|
Glossary
of Terms
December
6, 1996
ANDMap® Project
Management Tool
The term "ANDMap" stands for Annotated Network Diagram Map
and refers to an invention that synthesizes Gannt charts, network diagrams like
PERT, CPM or GERT, and process flow charts. The items on the map are plotted
to scale over time and may be collected across a series of horizontal tracks,
like Gannt charts. A standard set of symbols are employed to represent a range
of activities from the strategic (Landmark, Benchmark) to the tactical
(Event, Task), to the conditional decision point (Cusp) to
the task level (Milestone). Landmarks and Benchmarks can be employed
to express large scale ideas like missions, visions and goals. Events are rounded
rectangles used to identify activities in points of time. They can be annotated
with resource and duration data and used in network diagram fashion. Tasks have
symbols representing the start and end of an activity, much the way activities
are represented on Gannt charts. The Cusp represents a decision gate that may
be found in process charts. Since the ANDMap system is laid out with time as
one of its axes, loops are usually avoided--currently it's still impossible
to go backwards in time--instead a NO decision out of a Cusp will either end
in a cessation of the project, an alternative contingency, or an indication
that previous work must be redone, and showing this rework extending out along
the timeline so the project team can get a visual sense of the impact of the
decision. Milestones are used to highlight significant subdivisions of Events
or Tasks. All of the symbols are connected by lines that may be coded to represent
dependency, parallel processing, or critical information exchange. The symbols
and lines may be color coded to provide additional information to the user,
and extensive annotations may be written around the symbols on the map to provide
explanations.
Author-to-Author
A type of DesignShop® module in which each participant has been given a
different book to read in advance. At the time of the module, the participants
engage in a discussion of the issues facing the enterprise, however, they discuss
from the vantage point of the authors they have read. Each participant assumes
the personae, knowledge base, vantage point and opinions of the author whose
book they were assigned to read. The exercise forces a change of vantage point
and introduces new information into the pot. It's a day one or day two exercise.
Breakout
A general activity during a DesignShop® event when a large group is divided
into smaller teams to work on either different issues, or different aspects
of the same issue. The space in which this activity takes place is a Breakout
Area. The group undertaking this activity is called a Breakout Team. Breakout
activities are variously referred to as Breakout Rounds or Design Rounds.
Capture Team
A subset of the KreW of Knowledge Workers in a DesignShop® event who are
assigned to work in a Breakout Area to document, or capture, the discussion
in one or more forms: keywords, synthesis (by individual attribution or journalistic
summary), graphics from the WorkWall® units. The work of this team is published
to the DesignShop Journal.
Circle-Up
A ritual for the disciplined sorting of signals to help a Patch (Team) through
the process of association and decision-making in support of the next major
phase of work. Circle-Up also brings the Patch into unity at a point in time;
although unity does not imply consensus in this case. It's also a formal time
to acknowledge progress, failures and successes along the Lifecycle of the Web
(Enterprise). It's a time to engage the multiple intelligences of the team's
members in a process of collaborative design. Commonly a Circle-Up is use to
shape the opening and closing of an event. It can put the Patch back in touch
with its Vision and the iteration of the work to be done.
Crew
(Also spelled KreW) A team of Knowledge Workers charged with supporting an event
such as a DesignShop® process.
DesignShop®
Process
An specific process whose purpose is to release group genius in the client,
condense the time in which a team moves from Scan
to Act by an order of magnitude, completely capture and organize all of
the information generated, and do all of this in a facilitated way by managing
not the people involved, but the 7 Domains
that regulate collaboration and evolve ingenuity. Variations on the DesignShop
process include DesignSession™ events, ZoomTrax™ events, PatchWorks™
Designs, and several other MG Taylor® Workshop processes. The DesignShop
process was conceived and designed by Matt and Gail Taylor.
DesignShop®
Sponsor
Representatives from the client who usually have a considerable stake in the
successful outcome of the DesignShop event. They may be project managers, department
heads, or CEO's. Sponsors are also participants in the event, although in some
cases they may work on the KreW. Some clients have only one sponsor, and others
have an entire sponsor team.
Discovery Day
The initial designsession between MG Taylor and a prospective client. Discovery
Days usually follow a series of phone conversations and preliminary meetings
and usually takes place in an MG Taylor environment. The client has already
received some introduction to MG Taylor and its processes and MG Taylor already
knows something about what the client seeks to create. The purpose of the DesignSession™
process is to play 'Spoze (what if) by sketching
out a rough idea of what a DesignShop event might look like--who would attend,
what the outcomes might be, the process for achieving these outcomes, and what
follow-up might be required. Through the Discovery Day, the client gets a brief
experience of what it's like to work in a Management Center® environment
and in a DesignShop process.
Documentation
Team
A subset of the KreW whose work comprises capturing reports and conversations
that occur when all of the participants are assembled into one group. (The Capture
Teams document reports and conversations that happen in Breakout Teams.)
Engagement Team
A group of people who are assigned to work with a specific client over the duration
of the relationship. They may also include DesignShop® facilitators and
Knowledge Workers, but this is not necessary.
Environment
For purposes of this website, this term typically refers to a space designed
to support an MG Taylor® process, such as a DesignShop® event. More
generally, any space that has been consciously designed and configured to support
a process in a flexible and evolutionary manner. Most of us work in "spaces"
(office space, work space, etc.) that are devoid of enlightened, conscious design,
and therefore very poorly support our lives and the processes that comprise
them. [see more on environments at the Athenaeum
International page.]
Facilitator
(sometimes called the Key Facilitator)
The Facilitator works with the DesignShop® Sponsors (which may include members
of the engagement team) and the Process Facilitator (representing the KreW)
to design the DesignShop event before it begins, manage the continuing design
and execution of the DesignShop process while it is happening, to bring closure
to ideas and processes immediately following the event, and to open paths for
progress to the next stages of work.
from A Manual of Facilitation
Version 1 Draft 2
To facilitate means "to make easy"” The art of facilitation is the
art of bringing clarity and effectiveness to the work process of individuals
and groups. The facilitator's mandate is to ensure that the process is designed
and implemented in a way that brings out the best thinking of each participant
and the best resolution of issues from each group.
Facilitation involves a
wide range of actions. It involves bringing order to the universe of thoughts
and possibilities about a topic, and giving back to people what they already
know, in a way that brings clarity and a foundation for effective action. It
involves setting appropriate boundaries (time, physical space, and agreements)
within which an individual or group can work effectively. It involves clarifying
conditions and goals, through a process we describe as "creating
the problem."
Facilitation involves introducing
the right "new" information that challenges existing ways of thinking
and leads individuals to discover their own unexamined assumptions about a given
situation. It involves observation and assessment, and taking actions to ensure
that a group's natural biases don't prevent some vantage points from being heard,
or certain phases of the creative cycle to skipped. When necessary, the facilitator
will interject new challenges to prevent a group from coming to closure on an
idea prematurely; and at other times to push a group to closure when the exploration
is sufficient and no gain is to be made by working an issue further.
We reject the notion that
the facilitator should be an "objective third party" who does not
get involved in content and focuses only on process, performing some kind of
umpire or gatekeeper role. We don't apply the "facilitator as umpir"”
model for many reasons, including philosophical considerations: no one can ever
be completely unbiased, and as modern physics has shown, even the act of observing
a process will affect that process. Moreover, it's our experience that the agreements
put in place by this model nearly always function more to protect the facilitator
than to produce effective results.
Group Genius (SM)
The ability of a group working iteratively and collaboratively to seek,
model and put into place higher-order solutions. Time compression, systemic
workflow, dynamic feedback, individual creativity and collective creativity
are core features of Group Genius.
The Group Genius process
is the heart of MG Taylor's methodology. Designing, building, and using environments,
processes, and tools that systematically and repeatedly release this ability
critically distinguishes the MG Taylor¨ Process from other ways of working.
Hypertile™
Palette
The WorkWall® units that MG Taylor Corporation
manufactures (through Athenaeum International)
are made of steel, and therefore accept magnets. Hypertile palettes are large
rectangles of flexible magnetic material, measuring up to 11"x17".
It is covered on one side with a sticky surface manufactured by 3M. Large sheets
of paper can be adhered to this surface and peeled off without leaving any residue
on the back of the paper (sort of like an inverse Post-It Note). The paper can
then be photocopied or scanned for entry into the Knowledge Base.
Infolog Number
Every document produced in the network has an Infolog number assigned to it
(see the bottom of this web page for a sample). There have been different types
of Infolog numbers in the past but the type most often used in DesignShop®
events is composed of a complete date/time group sorted from year to second,
employing a 24 hour clock, and expressed in local time, followed by a period,
and then the initials of the individual creating or filing the document. The
Infolog number, 19970131214513.jsb indicates that the document was logged in
1997 on January 31 at 9:45:13 PM by someone whose initials are JSB. This convention
will hold for the time being, but must be changed in the near future to avoid
possible duplication. In a DesignShop event, each entry made by a documentor
is automatically Infologged by the database software; a DesignShop Journal may
have hundreds of Infologs associated with it.
Journal
The complete, chronological record of ideas and concepts discussed or illustrated
during the DesignShop event. Every conversation, each report, every WorkWall
unit is captured and placed into the Journal database by the Capture Team, Documentation
Team or Sketch Hogs. The Journal is not a transcription, but an attributed summary
or synthesis of conversations. WorkWall units are either captured by hand or
digital camera.
Knowledge Agents
Pieces of information, usually from outside of the body of knowledge resident
in the participants, brought to the attention of the group at the right time
to help bring ideas into focus or expand a perception. Knowledge Agents may
take the form of articles from magazines or journals, research papers, or databases.
A sub-category of K-Agents are Knowledge Objects.
KnowledgeWall™
System
Management Center® environments have at least one large wall--sometimes
up to 50 feet in length, usually the back side of the Radiant Wall-- that is
covered with a mildly adhesive surface manufactured by 3M. This wall serves
as an oversized European-style kiosk. All sorts of information may be posted
to the wall. Sometimes portions of the documentation are placed on it. Photographs,
color art work, and diagrams are also posted here. Articles from magazines or
the Internet are also displayed for participants to browse through. Information
is not displayed haphazardly, rather, a layout is thoughtfully designed, making
the wall a structured information event.
Knowledge Workers
The individuals who comprise the KreW that supports an event such as a DesignShop
event. They are responsible for managing the flow of information temporally
through the duration of the DesignShop event and spatially within the environment.
Knowledge Worker
Sponsor
A Knowledge Worker of at least Journeyman level who is also a Process Facilitator
or Facilitator, and whose purpose is to provide an official, facilitative and
welcoming link to the work and philosophy of MG Taylor Corporation for one or
several other Knowledge Workers in the network.
KreW
Another term for the Crew of a DesignShop event or other
event. The "K" and "W" in the title refer to the abbreviation
"KW", or Knowledge Worker. The "re" can take on most any
meaning that seems appropriate to the situation.
KWIB™ Role
Knowledge Work Information Broker. Each Management Center or KnOwhere store
has a KWIB role, usually assigned on a rotating basis, to collect, maintain
and disburse information concerning events in the center.
Logistics
The KreW facilitates the flow of matter, energy and information through the
DesignShop event or the Management Center environment. Logistics focuses on
the flow of matter and energy. This includes providing the physical environment,
tools, equipment, materials, food. It also calls for the continual refreshing
and maintenance of these elements. [Of course, these all comprise messages bearing
information... darn that interconnected, fractal, feedback driven, recursive
nature of the universe!]
Management Center®
Environment
Special environment for managing the design and innovation process in the context
of expected social-economic change, and for building action plans to accomplish
the goals established. By careful facilitation of the elements of environment,
information, design and group process, Management Centers decrease the "accident"
factor of discovery and synergistic events. Management Center environments are
"safe" environments in which designers and decision makers can risk
exploring and creating new models.
Metaphors Exercise
A Breakout Round in which the various teams will compare some "unrelated"
system to the situation at hand in a metaphorical way. If the situation concerns
a distribution system, a team might be asked to examine how an ant colony manages
its distribution system, or how a distribution system might be described in
quantum mechanical terms. The purpose is two-fold: (1) to actually learn how
other, alien or obscure systems actually manage similar processes, and (2) to
see the situation from a radically different vantage point since we know that
this is a powerful technique for generating creativity.
copyright
© 1996 - 2000, MG Taylor Corporation. All rights reserved
copyrights,
terms and conditions
19961206094956.web.bsc
|
