How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby Covert

Chapter 3: Face Reality | Page 67

2. Flow Diagram

A flow diagram outlines the steps in a process, including conditions a user or system is under, and connections between tasks.

Conditions are rules that dictate the flow. For example, the path I take in the flow is different if I’m ordering for pickup or delivery.

Chapter 5: Measure the Distance | Page 110

Progress is as important to measure as success.

Many projects are more manageable if you cut them into smaller tasks. Sequencing those tasks can mean moving through a tangled web of dependencies.

A dependency is a condition that has to be in place for something to happen. For example, the links throughout this book are dependent on me publishing the content.

How you choose to measure progress can affect the likelihood of your success. Choose a measurement that reinforces your intent. For example:

• If you want to become a better writer, you might measure your progress against a goal like: “Write every day.”
• If you want to write a novel in the next year, your progress may be better measured as: “Write 500 words towards the novel per day.”

Chapter 7: Prepare to Adjust | Page 148

Adjustments are a part of reality.

From moment to moment, the directions we choose forever change the objects we make, the effects we see, and the experiences we have.

As we move towards our goals, things change and new insights become available. Things always change when we begin to understand what we couldn’t make sense of before. As a sensemaker, the most important skill you can learn is to adjust your course to accommodate new forces as you encounter them on your journey.

Don’t seek finalization. Trying to make something that will never change can be super frustrating. Sure, it’s work to move those boxes and arrows around as things change. But that is the work, not a reason to avoid making a plan. Taking in feedback from other people and continuously refining the pieces as well as the whole is what assures that something is “good.”

Don’t procrastinate. Messes only grow with time. You can easily make excuses and hold off on doing something until the conditions are right, or things seem stable.

Perfection isn’t possible, but progress is.