Thinking canvas © and thinking canvases ©

Thinking Canvas Purposes: to see the action landscape—social and economic environment in time; thinking through the right actions; and determine the appropriate reminders to be entered in one's action management system.

Thinking canvases are thinking blueprints which are part of an action system (what do I have to do … to …?)

• A thinking canvas may be an early step in calendarization. Or a part of blue hat thinking for figuring out where one is and where one goes next

• Useful in concepts to daily action, collecting thoughts on a topic or creating and portraying a system view (radar design). What is the composition of an action area and what de-mystification would be useful?

• Can be done on printer or copy paper OR electronically (mind mapping or illustration software)

• Schedule a reminder to work on the canvas

• Spend some time creating a future directed decision foundation (FDDF). How broad does the canvas need to be? Does it need to capture the entire universe of the main topic? Does it need to capture related universes?

• Schedule reminders to carry out conclusions

• Test: Are the conclusions adequate to the challenges ahead?

• Test: Is my action management system adequate to the challenges ahead?

• The master preliminary thinking canvas should essentially and eventually capture everything about the topic—not the details but the surrounding walls.

• Attention focusing

• Six Thinking Hats overview (PDF). Six Thinking Hats table of contents with some quotes. Thinking broad and thinking detailed. Dense listening and dense reading. See Edward de Bono bio and Snacks for more thinking ideas

• Defining the thinking question. See Peter Drucker on Effective Decisions: "What is the decision all about?" What needs doing? What's the right thing to do? Specifically: "What are the challenges AHEAD?"

• Connection to the individual's effectiveness (The Effective Executive in Action)

• What will it lead to? Where will it leave me?
  

• What would be the consequences of ignoring the topic or area?

• Thinking canvas content alternatives

• David Allens' Natural Planning Technique

Topic thinking guide

I suggest you focus on one topic at a time

And then first ask: What do these issues, these challenges MEAN for our organization and for me as a knowledge worker, a professional, an executive?

Once you have thought this through, ask:

What ACTION should our organization and I, the individual knowledge worker and/or executive, take to make the challenges of this topic into OPPORTUNITIES for our organization and me?

AND THEN GO TO WORK!

The topic referred to above can be elevated by using the ideas in thinking broad and thinking detailed to get to the highest strategic level, mind mapping some alternatives, and then possibly re-perceiving the topic

Content 101

Examining the clues:

Anxiety diagnosis (below)

TO/LOPOSO/GO

Icons for thinking canvases

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Coming to conclusions

From conclusions to implementation calendarization

Strategic system moving in time: full size and icon views

Model calendars

Thinking canvas software:

• Mind mapping: NovaMind
• Diagraming or illustration: OmniGraffle, Inspiration (Add voice notes to a thinking—discussion— canvas > transcribe > edit > re-record > revisit)
• Outlining: OmniOutliner, Inspiration

Thinking canvas examples: (calendarize)

1. Tag structures and tag maps
2. What's next
3. Site slide show
4. Life design concept map
5. My radar (top level)
6. Knowledge system view
7. It's our mental patterns
8. Time-Life Navigation Payoff
9. Time-Life Navigation site map
10. Strategic work plan
11. From blue print to daily work
12. Organization evolution concept map
13. Linear view of organization evolution
14. Healthy financial architecture
15. Why great companies fail
16. Intel map-Connect, connect, connect
17. Work and effort directions
18. Chief TLN officer
19. Guided tour links