The Storytelling Hat is worn across the whole Social System Mapping journey — from the first stirrings of “why map?” to the quiet ripples of insight long after a view is shared. Storytelling isn’t extra — it’s how meaning moves.…
The Envisioning Phase simply means – everything that needs to happen to get a project underway – before there is something meaningful to look at. If a map doesn’t yet exist for a specific group, and you want the group…
There are 7 content items that the Visionaries/Advocates should provide to the Technician(s) for them to get started on the Mapping Phase of a project. You COULD leave some of this to the Tech, but you’ll rarely find it’s the…
Once the vision is seeded and the design begins to take form, we enter the Mapping Phase — the part where that vision gets translated into structure. This is where the Technician Carrier comes into play. This role isn’t just…
Social System Mapping is an art of collaborative process — requiring at least four distinct mental orientations: Visionary, Technician, SenseMaker, and StoryTeller. This piece explores how each Hat contributes, how they interface, and why embracing cognitive diversity is key to…
Isn’t SenseMaking the Same as Envisioning? Not at all! The Visionary sees what’s possible and catalyzes others to build toward it. The SenseMaker helps people work with what’s been built – learning to read it, question it, and…
Is Technician The Role You Fill In AN SSM? The Technician or Technicians are generally not catalysts, they’re geeks. They’re the ones who think fiddling in Kumu is fun, who like learning a little code here & there, who have…
A Social System Mapping project thrives when four Thinking Hats are present: Visionary, Technician, SenseMaker, and StoryTeller. Each brings a distinct mental style — and it’s the dance between them that brings a map to life.
Are You An SSM Visionary? The person or persons wearing the Visionary carrier are generally the catalysts that get a Social System Mapping project started. They convince network decision-makers to support the project. They help key network members define the…
The original network visualization tools (as well as, perhaps, the underlying scientific research goals they were designed to serve) imposed constraints on a Social Network Analysis project that no longer apply when using sumApp and Kumu together. These new tools…
