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Course 5. MMD OppMaps

5. Mental Model Diagrams as Opportunity Maps

    About this course

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    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.

    Employers & Disability in the Workplace, a mental model diagram by Valerie Malzer, Sarah von Schrader, designed by Camille G. Lee, researched in conjunction with Indi Young. Employment & Disability Institute, ILR School, Cornell University

    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.

    SIGN UP

    Prerequisites

    • understanding of listening
    • understanding of listening sessions for data collection

    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
    If you wanna know the power of Mental Model Diagrams, this is "The Course". You won't find anywhere else the variety of examples, applications, and strategies with stakeholders that Indi shares.
    – Raul Loureiro - Jul-2020
    I like that you encourage challenging questions.
    – Anna Malysheva - Jul-2020
    Your course had a great influence on me personally as an individual who makes daily decisions to build digital products.
    – Raul Loureiro - Jul-2020
    I was worried about it being too advanced, but I felt comfortable within the first day. Thank you for making it accessible (and a lot of fun) even for newbies.
    – Anna Malysheva - Jul-2020

    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

    5. Thinking styles

    Next date: 05-May-2021

    6. Mental Model Diagrams as Opportunity Maps
    1. Framing your study

    Next date: 16-Sep-2020

    Pricing & enrollment options

    Enrollment options

    For each course you can enroll in one of the three ways

    Live Online Courses

    Join a class of 25 or less participants, from around the globe. Classes are taught online live by Indi.

    • Live discussions & questions during classes
    • Access to slack community
    • Access to recordings of the course
    • Recordings available for 3 months
    • Homework review of your work by Indi & assistant
    • Partner for homework with others in your group

    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.

    • Access to slack community
    • Access to recordings of the currently underway live course
    • Recordings available for 6 weeks (motivation to finish!)
    • Homework, but no homework review
    • Partner for homework with others currently following-along
    Archived Access

    If the course you are interested in is not coming up any time soon, this is an option to provide you access to the recordings of the course when it was taught for the last time.

    • Access to slack community
    • Access to recordings of the last time this course was taught
    • Recordings available for 6 months
    • Homework, but no homework review

    Looking to sign up your team? Contact us about team discounts

    Price levels for individuals

    Price LevelLive Online CoursesFollow-Along OptionArchived Footage
    RegularUS $776US $194US $194
    Out-of-pocketUS $388US $194US $194
    Government & militaryUS $582US $145US $145
    Extreme currency exchange*
    (e.g. Brazil, Ukraine, India)
    US $80US $40US $40

    Regular price – when your organization will cover the cost
    Out-of-pocket – when you will NOT be reimbursed for the cost
    Government & military – when you are a government employee , active service member, or veteran
    *Extreme currency exchange – when your currency exchange rate is at an extreme difference with the US dollar (your payment must come from an account in a country with a big rate difference, e.g. Brazil, India, Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia …)

    SIGN UP
    Refund Policy

    Refunds are possible up until 2 days prior to your course start date.

    Team Discounts

    If you have a team of three, four, five, on up to 20, there are discounts!

    Contact us about team discounts.

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