RunsheetKnowledge Modeling

Concept Mapping

ComplexityMedium

Time1-2 h

Participants1-8

FormatWorkshop + async

MaturityCanonical

Preparation

What needs to be ready before start

Materials

Whiteboard or Miro board with a large open area; sticky notes for concepts; markers for directional labels on connections; shared focus question at the top; timer.

People / roles

One facilitator who guides the concept core and the relationships; one to eight participants with subject matter or learning background; a scribe for the gap list and follow-up questions.

Pre-read

Focus question as a single sentence; existing glossaries, models, or research notes; definition of what counts as a concept (noun or noun phrase, not a verb); target audience of the map (internal, didactic, etc.).

Time needed

1-2 h

Setup

Focus question at the top of the board. Example concept and example relationship ("Concept A — influences — Concept B") visible. Rule: every connection needs a verb or relationship label.

Core question

The one question this method answers

Which concepts belong to the focus question, how are they semantically related, and where do knowledge gaps or contradictions appear?

Flow

Marker: Phase

Step	Duration	Action	Hint
1Phase 1: Focus question and core concept	10-15 min	Read the focus question aloud. Put the core concept, the central term, in the middle of the board. If needed, use two or three central concepts when the focus question has multiple axes.	If the core concept stays unclear, the focus question has multiple subquestions. Narrow it first, then map.
2Phase 2: Gather concepts	15-25 min	Brainwriting solo for 5 min: each person writes at least 10 concepts related to the focus question. Then place them around the core concept. Consolidate duplicates.	Concepts are nouns or noun phrases, not verbs or full sentences. Anyone who writes "improve" should rephrase to "improvement loop".
3Phase 3: Name relationships	30-45 min	Draw connecting lines, each labeled with a verb or relationship phrase ("influences", "consists of", "causes", "is a prerequisite for"). Use arrows to show direction for each connection.	Connections without labels are worthless. The label carries the actual semantics of the map.
4Phase 4: Check structure and gaps	15-20 min	Walk through the map together. Form clusters, make the hierarchy visible (more general concepts higher up). Mark gaps or contradictions.	A concept map with only a few cross-links is usually a hierarchy, not a network. Cross-links are the valuable insight.
5Phase 5: Follow-up questions and owners	10-15 min	Formulate one follow-up question per gap or contradiction. Capture owner and deadline. Export the map and store it in the knowledge base.	Gaps are often the topics where the team is learning right now. Capturing them is worthwhile even without immediate resolution.

Artifact

What comes out at the end

Form

Concept Map as image or digital map plus Markdown with focus question, concept list, labeled connections, cluster notes, gap list, and open follow-up questions with owner.

Versioning / ownership

Create one map per focus question with date. Version a growing map regularly, for example quarterly, and document the delta. For larger restructures, create a new version and keep the old one as a snapshot.

Tool alternatives

Miro or FigJam with a free concept map canvas
CmapTools for classic concept maps
draw.io with graph layout
Obsidian Graph View for note-based maps

concept-mapping-working-template.md

Compact working template for Concept Mapping with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.

Concept Mapping Canvas

Context

What is this method used for?

Core question

Which question should be answered at the end?

Input

Which data, observations, or materials are available?

Working area

Area 1:
Area 2:
Area 3:
Relationships / patterns:

Output artifacts

Concept Map:
Relationship Labels:
Knowledge Gaps:

Open questions

Next step

Owner, date, success signal.

Example output

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

concept-mapping-beispiel.md

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

Concept Map — Customer Activation in B2B SaaS (17.05.2026)

Focus question: What influences the activation rate of new B2B SaaS customers in the first 30 days?

Core concept: Activation Rate

Concepts (excerpt, 28 total): Onboarding flow, aha moment, time to first value, decision maker, end user, setup help, integrations, data migration, champion, sales-CS handoff.

Connections (excerpt):

Onboarding flow → influences → time to first value
Time to first value → correlates with → activation rate
Champion → is a prerequisite for → successful data migration
Sales-CS handoff → influences → expectations → influences → onboarding experience

Symptom

The map closes without follow-up questions or owners for knowledge gaps.

What to do

Enforce Phase 5. Capture at least three follow-up questions with owner and date before the session ends.

Stop criteria

Done signals checkable in under a minute

The focus question cannot be formulated in one sentence after 15 min.

Fewer than two people with subject matter background are available, so concepts stay generic.

The workshop is planned for under 45 min, so all five phases cannot be completed.

The method is used for prioritization or linear process modeling, so a different tool is needed.

The map loses readability and clusters after Phase 3, so the scope is too broad.

No person is available to own follow-up questions, so gaps fade away.

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