Welcome to Censemaking: Making Sense of Change
Censemaking helps you to learn how to change and innovate by design.
What Complexity In Everyday Life Looks Like
When we talk about complexity, what does it mean? I’ll peek at an everyday phenomenon to illustrate why things are far more complex and complicated than they used to be. The term complexity is used a lot to describe social life, institutions, and the state of the world, but what does it really look like? …
Leading As Design And By Design
Learning takes our exposure to new things and transforms our thoughts and actions. How we do this is – and whether its done well — is where design comes in. Our learning is framed by where we are and where we want to go. The volume of content available to people puts attention at a …
Three Questions to Enhance Evaluative Thinking
Welcome to the Censemaking Methods Series dedicated to profiling tools, techniques, methods, and issues tied to strategic design for impact. Today we look at evaluative thinking, the bedrock of understanding our influence on the world. Evaluative thinking is a disciplined approach to reflective practice, inquiry, and creative design that forms the backbone for any initiative …
Allostatic Change And Why It Matters
Allostasis is a term that can make a big difference in shaping our understanding of change and what it means for us. Biological processes can provide explanations and metaphors that guide how we view and approach change. Among the most popular is homeostasis. Homeostatic processes view things from a set point or baseline and view …
Evaluation’s Great Value (Often Missed)
Evaluation is a practice of applying a critical lens to what we’ve done and created and assessed what value it brings into the world. Its value can’t be overstated if we look and listen. Evaluation is not a concept that many people embrace with affection. Too often I see it used and discussed in a …
Social Innovation’s Update: Part 2 – An Opportunity and Future
Social innovation has stalled while its need has never been greater: How might we bring it back to life? This second of a two-part series that builds on a piece originally published on Medium. A new dawn for social innovation could be upon us if we look closely. As I outlined in an earlier article, …
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Social Innovation’s Update: Part 1 – A Complicated History
Social innovation was once at the leading edge for social impact thinking and now seems stalled: what happened? This first of a two-part series builds on a piece I published on Medium and can be read here. Social Innovation was a term I used regularly to describe my field of interest. I loved how it …
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Cooperative Complexity and Planning
Complexity is straining the ability of traditional plans to function as designed. When mass systems change is afoot, the key is not to jettison traditional planning, but collaborate with complexity rather than ignore it. In an earlier post I made the case that the days of linear planning were over. I stand by that, but …
Exponential Lessons for Systems Action
What does systemic change at an exponential level look like? Look around and you’ll see why a new approach to perceiving the world is now critical. The first question above is answered below: Whether it’s area burned (above) or carbon emissions (below), the Canadian wildfire situation is a start and gigantic example of what exponential …
Innovation Has A Language Problem
Innovation has a language problem and unless we address it people will continue to dismiss or inflate its place in helping us create a world we want. #innovation