Open Source Methods
Open source methods are discrete methods that can be used generally, with processes or on their own in a specific context. They are either documented, in the process of documentation or can be documented on demand. There is no control over their use other than the creative commons license.
Open source methods include:
System methods
Perception methods
Knowledge methods
… And the Butterfly Stamped is a “warm up exercise” to enable people to understand a model and to prepare for Model Creation by Social Construction. People are asked to place sense-making items on to the model. It can also be used to demonstrate to a group the degree to which different perceptions produce different results.
The … And the Butterfly Stamped method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
Model Creation by Social Construction
Models are a key aspect of sense making (and a major component of the SenseMaker software). The best way of understanding a model so that it can be reused is for the model, its domains, sub-domains and boundaries to be defined by sense making items (such as stories) that create context. The approach is illustrated here in respect of the Cynefin framework, which is a primary sense-making model to understand the different types of system and associated decision models. It is recommended that complex facilitation techniques be used in this process.
The Model Creation by Social Construction method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
This technique was developed as an alternative to scenario planning and is designed to increase the number of perspectives that a group can take both on an understanding of their past, and of the range of possible futures. It can be used to discover what entrained patterns of past perception in an organisation are determining its future; to compare and contrast different aspirations for the present and the future; to generate multiple turning or decision points for use in the social construction of the Cynefin Framework; as a device to generate or prompt for anecdotes; as a lead in to knowledge mapping. This is a straight forward sensemaking technique that is often used in the beginning of workshops to engage, drive energy and shared understanding in group.
The future backwards method document provides some general guidance with reference to the supporting methods.
Emergent meaning is an approach to deriving meaning (expressed as archetypes, values, themes etc) from a body of anecdotal material either gathered in advance or created in the workshop. The results are cultural constructs and can be used directly or contrasted with espoused values, or with the constructions of emergent meaning from different groups (how do managers see themselves, how are they seen by employees, etc).
The Archetype Creation method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
The Story Construction method takes a naturalistic approach to story construction, replicating the way that we create stories through telling and retelling over time. The natural process is structured and the time compressed. Aside from teaching a basic skill, this approach can also be used to determine what type of communication strategy is most likely to work as well as providing a method to integrate material in a workshop.
The Story Construction method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
This is a workshop method designed to test and enhance proposals, stories, ideas or whatever by subjecting them to ritualised dissent (challenge) or assent (positive alternatives). In all cases it is a forced listening technique, not a dialogue or discourse. It can be used on its own, or linked to story construction, social construction of the Cynefin framework and a broad range of methods. The basic approach involves a spokesperson presenting a series of ideas to a group who receive them in silence. The spokesperson then turns their chair, so that their back is to the audience and listens in silence while the group either attacks (dissent) or provides alternative proposals (assent). The ritualisation of not facing the audience de-personalizes the process and the group setting (others will be subject to the same process) means that the attack or alternative are not personal, but supportive. Listening in silence without eye contact, increases listening. Overall plans that emerge from the process are more resilient than reductionism of consensus based techniques.
The Ritual Dissent method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
This workshop is designed to follow a use of the AVT (Archetype Creation) method where two different groups have gone through the process of AVT emergence in parallel. The aim is to allow the two groups to compare their two perspectives and then move to a diverse synthesis of conclusions and a set of recommended actions.
The AVT comparison workshop document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.
In anecdote circles, facilitators use a "toolbox" of several methods including ditting, feature shift, archetypal storytelling, and alternative histories to help people tell stories.
The Anecdote Circles method document provides some general guidance with reference to supporting methods.