Policy Diagram

How the Policy Diagram works

1. What is the Policy Diagram?

   Policy Diagram

   The Policy Diagram is a tool for organising and visualising a policy in a common format. It lets you grasp the outline of a policy: for whom, by whom, for what purpose and by what means it is carried out.

   The top row is the target: the people or organisations the policy affects. The bottom row is the implementer: the government body that carries it out. The most important is the middle row, the policy itself. The policy's name goes in the centre, its aim on the right, and the means of reaching that aim on the left.

   

2. What is the Policy Diagram?

   How to read a Policy Diagram

   Each position answers one question: for whom, why, how, and by whom. Explaining a policy in this one diagram makes it easier to understand.

   

3. Rule

   1. Place the players on a 3×3 grid

   The Policy Diagram models the basic information of a policy in a single diagram. The rule is to place everything on a 3×3 grid.

   A real policy involves many parties and cannot fit in so few cells. The rule is there on purpose: narrowing the information and setting priorities shows what is essential about the policy.

   The three rows are the key to reading a policy. The top row is the target, the middle row is the policy, and the bottom row is the implementer.

   

4. Rule

   2. Show the main players with icons

   Each row holds players, and each kind of player has its own icon.

   Policies range from efforts that cross national borders to ones in a single area. Some involve several countries; others involve local governments, companies or individuals. The icons make these differences in scale, and in who is involved, easy to see at a glance.

   

5. Rule

   3. Show actions and compulsion with arrows

   The Policy Diagram uses two kinds of arrow: action and compulsion. A straight arrow shows an exchange of value for value, as in business, where you pay someone and they provide a service.

   A compulsion arrow shows that someone is made to change their behaviour. Through law, a policy can compel people. This is different from an ordinary exchange of value, so the Policy Diagram draws it differently.

   

6. Rule

   4. Explain the rest in speech-bubble notes

   Notes carry important information that players and arrows cannot show, such as why a player is there or why an arrow exists. A note can have a note of its own.

7. How it is used

   A tool for communication

   The Policy Diagram was made to have three effects as a communication tool.

   First, drawing a policy brings out what is essential about it (essence). Second, ministry staff can hand over policy information in a common format, and archive it so knowledge is easy to share (internal). Third, it helps explain a policy clearly to outside partners, experts and the public (external).

   

Get the toolkit

政策図解ツールキットFrom ¥1,650

A printed and slide set of the Policy Diagram, ready to use in a workshop. Sold in our shop.

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Read the book

This book makes visible the policies that support our economy and society through a method called “Policy Diagram.” From familiar examples like NISA and the hometown-tax (furusato nōzei) program to international cases like the Paris Agreement and the TPP, it introduces 50 policies in a shared format. Policies set the very rules of how our economy and society work. Knowing policies—and understanding mechanisms through policies—is sure to be useful as part of a businessperson's general knowledge.

• Policy Diagrams

How the Policy Diagram Was Born

The Policy Diagram took shape over four years starting in 2019, as we explored how to express policy in an easy-to-understand way—interviewing volunteer bureaucrats and holding workshops many times, including with ministry staff, to diagram policies. In 2023, we used that format to publish a book called “Policy Diagrams” that illustrated 50 policies, and we received responses from people of various generations.

We hope the Policy Diagram becomes a chance for people for whom policy was not familiar to get to know it, and—through policy—to take action toward the society they want. We would be glad if you use it to learn about policy, express it, and discuss or act on it together with others.