Concept map (thinking tool), Expert decision making and Untools app update
Hi there,
it's Adam from Untools. It's been a while since the last issue of this newsletter but I'm happy to be back!
Today, I want to share several things with you:
Concept map: New systems-thinking tool on Untools
Article about how experts make decisions
Short update on the Untools app
Concept map
Concept mapping is a great way to visualise your understanding of a concept or system and understand the relationships between its entities.
It has many uses as the tool’s authors, Joseph Novak and Alberto Caňas, describe:
“Concept mapping has been shown to help learners learn, researchers create new knowledge, administrators to better structure and manage organizations, writers to write, and evaluators assess learning.”
You can use this tool alone but it’s also very useful in group workshops. In groups, it can help you find differences between how individuals understand certain concepts and find alignment.
Read on how to create concept maps
How experts make decisions
I’ve recently found this article on commoncog.com about how experts make decisions. Among other things, they develop intuition that allows them to make good decisions very quickly.
It’s a really interesting read, especially as a balance to the more deliberate, slow thinking that one gets done with tools like the ones I’ve been writing about on Untools.
Sometimes, relying on an intuition is a better choice than doing an extensive decision analysis. The wisdom lies in learning when to make the trade-off between speed and accuracy.
The article is part of a longer series about mental models and it’s all well-worth the longer read. I might be sharing more from that series in the future.
Continue reading on commoncog.com
Untools app update
Beside that, we’ve made good progress with the Untools app and I’ll share a an announcement about upcoming beta with you very soon.
If you’ve subscribed just recently, we’re making Untools app to further make it easier to apply thinking tools in practice.
The app is going to be an extension of the project, not its replacement. Meaning that Untools will continue to be the place where you can read about various thinking tools for free.
Have a great week,
Adam