Comments on: The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 4 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/ After much frustration, it seems DEFAULT is the way to go... Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:45:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: CleverWorkarounds » SharePoint Analysts–Stop analysing! http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-66028 CleverWorkarounds » SharePoint Analysts–Stop analysing! Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:04:55 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-66028 [...] previously termed this the holding environment, and it really is. A great business analyst or project manager knows this [...] [...] previously termed this the holding environment, and it really is. A great business analyst or project manager knows this [...]

]]> By: Claudio http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-45252 Claudio Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:34:03 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-45252 Hi Paul, Thanks for your kind response. I enjoyed a lot your book´s briefing, so I will keep waiting for it to be released. Let me tell you also that I just tried Dialogue Mapping on a few meetings, so I would like to share my beginner´s experiences with you and your readers. Being the matter I am working on a "wicked" IT project, I think it is not important -nor feasible- to describe the project itself, but to give instead some information about the process I was involved in: The sponsors had decided to organize a series of meetings to discuss different problematic topics around the project, in a two day encounter with key stakeholders. I was appointed to be the planner of the detailed agenda, so worked in advance with a few project team members in the objectives, required pre-work, presenters and so on for each specific meeting. When the need for a timekeeper and minute-maker was evident, my boss asked for a volunteer and, guess what?...right, I was appointed for the task. As by that time I started to dream in IBIS -as you predicted in your posts- I felt there was an opportunity to leverage my new knowledge ... I had previously talked to my boss about the technique I was reading about, but as he is a very busy man, could not spend more than a few minutes on this. "Interesting", his dry comment was. A few days before the meetings, I showed to him a map I had built as a practice, based on a relevant email discussion he had with other project stakeholders. This time, he was impressed, so I took my chance and suggested that I could use Compendium to write the "minutes" in the background and, by the closure phase of each meeting, show the map to the audience to validate it. My rationale behind this approach was mainly based on your savvy advice: 1. I felt not confident enough yet to map a real-time, live dialogue. 2. The audience was 15 people on average (IT and business), too big for a beginner. Additionaly, we are spanish-speaking persons, so our dialogues can be a lot more convoluted than those of english-speaking persons. During the first few meetings of day one, the topics were not so controversial, so we could run them smoothly and my "map-minutes" worked really well. *OBSERVATION*: I showed the maps to the audience without any explanation about the display, I just narrated what I had captured. Nobody asked about the icons nor the technique I was using. Just a few talked to me about it later, during cofee breaks, giving positive feedback. During the last meeting of day one, that I had anticipated could be problematic, I felt my first push to use real-time dialogue mapping. A few minutes after opening, the meeting had all ingredients for disaster: tone of voice started to rise as everyone tried to give its own version of the truth, some stood up also to get group's attention...in short, a complete challenge... I then took courage and, showing a blank map, said: "Please, can we state the question we are trying to answer here?"... What for!... a received cross-fire from every side of the room, but could not extract a single answer to my question... and nobody else could! Chaotic discussion continued until the scheduled time elapsed, then I presented my two-node map minute to close: "Topic X? -> No agreement on problem statement. Should continue to explore". Easy to validate, uh? After hours, I prepared a quick survey for participants about this controversial meeting, focusing in two aspects: the clarity of the topic discussed and the meeting dynamics. At the very beginning of day two, I asked the audience to spend a minute to respond the survey, so they still had fresh memories of the day before. I would consolidate results during a break. Day two had a few more smooth meetings and then came the one that pushed to me again. In this case, I stopped the conversation showing my survey results, bringing attention on two of the questions: "How did you feel about the meeting discussion? - a.Satified/ b.A bit satisfied/ c.Frustrated". Unsurprisingly, the last two options concentrated more than 60% of the responses. The second question was: "Have you ever had meetings were you feel like that?: a.Never b.Sometimes c.Many times", 86% of the respondents had choosen b and c. I briefly explained to the audience why the survey could have shown these results, and that would be worth to try another method. As I had full attention in this moment (silence really scared to me) I quickly introduced how the real-time Dialogue Mapping would work. My proposal was to spend 15 minutes applying the technique, then check if it had been working, so we could decide continuation or back to business-as-usual. In less than 10 minutes, we built a map with key nodes, including virtually all of the issues we would need to answer, either during the meeting or to derive as action items for resolution later. By then the nightmare started again... the "boxers wearing their gloves"... I let them flow 5 more minutes and suddenly I almost shouted: "OK, my time is gone, let us check the map". As I was walking through the map I could see several heads nodding, and when finished I asked for feedback. Someone said: "It is Working!", so for the next step I asked the team to star answering the open issues. Not sure why, but at this point, some participants forgot about the display and conversation became, again, chaotic... Anyway, as my time for experiment had gone, during the next hour and a half I relaxed and enjoyed... *OBSERVATION*: during this time I was delighted observing dead-by-repetition, rethorical questions, crazy discussions of the kind "The solution should be A! - You are wrong!, B is not the right solution!", or good intention comments like "we are reaching a consensus that (put speaker's vision here) is the right solution", etc.I really had a lot of fun observing in others what I need to unlearn, name it the "answer reflex". *LEARNING*: repetition, going in circles and people not looking to the shared display gave me plenty of time to refine the map, so slowing down the conversation was not necessary. Of course, repetition is something you are intended to avoid, but proved useful during this learning phase! By the end of the meeting, I got back attention to my refined map just to confirm that the very few additions I made in the last one hour and a half were ok. We marked a few nodes as "decisions" and got the job done.By this time, all were a little frustrated, except me!. I had a the opportunity to see and practice most of what I had read on Dialogue Mapping, specially the observations you Paul have shared in your blog posts. If I were to make a global balance, I should say I have got a mix of sweet and bitter (over-optimistic expectations?), however I am now even more convinced that the method can bring enormous value, so will insist. To finalize, I will just state a few questions in case you or any of your readers have a clue: Should I better "sell" the method in the organization? Should I, as a beginner, be a mapper and facilitator at the same time? Should I explain IBIS and Dialogue Mapping to the audience in advance? How critical is to arrange the meeting room as shown in the Cognexus picture? (I suspect it is very critical, the closest I could get in practice was a "squared U" table). What is the better way to address one-to-one debate between team members? Sorry for the long comment and thanks again Paul for your help. Claudio Hi Paul,
Thanks for your kind response. I enjoyed a lot your book´s briefing, so I will keep waiting for it to be released.
Let me tell you also that I just tried Dialogue Mapping on a few meetings, so I would like to share my beginner´s experiences with you and your readers.

Being the matter I am working on a “wicked” IT project, I think it is not important -nor feasible- to describe the project itself, but to give instead some information about the process I was involved in:

The sponsors had decided to organize a series of meetings to discuss different problematic topics around the project, in a two day encounter with key stakeholders.
I was appointed to be the planner of the detailed agenda, so worked in advance with a few project team members in the objectives, required pre-work, presenters and so on for each specific meeting.

When the need for a timekeeper and minute-maker was evident, my boss asked for a volunteer and, guess what?…right, I was appointed for the task. As by that time I started to dream in IBIS -as you predicted in your posts- I felt there was an opportunity to leverage my new knowledge …

I had previously talked to my boss about the technique I was reading about, but as he is a very busy man, could not spend more than a few minutes on this. “Interesting”, his dry comment was.

A few days before the meetings, I showed to him a map I had built as a practice, based on a relevant email discussion he had with other project stakeholders. This time, he was impressed, so I took my chance and suggested that I could use Compendium to write the “minutes” in the background and, by the closure phase of each meeting, show the map to the audience to validate it.

My rationale behind this approach was mainly based on your savvy advice:
1. I felt not confident enough yet to map a real-time, live dialogue.
2. The audience was 15 people on average (IT and business), too big for a beginner.
Additionaly, we are spanish-speaking persons, so our dialogues can be a lot more convoluted than those of english-speaking persons.

During the first few meetings of day one, the topics were not so controversial, so we could run them smoothly and my “map-minutes” worked really well.
*OBSERVATION*: I showed the maps to the audience without any explanation about the display, I just narrated what I had captured. Nobody asked about the icons nor the technique I was using. Just a few talked to me about it later, during cofee breaks, giving positive feedback.

During the last meeting of day one, that I had anticipated could be problematic, I felt my first push to use real-time dialogue mapping.
A few minutes after opening, the meeting had all ingredients for disaster: tone of voice started to rise as everyone tried to give its own version of the truth, some stood up also to get group’s attention…in short, a complete challenge…

I then took courage and, showing a blank map, said: “Please, can we state the question we are trying to answer here?”… What for!… a received cross-fire from every side of the room, but could not extract a single answer to my question… and nobody else could! Chaotic discussion continued until the scheduled time elapsed, then I presented my two-node map minute to close: “Topic X? -> No agreement on problem statement. Should continue to explore”. Easy to validate, uh?

After hours, I prepared a quick survey for participants about this controversial meeting, focusing in two aspects: the clarity of the topic discussed and the meeting dynamics. At the very beginning of day two, I asked the audience to spend a minute to respond the survey, so they still had fresh memories of the day before. I would consolidate results during a break.

Day two had a few more smooth meetings and then came the one that pushed to me again. In this case, I stopped the conversation showing my survey results, bringing attention on two of the questions:

“How did you feel about the meeting discussion? – a.Satified/ b.A bit satisfied/ c.Frustrated”. Unsurprisingly, the last two options concentrated more than 60% of the responses. The second question was: “Have you ever had meetings were you feel like that?: a.Never b.Sometimes c.Many times”, 86% of the respondents had choosen b and c.

I briefly explained to the audience why the survey could have shown these results, and that would be worth to try another method. As I had full attention in this moment (silence really scared to me) I quickly introduced how the real-time Dialogue Mapping would work.

My proposal was to spend 15 minutes applying the technique, then check if it had been working, so we could decide continuation or back to business-as-usual. In less than 10 minutes, we built a map with key nodes, including virtually all of the issues we would need to answer, either during the meeting or to derive as action items for resolution later.

By then the nightmare started again… the “boxers wearing their gloves”… I let them flow 5 more minutes and suddenly I almost shouted: “OK, my time is gone, let us check the map”.

As I was walking through the map I could see several heads nodding, and when finished I asked for feedback. Someone said: “It is Working!”, so for the next step I asked the team to star answering the open issues. Not sure why, but at this point, some participants forgot about the display and conversation became, again, chaotic…
Anyway, as my time for experiment had gone, during the next hour and a half I relaxed and enjoyed…

*OBSERVATION*: during this time I was delighted observing dead-by-repetition, rethorical questions, crazy discussions of the kind “The solution should be A! – You are wrong!, B is not the right solution!”, or good intention comments like “we are reaching a consensus that (put speaker’s vision here) is the right solution”, etc.I really had a lot of fun observing in others what I need to unlearn, name it the “answer reflex”.

*LEARNING*: repetition, going in circles and people not looking to the shared display gave me plenty of time to refine the map, so slowing down the conversation was not necessary. Of course, repetition is something you are intended to avoid, but proved useful during this learning phase!

By the end of the meeting, I got back attention to my refined map just to confirm that the very few additions I made in the last one hour and a half were ok. We marked a few nodes as “decisions” and got the job done.By this time, all were a little frustrated, except me!. I had a the opportunity to see and practice most of what I had read on Dialogue Mapping, specially the observations you Paul have shared in your blog posts.

If I were to make a global balance, I should say I have got a mix of sweet and bitter (over-optimistic expectations?), however I am now even more convinced that the method can bring enormous value, so will insist.
To finalize, I will just state a few questions in case you or any of your readers have a clue:

Should I better “sell” the method in the organization?
Should I, as a beginner, be a mapper and facilitator at the same time?
Should I explain IBIS and Dialogue Mapping to the audience in advance?
How critical is to arrange the meeting room as shown in the Cognexus picture? (I suspect it is very critical, the closest I could get in practice was a “squared U” table).
What is the better way to address one-to-one debate between team members?

Sorry for the long comment and thanks again Paul for your help.
Claudio

]]> By: admin http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-42121 admin Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:33:21 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-42121 Hi Claudio I'm glad you found the series useful. 8 months on requirements? Imagine the sheer pace of change effect on that as well as the time people have to think about their problem more. Let me know how you go with your use of these tools and approaches. If you liked this, then you will really like the book I am writing with Kailash Await. http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2010/06/07/why-ive-been-quiet. There was also a good dose of this stuff in a Sharepoint 2010 Information Architecture course I recently developed and that was also successful (www.sevensigma.com.au) regards Paul Hi Claudio

I’m glad you found the series useful. 8 months on requirements? Imagine the sheer pace of change effect on that as well as the time people have to think about their problem more.

Let me know how you go with your use of these tools and approaches. If you liked this, then you will really like the book I am writing with Kailash Await. http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2010/06/07/why-ive-been-quiet. There was also a good dose of this stuff in a Sharepoint 2010 Information Architecture course I recently developed and that was also successful (www.sevensigma.com.au)

regards

Paul

]]> By: Claudio http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-42081 Claudio Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:11:45 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-42081 I really enjoyed every single sentence in this series, and I must say that reading it in this very moment has been kind of a providential gift! I am working right now as a consultant for an IT project, where some stakeholders perfectly resembles to me your Sharepoint-versus-Skype guy: after 8 months working on requirements and specifications, and two months after presenting to them the solution design, they said "this is not what we need". In a few days I devoured all your posts on Issue and Dialogue Mapping, read a lot of material from Jeff Concklin on the Cognexus site, installed Compendium and practiced mapping from email chains in the office to newspapers articles and even your own blog posts! I am really excited with the possibilities of the tools you have described here, and will try to put them in real practice immediately. Many, many thanks Paul for your work! P.D.: I love your writing style and humor, specially when you characterize IT guys. I live in the other side of the world (Argentina) and we are exactly like you describe us. I really enjoyed every single sentence in this series, and I must say that reading it in this very moment has been kind of a providential gift!
I am working right now as a consultant for an IT project, where some stakeholders perfectly resembles to me your Sharepoint-versus-Skype guy: after 8 months working on requirements and specifications, and two months after presenting to them the solution design, they said “this is not what we need”.
In a few days I devoured all your posts on Issue and Dialogue Mapping, read a lot of material from Jeff Concklin on the Cognexus site, installed Compendium and practiced mapping from email chains in the office to newspapers articles and even your own blog posts!
I am really excited with the possibilities of the tools you have described here, and will try to put them in real practice immediately.
Many, many thanks Paul for your work!
P.D.: I love your writing style and humor, specially when you characterize IT guys. I live in the other side of the world (Argentina) and we are exactly like you describe us.

]]> By: Rob Schmidt http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16965 Rob Schmidt Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:21:02 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16965 Paul - Thanks for the advice. I certainly understand non-funded projects. I'd be very interested in your SharePoint Integration concepts. I'd beta test, if it would help. Thanks, Rob Schmidt Paul – Thanks for the advice. I certainly understand non-funded projects.

I’d be very interested in your SharePoint Integration concepts. I’d beta test, if it would help.

Thanks,
Rob Schmidt

]]> By: admin http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16889 admin Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:37:38 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16889 Hiya Rob You are right - they all have their drawbacks. Seven Sigma is working on some SharePoint integration which should improve this, but we do it in between consulting work so its not a project with a budget. I have a password protected site where all my clients maps are exported to in web format, and many of my clients install Compendium and I send them the zipped XML. You may not be aware, but if you export an XML zipped, you can then just drag that zip file to a compendium map, choose "process as XML zipped" and it will import automagically (much less cumbersom than using the menus). regards Paul Hiya Rob

You are right – they all have their drawbacks. Seven Sigma is working on some SharePoint integration which should improve this, but we do it in between consulting work so its not a project with a budget. I have a password protected site where all my clients maps are exported to in web format, and many of my clients install Compendium and I send them the zipped XML.

You may not be aware, but if you export an XML zipped, you can then just drag that zip file to a compendium map, choose “process as XML zipped” and it will import automagically (much less cumbersom than using the menus).

regards

Paul

]]> By: Rob Schmidt http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16849 Rob Schmidt Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:45:27 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16849 Paul - I really enjoy your blog posts. I've read Jeff Conklin's book, and have been using Dialogue mapping and Compendium, for a little while. My question: How do you work around the print / results distribution limitations with Compendium? I've tried exporting as Web Outlines, Web Maps, and JPGs (importing into PDF and distributing as PDF). All of these techniques have their drawbacks: 1. Maps are often big (Yes, I need to break down into smaller maps). 2. Have Mac (non-IE users). 3. Need to easily update and post results to SharePoint from dialogue mappings. These techniques take a while and can make a little difficult to post. Thanks, Rob Schmidt Paul – I really enjoy your blog posts. I’ve read Jeff Conklin’s book, and have been using Dialogue mapping and Compendium, for a little while.

My question: How do you work around the print / results distribution limitations with Compendium? I’ve tried exporting as Web Outlines, Web Maps, and JPGs (importing into PDF and distributing as PDF). All of these techniques have their drawbacks:
1. Maps are often big (Yes, I need to break down into smaller maps).
2. Have Mac (non-IE users).
3. Need to easily update and post results to SharePoint from dialogue mappings. These techniques take a while and can make a little difficult to post.

Thanks,
Rob Schmidt

]]> By: The Daily Reviewer http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16486 The Daily Reviewer Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:12:17 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16486 Hi! Congratulations! Your readers have submitted and voted for your blog at The Daily Reviewer. We compiled an exclusive list of the Top 100 sharepoint Blogs, and we are glad to let you know that your blog was included! You can see it at http://thedailyreviewer.com/top/sharepoint You can claim your Top 100 Blogs Award here : http://thedailyreviewer.com/pages/badges/sharepoint P.S. This is a one-time notice to let you know your blog was included in one of our Top 100 Blog categories. You might get notices if you are listed in two or more categories. P.P.S. If for some reason you want your blog removed from our list, just send an email to angelina@thedailyreviewer.com with the subject line "REMOVE" and the link to your blog in the body of the message. Cheers! Angelina Mizaki Selection Committee President The Daily Reviewer http://thedailyreviewer.com Hi!

Congratulations! Your readers have submitted and voted for your blog at The Daily Reviewer. We compiled an exclusive list of the Top 100 sharepoint Blogs, and we are glad to let you know that your blog was included! You can see it at http://thedailyreviewer.com/top/sharepoint

You can claim your Top 100 Blogs Award here : http://thedailyreviewer.com/pages/badges/sharepoint

P.S. This is a one-time notice to let you know your blog was included in one of our Top 100 Blog categories. You might get notices if you are listed in two or more categories.

P.P.S. If for some reason you want your blog removed from our list, just send an email to angelina@thedailyreviewer.com with the subject line “REMOVE” and the link to your blog in the body of the message.

Cheers!

Angelina Mizaki
Selection Committee President
The Daily Reviewer
http://thedailyreviewer.com

]]> By: Sitting down with Steve Ballmer; 2010, Worth the Upgrade?; Windows 7 tries to be cool - SharePoint Daily - Bamboo Nation http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16478 Sitting down with Steve Ballmer; 2010, Worth the Upgrade?; Windows 7 tries to be cool - SharePoint Daily - Bamboo Nation Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:41:37 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16478 [...] The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 4Three weeks ago my plasma TV broke, freeing the family from the magic spell of hi-def television. My family took the loss in different ways. My four year old was devastated at the lack of Nintendo Wii, and constantly whined about being bored. My ten year old is a bookworm anyway, and continued to be one. I suddenly found mountains of time to write, churning out three Dialogue Mapping articles that I had been meaning to write for ages. [...] [...] The practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 4Three weeks ago my plasma TV broke, freeing the family from the magic spell of hi-def television. My family took the loss in different ways. My four year old was devastated at the lack of Nintendo Wii, and constantly whined about being bored. My ten year old is a bookworm anyway, and continued to be one. I suddenly found mountains of time to write, churning out three Dialogue Mapping articles that I had been meaning to write for ages. [...]

]]> By: admin http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2009/09/27/the-practice-of-dialogue-mapping-part-4/comment-page-1/#comment-16461 admin Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:24:59 +0000 http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/?p=1653#comment-16461 Hi Al Firstly I have a read a lot of your material and your knowledge in this area scares the hell out of me, I when I see you replying to one of my posts, my first reaction is to think "oh crap what did I do wrong" :-) In relation to Compendium and its strengths and weaknesses, I really wanted to do the topic of Compendium and Debategraph justice, but it would have taken over the entire article, so I will save it till when I write up a case study of this ongoing project that I am working on. In relation to the integration of Compendium and Debategraph, I will send you a link directly to examine, as I have been doing this out of necessity already. Thanks again for your feedback Paul Hi Al

Firstly I have a read a lot of your material and your knowledge in this area scares the hell out of me, I when I see you replying to one of my posts, my first reaction is to think “oh crap what did I do wrong” :-)

In relation to Compendium and its strengths and weaknesses, I really wanted to do the topic of Compendium and Debategraph justice, but it would have taken over the entire article, so I will save it till when I write up a case study of this ongoing project that I am working on.

In relation to the integration of Compendium and Debategraph, I will send you a link directly to examine, as I have been doing this out of necessity already.

Thanks again for your feedback

Paul

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