5. Mental Model Diagrams as Opportunity Maps
About this course
Start date: 16-Jun-21
Summary
Opportunity maps are tools for design strategy & inclusivity. They force you to look at your solutions through the perspective of people trying to accomplish their own purposes.
The other courses in this series cover how to create the diagrams. This is how to use them.
Opportunity maps are a powerful, mind-blowing way to see where you are making assumptions and decide how to methodologically, consciously, purposefully patch them. In this course you’ll get to explore many examples how organizations in software, manufacturing, insurance, higher education, and tech have discovered new clarity and product directions over the past decade. You’ll learn how to layer data from other research on the diagrams. You’ll see how to find gaps and weaknesses, measure progress, and even create scenarios for different thinking styles to help you create multiple ways for people to achieve their purposes.
Organizations use opportunity maps to clarify and categorize the potential paths hidden in front of them.

Above the horizontal line of a mental model diagram is a city-skyline picture of how the people you support think their way through their purpose. Mapped below street level, under each building, is the foundation, containing everything your organization does to support each tower. These diagrams are long-lived; each year you will add a little more knowledge to them. You will see a little further into your future. You can layer data from other research on top of the towers, measure progress toward better support for each thinking styles, and fill in the gaps beneath towers your organization is positioned to support. It’s an incredible way to confidently, systematically discover your potential.
You will learn how to:
- practice the neutral mindset of understanding people as people
- map your org’s capabilities to the towers in a mental model diagram
- look at your products & services through the perspective of people trying to accomplish their purpose
- analyze gaps & weaknesses from the perspective of the people you seek to support
- discover if your support is skewed to one thinking style, and if that is unintentional
- create support for perspectives and approaches you had not considered before
- pivot safely and quickly using the opportunity map
- measure how well you are truly supporting people
- create a matrix of scenarios for clarity in what “support” really needs to encompass
- mesh with JTBD and Design Thinking, providing richer, longer-lived data to feed process
Who is this for?
This is a course for everyone who is involved in creating products & services that support real humans.
Bring this holistic, systemic planning tool to your organization for more inclusive, deeply supportive solutions.
Prerequisites
- understanding of listening
- understanding of listening sessions for data collection
- watch one of Indi’s latest recorded talks
- listen to one of the latest Other Recordings
Recommended reading
- Essay – “Woke” in the Technology Workplace
- Essay – When & Why to Explore the Problem Space
- Podcast – Design Thinking 101 Episode 6
- Podcast – Design Everywhere Episode 1
- Podcast – Aurelius Episode 15
How does it work?
Duration
4 classes of 2 hours each. The live version of a course takes about four weeks to complete.
Time Zones
Live courses are taught Wed 10:30am or Friday 5:30pm San Francisco time. here are two helpful tools: 1. Time zone converter 2. Explore your time zone
Homework Review
Students who enroll for the live version of the courses will have Indi review their homework.
Pricing
Several pricing tiers aim to support different budgets and currency rates.
Enrollment options
3 enrollment options give you the choice as to how to complete the course.
Previous start dates
Jun-2020; Jun-2019
More courses
Price & Enrollment Options
For each course you can enroll in one of these three ways
Live Online Classes
Join a class of 25 or less participants, from around the globe. Classes are taught online live by Indi.
- Live discussions & questions during classes
- Choice of two class periods per week (Group A or Group B)
- Partner for homework with others in your Group
- Homework review of your work by Indi & assistant
- Membership in Slack community
- Access to recordings of the course
- Recordings accessible for 3 months
- Letter of Completion available
- Counts toward problem space certification program
Individual
Team
If you have a team attending from one organization:
3 people ~15% | $660 each ($1980 total) |
4 people ~20% | $621 each ($2484 total) |
5 people ~25% | $582 each ($2910 total) |
6-10 people ~30% | $543 each |
11-15 people ~35% | $504 each |
16+ people ~40% | $466 each |
Follow-along Option
If you cannot attend class, but still want to follow along with the latest course as it is taught, this is a great option for you.
- Partner for homework with others who are also following-along
- Some cheat sheets for self-review of homework
- Membership in Slack community
- Access to recordings of the currently underway live course
- Recordings accessible for 6 weeks (motivation to finish!)
- No letter of completion available
- Does not count toward the problem space certification program
Individual
Archived Access
If the course you are interested in is not coming up soon enough, consider the archived recording.
- Last year’s course recordings
- Some cheat sheets for self-review of homework
- Membership in Slack community
- Recordings accessible for 6 months
- No letter of completion available
- Does not count toward the problem space certification program
Individual
Pricing Level Details
Regular – When your organization will cover the cost, e.g. your boss is paying
Government/Military/Non-profit – When a government, military, or non-profit organization is covering your education cost
Out-of-Pocket – When you will NOT be reimbursed for the cost by anyone; also use this if you are a member of a union and your boss is not paying
Extreme Currency Exchange – Not in the US? When your your purchasing power is at an extreme disadvantage with the US dollar, we have much bigger discounts. We want to include folks in Brazil, India, Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, etc.
Refund Policy
Refunds are possible up until 2 days prior to your course start date.