Co-creating system maps

Step-by-step guide

1. ‍Plan and prepare Determine who you’ll invite as workshop participants and prepare your invitations. Describe the aim of the workshop, set expectations for your workshop, and think of an incentive for participating in the workshop if appropriate. Prepare the room (or any other venue you choose for your workshop) and write a list so that you don’t forget any essential material (templates, sticky notes, pens, research data, personas or journey maps, etc.). Write a facilitation agenda and establish facilitation guidelines to create a safe space through warm-ups and so on.
2. Welcome and split into smaller groups Start your workshop with a welcome, describing the workshop’s aim and agenda, and facilitate a round of introductions. After a warm-up, split the participants into subgroups of 3–5 people and give them clear instructions on what to do. 
3. Create a first version of a system map per team. The facilitator should check that all teams have a common focus and are following the same instructions, such as: 
   
   Catalog the actors or stakeholders that are (potentially) part of the ecosystem you want to visualize. Use a list or sticky notes to write down or sketch the actors or stakeholders. 
   
   Arrange the actors/stakeholders on the map according to the prioritization. If you use one sticky note per stakeholder, you can simply move the sticky notes around. 
    
   
4. Present and compare Have each group present their system maps. Hang the different versions on a wall beside each other to compare them with the whole team. 
5. Discuss and merge Give the participants some time to reflect. Discuss similarities and differences between the system maps. Let the group agree on one map, but make notes on different opinions and insights – they might be handy later. Merge the different maps into one that most participants can agree on.
6. (Optional) Test different scenarios within the ecosystem Split the group again and let them test different scenarios within the created stakeholder map.
7. (Optional) Iterate and validate Do some quick research to check any open issues you discussed during the workshop. Also go through your notes and check different positions taken by your workshop participants. You could repeat the workshop with different invitees to identify patterns between different participants.
8. Follow-up Index the generated data and highlight important passages. Sometimes it is useful to schedule follow-up interviews or further workshops with some or all participants. If needed, process your system map into a format that is easier to comprehend (physical or digital). Write a short workshop summary that includes your conflated key findings as well as the system map and raw data you collected during the workshop from your participants, such as quotes, photos, or videos. 

Method notes

• ‍You can use stakeholder mapping during a first client meeting to understand their internal formal and informal structures (e.g., to test how customer-centric the organization is). Without mentioning the customer focus, let them visualize everyone involved in, for example, a B2B sales process prioritized by “importance.” If the “customer” or “user” is not in the center of this map, you just learned a lot about how customer-centric this organization really is.
• Instead of paper templates, you can use a stakeholder constellation in a co-creative workshop on system mapping. Use real people or figures to illustrate stakeholders and arrange them in a room or on a stage. This is much more interactive, and participants often can easily empathize with some stakeholders. You might even be able to use theatrical tools like investigative rehearsal to explore specific relationships. [02]