The why and how of using Narratives to make meaning, and arrive at clarity. A summary of the method with examples from a recent client.

1. USING STORYTELLING
TO GENERATE
CLARITY
1
The why and how of using Narratives to make meaning, and arrive at clarity.
A summary of the method with examples from a recent client.

2. Humans are meaning making machines and when
faced with complexity, are very good at creating
stories to explain the world.

3. WHAT IS SENSEMAKING
• It is a human activity that applies meaning to experience, based in new inputs,
combined with previous knowledge.
• Sensemaking is largely an individual act, even though we may do it in groups.
• It is closely related to Design Synthesis, but is focused on creating meaning, not
just creating the new.
Examples of sensemaking:
• Articulating Problems to solve.
• Problem Framing.
• Generating Insights.
• Generative / Abductive thinking.
Outcomes of sensemaking:
• An individual, or shared understanding of the situation.
• Defined, discrete meaning that can be evaluated and prioritised.
• Defined problems that could be solved.

4. • It allows us to define what is important and what is not.
• It narrows our focus.
• It draws on the varied and broad experience of individuals in the process.
• Highlights the importance of team composition to include radical and
incremental innovators, as well as other diversity factors.
• In a nutshell, it provides clarity.
WHY IS SENSEMAKING USEFUL

5. • Explicit sensemaking is particularly useful:
• When faced with complex situations.
• When faced with lots of new information or research outputs.
• Sensemaking is the opposite of strange-making.
• Strange-making = differentiation which is something we do to ensure our
products sell or that we can maintain competitive advantage.
• Sensemaking on the other hand, is used to understand our surroundings, a
market for example, with a view to create our own identity within it.
• Generally speaking, sensemaking is more useful upstream in the business (strategy),
whilst strange-making and differentiation is more useful downstream (products). (It
should be noted that sense-making appears as an important element of all creation
including strange-making up and downstream within the business.)
HOW AND WHEN DO WE USE SENSEMAKING

6. Sensemaking is something we do
constantly as individuals. But if we are to
orient ourselves using the double
diamond, then it’s at the apex of the
diamond the the most critical
sensemaking occurs.
First we diverge to better understand the
facts, and the context around us.
Then the sensemaking part consists of
us introducing constraints, problem
framing, creating models etc.
Diverge Converge Diverge Converge
Sensemaking
The Double Diamond
SENSEMAKING IS A CRITICAL TURNING POINT IN THE DESIGN PROCESS

7. Sensemaking
Facts
New Information
Feelings
Your personal experience
Insights
New truths
Actions
Tangible steps
THERE ARE 4 STEPS WE USE TO FACILITATE SENSEMAKING

8. Participants can use this template to
articulate their thoughts. It takes you
through the 4 key steps and you are free
to use words pictures or both.
It’s ok to fill it out in any order, provided
the result is a coherent story.
THE TEMPLATE MAKES CREATING A STORY EASY

9. 9
EXAMPLE SESSION

10. Background:
Client needed to share and distill existing knowledge and
insights from disparate departments, all around a specific
business the organisation owned.
Our Brief to client:
Each ‘head-of’ be prepared to present the key facts or
latest trends in your domain.
We will run a full day workshop together sharing and
surfacing the most important problems to investigate.
Example:
Comments on the process:
Research (such as Ethnographic Studies, Journey Mapping
etc) will often precede this kind of Sensemaking activity.
[we have many activities at this stage for different
scenarios].
In this case, the key task was to leverage the knowledge
already in the minds of the stakeholders, and to align
their thinking in where to focus next. Hence no new
research was conducted.
This exercise and explanation specifically focuses on the
task of taking information (from research, insights, facts,
opinion etc) and collectively distilling it into meaning.
The multiple outputs may then be evaluated and prioritised
for further research, or as specific problems to be
solved.
EXAMPLE SESSION: CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAM NEEDS TO
CONVERGE ON A PROBLEM TO SOLVE

11. EACH DEPARTMENT SHARED DATA, PERSPECTIVES, OR
RESEARCH FINDINGS.
Group to note down the things they see as meaningful for the
company.
• What is the most interesting insight.
• What might affect us the most in the long, or short term.
• What is the best way to build long term sustainability?
• If multiple times, write it multiple times.
• We will collect them after all speakers.
(an example of affinity mapping).
Each Speaker has
strictly 5 minutes.
Example:
Facts
Your presentations

12. Facts
Your presentations
Example:
OUTPUTS: FACTS WE SURFACED

13. TELL THE STORY OF WHAT YOU SEE BY USING THE
NARRATIVES TEMPLATE
• Maybe one stands out more than the others.
• Maybe there are links between concepts.
• Maybe one is the most value to our company.
Feelings Insights
Example:

14. EVOLVE THE STORY AS A GROUP
Share your stories with the group:
• Take turns reading your story
• We will take them and stick them on the wall as we go
• Anyone may respond with their story
• The stories may carry on and build
• The stories may also deviate and that’s ok too
Your Story
Another
Story
Example:
Feelings Insights

15. EVOLVE THE STORY AS A GROUP
Feelings Insights

16. CREATE INITIATIVES
Insights Actions
Combine & Refine
your stories
Identify initiatives/
products/ projects that can
be brought to life
Example:

17. WRITE HYPOTHESES
From the clusters we just developed, (and
using the template on the right), create 3-5
hypotheses that we could move forward
with:
Work in small groups
Then converge
Initiative
Actions
Example:

18. OUTPUT: INITIATIVES WRITTEN AND PRIORITISED
Actions
Example:

19. 19
TEMPLATES

20. NARRATIVES
A process for making sense of new information and creating a shared way
forward.
2+
Hours
Instructions as per Innovation Methods Deck v3

21. 1. Individually, group the key pieces of information you see.
2. Fill out the Template (on the right), to create a narrative of
the situation.
3. As a group, take turns sharing your narrative (while this
happens, everyone else actively listens in silence,
updating their notes).
4. As a group, comment and expand on each others’
narratives.
When faced with lots of new information, ambiguity, or lack of strategic clarity, Narratives may be of use to you. It will help groups extract meaning
from information in a way that will afford action to move forward. Great for evaluating a particular market at a strategic level, or to simply make
sense of research outputs.
Things to think about:
● Did you change your notes about the situation after hearing the
stories of others? I.e. The key information, your perspectives,
the story itself, and the points that make it meaningful?
Firstly, call out your biases…
<I’m a Male Designer, paid consultant, etc.>
THE FACT THAT…
<FACTS>
MAKES ME THINK / FEEL…
<FEELINGS>
THIS LEADS ME TO BELIEVE…
<INSIGHT>
WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS BECAUSE…
<RELEVANCE / APPETITE FOR ACTION>
INSTRUCTIONS
Instructions as per Innovation Methods Deck v3

22. Feelings Insights
NARRATIVES TEMPLATE

23. 23
EXTERNAL LINKS

24. • ‘Narratives’ in the Methods Deck v3: (TO BE PUBLISHED)
• Clarity Cards by Dave Gray & Mathias Jakobsen: http://www.thnkclrly.com/cards/
• The seven properties of sensemaking (Weick, 1995):
• Thinking types video (analytical vs sensemaking): https://videopress.com/embed/PLb08Ok1
• Abductive thinking article- Jon Kolko: http://www.jonkolko.com/writingAbductiveThinking.php
• Cynefin model of complexity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oz366X0-8
LINKS AND INPUTS THAT HELPED CREATE THIS METHOD

25. THANKS
mbiggs@thoughtworks.com
MIKE BIGGS