topic on Startupy: https://beta.startupy.world/topic/ecosystem-mapping/
I’m a fervent mapping, anyone whose ever worked with me can tell you as much. I staunchly believe the value of map making extends well beyond the common use of maps as communication artifacts and that mapping is a consistently under-appreciated vehicle for sense making, individually or communally. To create and represent context. Mapping is somewhat of a vocational constant for me, as is Systems Thinking. In fact I’ve found Systems Thinking to be the primary through-line of the latter half of my career, time and again advocating for the adoption of more systemic tools at every organization I engage with. Ecosystem Maps are one such systemic tool. A tool I can point to as a tangible example of how Systems Thinking as a mindset can be applied via the praxis of (Human-centered) Design. In order to account for the relational nature of the networked world and contexts we inhabit with increasing frequency. Relations we as the enactors of networked products and services ought not ignore.
System Mapping & Drawing Happy Pictures via Software Delivery Club
Mapping is all about rendering intangible or ethereal ideas and concepts—like software— tangible to serve as boundary artifacts you can leverage to drive strategic conversations. This episode focuses on mapping as a way to visualize your software systems as well as your business, which I’ve found is typically the context in which most people are introduced to Ecosystem Mapping.
Scott Kubie and Content Ecosystems via The Content Strategy Podcast
My colleague Jared Meyer turned me on to this content-centric approach to Ecosystem Mapping by way of a workshop he designed and facilitated for our Experience Platform org at Expedia Group. In this episode the host talks with Scott Kubie about how he uses content-focused Ecosystem Mapping to help his clients create connections in their content universe. Again, rendering tangible the mental models of our colleagues and stakeholders, in order to collectively represent implied or potentially intangible connections and relationships the end users of the products + services we deliver are unknowingly inhabiting and utilizing.
Help People Not Disappoint You, a Hack for Reading More, a Talk with Deepa Iyer about Different Roles to Play in Social Change via Happier with Gretchen Rubin
This episode touches on the inspiring "Social Change Ecosystem Map" Deepa created to identify the ten roles people play in helping to bring about social change, imperative to include to highlight the social, human-action side of Ecosystem Mapping. A complement to the more software or technically-centric examples included here. I actually came to learn about and start applying Ecosystem Mapping as a method through my work at the Design Institute for Health where along with my incredible colleagues, I applied design as a method to catalyze social change.