My Visual Thinking Ace In The Hole

The official newsletter of Applied Visual Thinking SUPERHEROES.  Vol. 2 No. 4 Feb 19, 2021

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about my favorite ways to apply visual thinking. It occurred to me that my favorite go-to visual thinking tool is a lovely cross-pollination of a typical mind map and Dan Roam's 6x6 framework from his bestseller The Back of the Napkin. It's always my first stop whenever I'm developing an innovation, beginning a new project, improving a process, creating a vision, working on a problem, brainstorming ideas, or learning something new. In short, it's...

It never fails to generate new ideas, surface questions, untangle  confusion, connect the dots or bring an "ah-ha" moment. The best part is it can be done any time, any place, in just a few minutes.
No high tech tools or fancy software required. All you  need is something to write with and something  to write on.

Want to jump in and
give it a try?
Grab a pen and some
paper or download the template and play along.

Step 1) Give it a name - In the middle of your page, write down the topic you want to explore and draw a bubble around it.

Step 2) Add 7 W's - In spokes around your name, add the 7 W's. You might remember these from school. They are WHO, WHAT, HOW MUCH, WHERE, WHEN, HOW, and WHY. Now draw a bubble around each one. For extra credit, you can color-code each W and add a simple icon beside each one for even more clarity.

Step 3) Do a brain dump - This is the fun part. Using short phrases, let your mind go free and dump everything you know about each topic in spokes around each W. 

• WHO - These all the people involved. Planning a big event? They could be the hosts, guests, caterers, florists, entertainers, security, etc. Working on a new innovation or a project? They could be the team members, suppliers, subcontractors, the people who will benefit from or be impacted by the innovation or project, the community at
  large, etc. 
• WHAT - These are all the things involved. For your event, they could be the invitations, food, music, seating, gifts, etc. For your innovation or project, they could be the product, technology, materials, facilities, tools, documentation, etc. 
• HOW MUCH or HOW MANY - These are the quantifiable numbers you need to consider. They could be your budget, guests, team members, available time, ROI, etc. 
• WHERE - These are the places you need to explore or connect with. They could be the venues, locations, branches, departments, teams, etc. 
• WHEN - These are the dates you want to nail down. They could be the event date, when contracts need to be signed, when deposits are due, when you need to send out invitations, when you need to present your innovation or your project deliverable is due, etc. 
• HOW - These are the steps you need to take. This could be the process you need to follow, the journey you want to
  take, or the tools you'll be using, such as a vision map, process flow chart, or software application. 
• WHY - This may be the most important one. Why are you doing this? What is the vision or the desired outcome?

Step 4)  Let it percolate - Put your pen down and walk away from your map. Let your brain percolate for a while, be it a few minutes, a few days, weeks, or months. This is where the magic happens. Your reticular activating system will begin to fill in the blanks and make connections while you are busy doing other things.

Step 5) Take a 2nd pass - Come back to your map and add any new insights or information that may come to mind.

Step 6) Share it - Here's the payoff! Share your map with your co-planners, team, or tribe. From here, you have a launchpad that invites collaboration and further discussion. One that was fast and easy to make. One that is easy to share and easy to leverage for your next steps. That's what I call an Ace In The Hole!