Contents of This Page

Self-Training for Using the ActionMap Method in Other Media

• Why Learn to Use the Method in Other Media?
• What the Software Does That's Extra
• You Can Learn to Do These Things in Other Media
  • Formats and Procedures
  • Learning the Formats
  • List Format for Evaluations and Proposed Changes
  • List Format for Action Items
  • Learning the Procedures
  • Basic Self-training Process

Self-Training for Using the ActionMap Method in Other Media

 
Why Learn to Use the Method in Other Media?

There may be several reasons for learning to use the Method in other media:

• You want to increase your process thinking capability.
• You want to use the method in different situations where a computer interface might not be appropriate:
  • Live meetings on flip charts
  • Ad hoc meetings  on white boards
  • Quick planning, learning or problem solving on paper at your desk (or the kitchen table)

And of course you may feel that you are not using the software often enough to justify the subscription fee.

Overview

The ActionMap Toolkit started as a flip chart-based method that was translated into software.

The method can be used in other media, including:

• Pencil and paper
• Whiteboard
• Flip charts
• Office automation tools (e.g. PowerPoint and Excel or equivalent)

Learning to use the software automatically teaches you the method.

All you need to do is to translate the formats and procedures back to other media.

This page tells you how.

Sources of Learning

There are four main sources of learning how to use the method in other media:

• Review the articles and videos in this Support site
• Go through the software training provided in this Support site
• Practice using the software on subjects of interest to you
• Review the guidelines on this page.
  
  

What the Software Does That's Extra

The software automates several things, including:

• Leads you through a path of activities
• Provides step by step instructions
• Speeds up information capture
• Provides automatic graphic positioning
• Publishes the results to PowerPoint and Excel
• Stores the results
• Exports and imports the results
• Copies and edits the results

You Can Learn to Do These Things in Other Media

Formats and Procedures

The primary things to learn are the Formats and the Procedures.

All of the formats and procedure for using the method in other media are contained in the software.

As you learn to use the software - it will automatically teach you the formats and procedures.

The formats only need a small amount of adjustment to use them in other media.

Learning the Formats

There are two main formats

• Map
• List

Map Format

The Map format is described extensively throughout both this documentation and in the software, including on the following pages:

• Startup Training Videos
• Main Cycle Activity - Details
• How to Use Map Parts
  
  

Sample Map Format

List Format

In other media, the List is simplified to use a spreadsheet-like format. 

Basic List formats on a spreadsheet is shown here:

List Format for Evaluations and Proposed Changes

List Format for Action Items

Learning the Procedures

There are three main types of procedures to learn:

• The Main Cycle
• Map Construction
• Individual Main Cycle Activities

All of these procedures are described in this Support site and in the software.
 

Basic Self-training Process

The basic self-training process for using the method in other media is as follows:

• Go through the software training provided in this Support site
• Review the articles and videos in this Support site
• Practice using the software on subjects of interest to you
• Practice using the method on paper
• Practice using the method on other media of your choice.

Suggested Next Pages

Help Table of Contents

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