Posted by Tim van Gelder on August 11th, 2008 — Posted in bCisive
[This post first appeared in the Aug 7 bMail.]
We often get asked how decision mapping with bCisive relates to other kinds of mapping.
The short answer is that decision mapping, unlike any other kind of mapping, is specifically designed to help with general business decisions. Other kinds of mapping are more general techniques which could be used to map business decisions, but are not particularly helpful in that regard.
Here is a quick summary of the most common kinds of mapping:
Mind Mapping is organizing ideas in a hierarchical, circular structure looking somewhat like a starfish or a neuron. Although there is an ‘official’ way to mind map, as defined by Buzan, with a specific set of principles, the method has become more loosely defined as the technique has become more widely utilized.
Concept Mapping is creating a network of concepts connected by relations, e.g. ROSE — is a — FLOWER. Unlike mind maps, concept maps are not limited to hierarchies. A distinctive visual feature of concept maps is the labeling of the links between concepts to indicate the type of relation between them (e.g. ‘is a’)
Dialog Mapping is producing a map based on the ‘IBIS’ framework, whose key concepts are Questions, Ideas, Pros and Cons. The IBIS framework was developed in the 1970s primarily to help people handle so-called ‘wicked problems’.
Argument Mapping is producing a ‘box and arrow’ diagram of arguments, or more generally, reasoning. Since reasoning is a matter of relationships among propositions, argument maps have propositions (claims, statements, sentences) in the boxes, and the relationships between them are logical or evidential. Argument maps are typically hierarchical, like mind maps, though they need not be; indeed advanced argument mapping (see ‘Advanced Reasoning’ in Rationale) requires a structure which is more elaborate than a simple hierarchy.
Business Decision Mapping (BDM) lays out the considerations involved in a deliberative business decision, i.e. a decision that is made (typically within some organization) by assessing the arguments bearing on various possible courses of action. The classic BDM structure is the Question-Options-Pros & Cons framework found in the Basic Decision Map template in bCisive. BDM incorporates elements of both Dialog Mapping and Argument Mapping, but provides a richer conceptual framework than either of those. Read more about Business Decision Mapping.
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Posted by Anna Cumming on August 11th, 2008 — Posted in bCisive, tips
Looking for shortcuts and ways to extend your use of bCisive?
Read the new Tips and Tricks section on the bCisive website - and feel free to contribute your own favorite trick.
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Posted by Anna Cumming on July 31st, 2008 — Posted in bCisive, tips
Have you noticed the little + and - symbols in the bottom right corner of your bCisive map boxes?
Click on them and you can hide or reveal that box’s descendants: great if you want to focus your thinking or your collaborators’ attention on just one area of your map.
Hide and Show just got more powerful
You don’t have to show your whole hand at once any more. bCisive 1.0.5 introduced new options in the right-click menu’s Hide/Show area, letting you choose how many levels you’d like to reveal.
Streamline the process even further by choosing Fold Up Children. This sets the + symbol in the corner of each box to reveal only the next level of the branch, instead of all the box’s descendants.
This new control is particularly handy when you’re presenting a recommendation or explaining the rationale behind a decision. You can display the options considered…
… and then walk your audience through your thinking, revealing levels as you go… (click on thumbnails to see full-size maps)
…until you reach your recommendation or decision.
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Posted by Daniel Prager on July 31st, 2008 — Posted in bCisive
bCisive has not been out for long, but word is getting around. Here’s what three savvy bloggers have to say:
Steve Rothwell, a mind-mapper and consultant, is starting to catch the buzz:
I’ve just downloaded a trial of bCisive - a business decision making and diagramming tool. First impressions are very good.
When you run bCisive you are presented with a typical workspace in which to model the decision. However the way the workspace is designed has real impact and yet is fresh and clean.
Building a decision tree is quick and easy and I will experiment more with this. I see great potential for using this interactively in business meetings, workshops and group consultations.
Michael Sampson visited Austhink Software at our Fortress of Lucidity, and has blogged about his visit and about bCisive:
Continue reading “What the bloggers are saying”
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Posted by Henry Okraglik on June 18th, 2008 — Posted in bCisive, employee retention, satisfaction, software tool
It is well known that employee retention is closely linked to employee satisfaction, and that satisfaction is consistently linked to more than just remuneration. It includes things like flexible working hours, the people you work with, variety and content of work, career development, quality of management and feeling appreciated.
Continue reading “Thoughts on employee retention and bCisive”
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Posted by Tim van Gelder on June 3rd, 2008 — Posted in Business intelligence
I’ve long had a suspicion that, just as knowledge management generally isn’t concerned with knowledge, so “business intelligence” is not really concerned with intelligence. Rather, in both cases, they’re primarily concerned with the management of information; the hard “knowledge” or “intelligence” part is usually left for the user. This is not to deny that knowledge management and business intelligence are useful; of course they are, in their own ways. It is just that there is a gap between their somewhat grand self-designations and the somewhat more mundane reality of what they do.
Continue reading “The Missing I in BI”
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Posted by Daniel Prager on April 11th, 2008 — Posted in bCisive, flow, tips
When faced with a moderately complex task, divide-and-conquer is the classic approach. Let’s see how this works in bCisive.
Continue reading “A Quick Map’s a Good Map”
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Posted by Tim van Gelder on April 10th, 2008 — Posted in decision, deliberative, everyweek
bCisive was developed as a tool for business decision making. But business is a pretty broad category, and many kinds of decisions made in businesses. Where does bCisive fit?
Continue reading “bCisive - for what decisions?”
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Posted by Daniel Prager on April 10th, 2008 — Posted in Austhink, Rationale, bCisive
Hello World!
blogCisive is a fresh new group blog from Austhink, makers of diagramming software that helps you make and communicate better decisions.
Our original product, Rationale, grew out of the academic discipline of critical thinking and aimed to help students understand and construct better arguments.
Our brand-spanking new product, bCisive, loosens things up a bit. We have taken the best bits of Rationale and adapted them for business use. The diagramming style is less strict and more expressive, and draws on the nomenclature of Dialogue Mapping, with some extra twists of our own.
Please try these wonderful products out, and let us know what you think!
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