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Criterion
Systems Mapping method illustration showing its working structure
Systems Thinking
Systems Mapping
Paper illustration of an IBIS map with issues, positions and arguments
Knowledge Modeling
IBIS
Paper illustration of Leverage Points with its method-specific working model.
Systems Thinking
Leverage Points
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
Purposedifferent
Systems Mapping arranges elements, relationships, and boundaries so a complex field becomes legible at a glance. The overview stabilizes the overall picture before detail work or steering begins.IBIS structures thinking about complex questions as a sequence of issues, ideas, and arguments. The method keeps discussions open without forcing them into premature consensus.Leverage Points show exactly where interventions in a system produce a disproportionate effect. It draws relationships, patterns, and feedback loops. The result is captured as a leverage map and action strategy.When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumHighMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 h1-3 hHalf day1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
3-122-83-121-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
System Map, Dependencies, Leverage PointsIssue Map, Positions, Argument NotesLeverage Map, Action StrategyArgument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale
Tagsno overlap
Systems thinkingMappingBoundariesChange
RationaleKnowledgeDecision
Systems thinkingChangeStrategy
SensemakingDecisionRationale
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