Commissioning us

What you can ask for

Some things have a price on them. For the rest we send a quote.

1. Buy it

   When you know what to buy. The price is listed, so you can order it as it is.

   • Toolkits↗Sets of diagram formats, games and single-sheet maps, for workshops and elsewhere.BizgramPurpose ModelPolicy Model
   • Books→Business Model 2.0 Visual Guide, The Map of Accounting, Purpose Model, and others. Some have translated editions.Business Model 2.0 Visual GuideThe Map of AccountingPurpose Model: How to Build Co-Creation That Engages People
   • Products→Bizgram, Kaikei, Kadai and Slides. Some are free to use.BizgramSlidesKaikei

2. Commission it

   When you know what you want done. We quote from how much there is to do — sessions, people, duration.

   • Training and workshopsA session where people think with their hands, using our diagram formats. Design, materials and facilitation on the day.Online course: Learning business models through diagramsWorkshop: Diagrams that deepen reading
   • Making the diagramWe put a complex concept, or a whole business, onto a single sheet.Structuring the concepts of disaster environmental studiesDiagram supervision for the book Circular Design
   • Building an issue map→We lay out the issues in a field as a structure, so you can decide where to start.Home Healthcare Issue Design MapHPSC Recovery Map
   • TalksWe talk about how we think in diagrams and what we have actually done. Judging and review are included.Support for the Benesse business model analysis contest
   • Staying with a business or an organisationWe join a new business or a scheme and stay in it, usually renewed year by year.Support and bottleneck visualisation for organisational renewal
   • Running the secretariatWe take on the running of a project that several organisations are part of.Community Drive project

3. Talk it through

   When all you have is the problem. We work out what to ask for together, then quote.

   • Something not yet in shapeThemes we have not worked on before are welcome. We start by working out what it is you want to solve.
   • What people usually come to talk aboutYou do not need to know what to ask for. Start from where things are stuck.

     1. Everyone involved says something different, and nothing moves

        • The questions are not sorted out, and the discussion talks past itself
        • There are many parties, and the discussion splits
        • Purpose and roles stay vague while the work proceeds

        Reach agreement

        We put what each side is aiming for onto one sheet, so decisions can be made while looking at the same picture. We come in from designing the meetings through to running them.

        Support and bottleneck visualisation for organisational renewalStructuring the concepts of disaster environmental studies

     2. The business or the system is complex, and we cannot explain it well to the people involved

        • We cannot get the whole picture of the business or the strategy in order
        • Each party starts from a different understanding
        • The theme is too complex to see whole

        Make it visible

        We turn the whole structure, and how the parts connect, into a diagram. Not scattered documents but one sheet that reads the same to anyone.

        Home Healthcare Issue Design MapHPSC Recovery Map

     3. We put it in order, but nobody on the ground uses it

        • The way we explain it varies every time
        • We want a format we can think with, without relying on outsiders
        • We reach agreement, but the doing does not continue

        Make it usable

        We turn the diagram into an app or a template people can actually work in. We go as far as making it something they can update themselves.

        KadaiVisual thinking tools kit

     4. What we decided never takes hold on the ground

        • People learn it, but it is not used in real work
        • Explanation and discussion depend on particular individuals
        • The way of thinking varies from person to person

        Keep it running

        We do not stop at building it: we set who updates it and how, and keep it turning. We also run training so people inside your organisation can do the same structuring. Business models, strategy and accounting are among the themes.

        Community Drive projectSupport for the Nanao disaster volunteer centre manual

     5. What we want to say is not yet in a form we can put out widely

        • We got stuck on an introductory book everyone calls easy
        • People inside start from different premises
        • We cannot put specialised content into a form that reaches outsiders

        Get it across

        We take what has been put in order inside the organisation and give it a form that reaches outside — publishing, books, and providing frameworks. We break a theme into its parts and their relations, and edit it so it can be understood from the whole.

        Business Model 3.0 Visual GuidePolicy DiagramsPurpose Model: How to Build Co-creation That Draws People InDiagram supervision for the book Circular Design