strong moral, political or professional dimensions. 6 © 2008 CogNexus Institute

Some consequences of not distinguishing wicked problems        Less clarity and agreement about the problem space More non-linear problem solving process Less productive communication More fragmented and polarized stakeholders Less trust, more blame and second-guessing More power and politics dominate the process Deeper issues go unaddressed (avoidance, denial) 7 © 2008 CogNexus Institute

Issue Mapping

Conversational structure versus Issue structure The basic unit of conversation is a ‘comment’ a comment The

structure

Conversational structure Structure based on individual judgments of relevance and importance Issue-based structure Structure based on mapper’s judgments about implicit relationships among comments © 2008 CogNexus Institute 10

Conversational structure Structure based on individual choices about relevance and importance Issue-based structure Structure based on mapper’s judgments about implicit relationships among comments © 2008 CogNexus Institute 21

Meeting notes Issue Map Which structure is more coherent?

Which structure is more meaningful?

Which structure better supports exploration of complex topics?

http://www.youtube.com/DrJeffConklin

Linear vs Issue Based Structure

Linear structure

Normal surface structure

Issue-based structure

Content deep structure Traditional, familiar Specialized, dense Chronological: each successive element based on salience & relevance with previous Optimized to minimize load on working memory Elements organized by key questions - sequence factored out Optimized for large scale coherence 23 © 2008 CogNexus Institute

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process

“The problem is that process X doesn’t work well.”

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process “The problem is that process X doesn’t work well.”

“I’m not so sure. I think the real problem is that Y doesn’t work very well.”

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process “The problem is that process X doesn’t work well.” “I’m not so sure. I think the real problem is that Y doesn’t work very well.”

“Yeah. There have been big improvements in X lately.

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process “The problem is that process X doesn’t work well.” “I’m not so sure. I think the real problem is that Y doesn’t work very well.” “Yeah. There have been big improvements in X lately.

I think we should just implement Plan A, like we discussed months ago!”

“Plan A won’t work, because it doesn’t address process Z. The truth is, Z doesn’t work at all!”

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process

“I agree. We need to start over with a new Plan B and start getting upper management input.”

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process “I agree. We need to start over with a new Plan B and start getting upper management input.”

“Wait a minute. What’s the problem with Z? I thought we had that fixed?”

Dialogue map follows the non-linear conversation process “I agree. We need to start over with a new Plan B and start getting upper management input.” “Wait a minute. What’s the problem with Z? I thought we had that fixed?”

“Z costs too much, and the costs are increasing, and in any case it doesn’t meet the new interoperability standards.”

Non-linear cognition means jumping around between issues What is the problem? … What are the criteria? … What does ‘xxxxxx’ mean? … What are the facts? … What should we do? … How should we do X? …

Time

Bridging the Structural Gap

Surface Structure – how we communicate about an issue Deep structure – the organization of the content Linear Process & Media Non-linear Process & media We need tools that show both surface & deep structures and the connections between them Article about global warming Map of deep structure of article © 2008 CogNexus Institute 34

CogNexus Institute Knowledge Mapping for Nonlinear Processes http://cognexus.org

Dialogue Mapping: Revealing the Deep Structure of Conversations Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org Overview  Opportunity Driven Problem Solving  Wicked problems Surface Structure – how we communicate.

Transcript Dialogue Mapping: Revealing the Deep Structure of Conversations Dr. Jeff Conklin CogNexus Institute cognexus.org Overview  Opportunity Driven Problem Solving  Wicked problems Surface Structure – how we communicate.