Practice
SenseMaker
Also: SenseMaker®, narrative research
A narrative research method and software from The Cynefin Company: people share short stories from their experience and interpret them themselves, so patterns can be seen across hundreds or thousands of them.
Instead of answering prepared questions, participants tell a short story about a real moment — at work, as a customer, as a citizen — and then signify it themselves: they place it on a few simple scales, often triangles with three positive or neutral corners. Because the people who lived the experience interpret it, the analysis does not depend on a researcher's reading.
Across many stories, the signifiers show patterns: clusters, outliers and shifts over time. Each pattern stays linked to the stories behind it, which makes the findings concrete and easy to act on. SenseMaker is used for culture mapping, customer research, employee experience and monitoring how a change lands.
Not to be confused with sensemaking, the broader activity of making sense of a situation.
Further reading: thecynefin.co/