Why think about each phase separately?

🌱 Start Small, Stay Curious: The Cycle of Learning in Social System Mapping

⚠️ The Risk of Front-Loading

Yes, you can plow through the entire mapping process as if it’s one big, linear project with a single final deliverable — like “a map” or “an analysis.”

But if you go that route, you’ll need to finalize your vision, technical setup, and sensemaking views all up front. You’ll only get one shot at each step.

And that defeats — or at least confuses — one of the core purposes of Social System Mapping:
To engage in an emergent process of learning and discovery, together.

Even more importantly: you’re not ready to finalize anything up front yet.
Your network can’t fully see what this is yet — and no matter how much you might wish otherwise, you can’t see it for them.

As they begin to see into the process, you will start to see it differently too.
Everyone’s understanding evolves. That’s part of the point.

I’ve participated in several projects that ultimately fell short because they began with too much ambition, aimed in the wrong direction. Not because they failed to produce a product — but because that product missed the mark. It didn’t connect. It didn’t engage. It didn’t become alive within the network.

🌀 Begin with a Gentle Prototype

So: don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
Instead, start with a quick walk-through of all three phases — Envisioning, Mapping, and SenseMaking.

Keep it simple. Just a small handful of people with a high tolerance for experimentation. Treat it like an emergent prototype. The goal isn’t polish — it’s orientation.

Use this round to:

• Get your feet wet
• Learn the tools
• Start to imagine what this will feel like from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about mapping

This small, simple start will give you more clarity and confidence — and prepare you to facilitate a broader, more inclusive envisioning process later.

🔁 The Value of Repeating the Cycle

After that first rough cycle, come back to the Knowledge Base.
It will start to make more sense now that you’ve had a full-body experience of what the work feels like.

Then run another cycle.
Still small, but a little deeper.

• Test a few new survey questions
• Involve a few more people
• Use what you’ve created so far to spark conversation
• Ask:
  • What’s missing?
  • What else could we be gathering?
  • How does this land with people on the map?
  • How about those who aren’t yet on it?

This second round of prototyping opens up a new level of insight.
Now you’re not just making a map — you’re beginning to think together in a new way.

You’re beginning to ask:

• What does it mean to visualize our connections — both actual and potential?
• How do we learn to think systemically, as a group?
• How do we use this new visual language to have conversations we couldn’t otherwise have?

⛔ The Illusion of “Done”

Another risk of front-loading is the belief that once the map is built, it’s “done” — like a website you can launch and walk away from.

But it doesn’t work like that.

People won’t use the map until they’ve learned its language — until it means something to them.

Think about how you learned to read.
You didn’t start with an encyclopedia and a couple of lessons.
You started with baby books — a few words at a time, with someone by your side, and lots of repetition.

Offer your network that same kindness.
Start where people are.
Not one step beyond that.

🌿 Readiness Is Relative

If your group already knows this visual language, and people are energized to wordsmith the survey and dive into a big collective process — wonderful. Begin there.

But if not — just take baby steps.
Cycle through the phases more times.

Start small, then deepen. Iterate. Let the process evolve with your network’s readiness.

And know this: no matter where you start, it never really ends.
You just continue spiraling deeper into collective awareness as the map morphs and matures.

🤝 When to Reach Out

Once you’ve moved through a couple of cycles, that’s a great time to begin engaging with the broader mapping community:

• Join on-ramp sessions
• Participate in community forums
• Share what you’ve learned
• Ask questions
• Spark conversations about where to go next

Mapping can be lonely if you try to do it in isolation. But there’s a network of mappers who’ve been where you are — and who want to think with you.

🧠 Why the Phases Matter

These three phases — Envisioning, Mapping, SenseMaking — aren’t rigid steps.
They’re overlapping. Iterative.
They blur into each other and cycle endlessly.

But they also require different mindsets. Different activities.
Which means it’s helpful to think about which phase you’re in — so you can tend it more thoughtfully.

Let’s say you’ve already built a prototype and done some initial sensemaking. You’re starting to notice patterns. That’s great.

But this is also a good moment to go back to the beginning.
Start fresh.
Put on your beginner’s mind and ask:

• What haven’t we mapped yet?
• What don’t we know?
• What’s still outside the frame?

🔍 Deepening Through Each Phase

Envisioning
Look again, with new eyes. Are there systemic dynamics your network is trying to impact that the current map doesn’t yet capture? Can you find ways to visualize those?

Mapping
Explore new possibilities in the tools.
What haven’t you used yet in sumApp or Kumu?
Could your views tell a different story?
Are there features waiting to be unlocked?

SenseMaking
Is the current map surfacing what your network needs to see?
Are you seeing what is — or beginning to ask about what could be?

Each round opens a new layer of depth.
Each cycle creates new possibilities.

And the invitation remains the same:
Start where you are. Stay curious. And keep going