A Social System Map isn’t just a product—it’s a practice. It grows with your network, deepening insight and supporting action.
This is the seventh article in my 8-week series exploring foundational systems thinking concepts, written for the 2025 RE-AMP Systems Thinking Academy. Whether you’re following along with the series or diving deep into systems practice, this article explores Pattern Spotting…
As mappers, we’re always grappling with complexity. Networks don’t behave like machines. They adapt, self-organize, and surprise us. Which means that mapping isn’t just about drawing static lines — it’s about learning to see living patterns, and then engaging with…
The SenseMaking Mode: An Ongoing Practice of Inquiry Social System Mapping opens access to a domain we’ve previously only been able to speculate about – the ecosystem just beyond our own ego-network horizons, the connective tissue linking our immediate relationships…
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…
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…
Social System Mapping unfolds in three fluid, overlapping phases — Envisioning, Mapping, and SenseMaking — all woven together by Storytelling. This isn’t a linear path, but a living, iterative cycle that deepens over time.
Privacy in a Social System Map is a particular kind of trust. People aren’
1. Click “Connections” to find members you want to add a connection
1. From ‘My Projects’, select the ‘Manage’ drop-down for
