Dialogue Mapping:
Revealing the Deep Structure
of Conversations
Dr. Jeff Conklin
CogNexus Institute
cognexus.org
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Overview
 Opportunity Driven Problem Solving
 Wicked problems
Surface Structure – how we
communicate about an issue
Deep structure – the
organization of the content
Linear Process &
Media
Non-linear Process
& media
 Dialogue Mapping: mapping linear process
into non-linear media
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Work is planned as a linear process …
Gather the data about the problem
Analyze the data
Formulate a solution
Implement it
Time
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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… but cognition is non-linear.
Guindon, R. (1990) “Designing the
Design Process: Exploiting
Opportunistic Thoughts”, HumanComputer Interaction, Vol. 5, pp.
305-344.
“Opportunity Driven” Problem Solving
Time
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Key Characteristic of
“Wicked” Problems
Conklin, J. (2006) “Wicked Problems
and Social Complexity”, white paper,
Chapter 1 of Dialogue Mapping
book
Every proposed solution …
reveals aspects of the
problem …
that cause revision of the
solution
Problem wickedness trumps linear process
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Characteristics of problem “wickedness”
 cannot be easily defined so that all stakeholders agree on
the problem to solve;
 require complex judgments about the level of abstraction
at which to define the problem;
 have no clear stopping rules;
 have better or worse solutions, not right and wrong ones;
 have no objective measure of success;
 require iteration-every trial counts;
 have no given alternative solutions-these must be
discovered;
 often have strong moral, political or professional
dimensions.
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Some consequences of not
distinguishing wicked problems
 Less clarity and agreement about the problem
space
 More non-linear problem solving process
 Less productive communication
 More fragmented and polarized stakeholders
 Less trust, more blame and second-guessing
 More power and politics dominate the process
 Deeper issues go unaddressed (avoidance,
denial)
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Issue Mapping
IBIS - Issue Based Information System
Horst Rittel
Basic argumentation structure:
– Questions (issues)
– Answers (options, alternatives)
– Pros & Cons (arguments)
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Conversational structure
versus
Issue structure
The basic unit of conversation is a
‘comment’
a comment
The structure of conversation is
‘turn taking’ – each person’s
comment follows the one before
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Conversational structure
Structure based on individual judgments of
relevance and importance
Issue-based structure
Structure based on mapper’s
judgments about implicit
relationships among comments
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
Issue mapper infers the
question that the comment
addresses
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
Again, inferring the ‘missing’
question clarifies the map
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Conversational structure
Issue-based structure
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Conversational structure
Structure based on individual choices about
relevance and importance
Issue-based structure
Structure based on mapper’s
judgments about implicit
relationships among comments
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Meeting notes
Which structure is
more coherent?
Which structure is
more meaningful?
Issue Map
Which structure
better supports
exploration of
complex topics?
http://www.youtube.com/DrJeffConklin
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Linear vs Issue Based Structure
Linear structure
Issue-based structure
Normal surface structure
Content deep structure
Traditional, familiar
Specialized, dense
Chronological: each
Elements organized by key
successive element based
questions - sequence
on salience & relevance with factored out
previous
Optimized to minimize load
on working memory
Optimized for large scale
coherence
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“The problem is that
process X doesn’t
work well.”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“The problem is that
process X doesn’t
work well.”
“I’m not so sure. I
think the real
problem is that Y
doesn’t work very
well.”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“The problem is that
process X doesn’t
work well.”
“I’m not so sure. I
think the real problem
is that Y doesn’t work
very well.”
“Yeah. There have
been big
improvements in X
lately. …“
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“The problem is that
process X doesn’t
work well.”
“I’m not so sure. I
think the real problem
is that Y doesn’t work
very well.”
“Yeah. There have
been big
improvements in X
lately. I think we
should just
implement Plan A,
like we discussed
months ago!”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“The problem is that
process X doesn’t
work well.”
“I’m not so sure. I
think the real problem
is that Y doesn’t work
very well.”
“Yeah. There have
been big
improvements in X
lately. I think we
should just implement
Plan A, like we
discussed months
ago!”
“Plan A won’t work,
because it doesn’t
address process Z.
The truth is, Z
doesn’t work at all!”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“I agree. We need to
start over with a new
Plan B and start
getting upper
management input.”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“I agree. We need to
start over with a new
Plan B and start
getting upper
management input.”
“Wait a minute.
What’s the problem
with Z? I thought we
had that fixed?”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Dialogue map follows the non-linear
conversation process
“I agree. We need to
start over with a new
Plan B and start
getting upper
management input.”
“Wait a minute.
What’s the problem
with Z? I thought we
had that fixed?”
“Z costs too much,
and the costs are
increasing, and in
any case it doesn’t
meet the new
interoperability
standards.”
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Non-linear cognition means jumping
around between issues
What is the problem? …
What are the criteria? …
What does ‘xxxxxx’ mean? …
What are the facts? …
What should we do? …
How should we do X? …
Time
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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Bridging the Structural Gap
Surface Structure – how we
communicate about an issue
Linear Process &
Media
Deep structure – the organization
of the content
Non-linear Process &
media
We need tools
that show both
surface & deep
structures and
the connections
between them
Article about
global warming
Map of deep
structure of article
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
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CogNexus Institute
Knowledge Mapping for Nonlinear Processes
http://cognexus.org
© 2008 CogNexus Institute
The book
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