Filling in the business side of the puzzle

Intrigued about Dialogue Mapping? Check these videos

March 13, 2013 by Ruven Gotz

People who have seen me speak, or read my blog before know how much emphasis I place on visual tools for reaching shared understanding. The evolution of my practice with visual tools, from mind mapping to Dialogue Mapping was prompted by Paul Culmsee.

Paul is a great writer and a brilliant thinker who has forever changed the way that I see the world of exploring difficult (wicked!) problems in environments that have a lot social complexity (i.e. almost all of them!).

If you want to get a feel for the type of thinking and work that Paul does, you’ll really want to watch these two videos.

In the first one, you will hear Paul talk about his thinking and approach, and in the second one, you will see a live demonstration of Dialogue Mapping by one of the world leaders in this technique.

Let me know what you think. Is this something that could change the way you work, like it has for me?


Written by Ruven Gotz

Ruven Gotz is a Director with Avanade, Microsoft’s Global Partner. As a Microsoft SharePoint MVP with over 20 years of IT industry experience, Ruven has spent the past nine years delivering award-winning SharePoint solutions for a wide range of clients. Working as a Business Analyst and Information Architect, Ruven is able to apply his eclectic education and varied experience in Psychology, Computer Science, Economics, Software Development and Training to get to the heart of complex problems. Ruven is a great communicator who is able to discuss technology concepts in language that is relevant to his audience, whether they are from IT or business. He has become a leader in the use of visual tools to help his clients and team members achieve shared understanding of problems and goals and shared commitment towards implementing a successful solution.

Ruven recently authored “Practical SharePoint 2010 Information Architecture” (Apress).

Ruven lives in Toronto, Canada. On Tuesday nights in the summer, you’ll find him racing his 24’ sailboat ‘In the Groove’.

(NOTE: Ideas and opinions on this blog are my own: I am not representing my employer.)

You should follow Ruven on Twitter