How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby Covert

Chapter 3: Face Reality | Page 59

Start with scope and scale.

Before you make objects like diagrams or maps, spend some time determining their scope and scale.

Scope is your clearly stated purpose for the diagram. The scope of a blueprint for an actual house is greater than the scope of a diagram explaining the rooms that make up a typical house.

Scale is the relative size of your diagrammatic work.The scale of a map covering a wall is greater than the scale of a map on regular-sized paper.

To think through scope and scale, ask yourself:

• What do people need to understand?
• What are the edges of the map or diagram?
• What are you not mapping or diagramming?
• Where will other people see this map or diagram (e.g., on a wall, in a presentation, on paper)?

Chapter 3: Face Reality | Page 60

Timescale matters.

While you’re thinking about scope and scale, consider the timescale you’re working with.

A timescale is a period of time your map or diagram represents. There are three main timescales:

• Then: How did things used to be?
• Now: How are things today?
• When: How do you see it being in the future?

It’s often easier to think about how things were then or how they are now before proposing changes.

As an example, if we wanted to make sense of changes to the American healthcare system over the last year, we could diagram at each of the three timescales:

• Then: How did healthcare work ten years ago?
• Now: How does healthcare work today?
• When: How do we want health care to work after we’ve made these changes?