Frequently Asked Questions on MethodologyThis is a featured page

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What does SDDP stand for? What is the difference with SDP?
The Structured Design Process (SDP) or Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) or simply Structured Dialogic Design (SDD) is a methodology that enables groups of stakeholders to discuss an issue in a structured democratic manner that enables them to achieve results. It is a deeply reasoned, scientific, psychosocial methodology that has evolved from over 30 years of development to its current implementation as a software-supported process for large-scale, collaborative design.


When the first time that structured dialogue was considered necessary?
The need for such an approach was first envisioned by systems thinkers in the Club of Rome (Ozbekhan, 1969, 1970), and systematically refined through years of deployment in Interactive Management (IM), to emerge as methodically grounded dialogue practice that now is supported by software specifically designed for the purpose (e.g., CogniScope system). Interactive Management, originally developed by John Warfield and Alexander Christakis in the early 1970’s (Christakis, 1973; Warfield & Cardenas, 1994), has evolved into its third generation as SDDP.


What does Agoras mean?
The agoras were the vital centers of the Greek cities. The outdoor markets and convention halls of Athenian Agoras is where gossip mixed with politics. The agora of Athens was the birthplace of democracy. Here the town's citizens discussed pressing issues and made decisions on the basis of popular vote.


What is the Institute for 21st Century Agoras?
The Institute for 21st Century Agoras is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to vigorous democracy on the model of that practiced in the agoras of ancient Greece. It employs Co- Laboratories of Democracy that enable civil dialogue in complex situations. Systems thinkers who were also presidents of the International Society for Systems Science (ISSS), such as Bela Banathy and Alexander Christakis, founded the Institute.

What is the Club of Rome?
The Club of Rome was founded in April 1968 by Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist, and Alexander King, a Scottish scientist. The Club of Rome is a global think tank and center of innovation and initiative. As a non-profit, non governmental organization (NGO), it brings together scientists, economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, and heads of state and former heads of state from all five continents who are convinced that the future of humankind is not determined once and for all and that each human being can contribute to the improvement of our societies. Hasan Özbekhan, Erich Jantsch and Alexander Christakis were responsible for conceptualizing the original prospectus of the Club of Rome titled "The Predicament of Mankind." This prospectus was founded on a humanistic architecture and the participation of stakeholders in democratic dialogue. When the Club of Rome Executive Committee in the summer of 1970 opted for a mechanistic and elitist methodology for an extrapolated future, they resigned from their positions.

How are co-Laboratories different from workshops?
Many group processes engender enthusiasm and good feeling as people share their concerns and hopes with each other. Co-Laboratories go beyond this initial euphoria to:
- Discover root causes;
- Adopt consensual action plans;
- Develop teams dedicated to implementing those plans; and
- Generate lasting bonds of respect, trust, and cooperation.

Co-Laboratories achieve these results by respecting the autonomy of all participants, and utilizing an array of consensus tools including discipline, technology, and graphics that allow stakeholders to control the discussion. Co-Laboratories are a refinement of Interactive Management, a decision and design methodology developed over the past 30 years to deal with complex situations involving diverse stakeholders. It has been successfully employed all over the world in situations of uncertainty and conflict.

In what ways are SDDP used?
SDDP is the perfect tool to support a diverse group of stakeholders resolve conflicts and work together in designing by consensus a new vision/solution/strategy/roadmap. It is perfect for:
- Resolve issues among diverse stakeholders
- Democratic large-group decision-making
- Policy design & decision-making
- Complex (wicked) problem solving
- Strategic planning & effective priority setting
- Portfolio & business asset allocation
- Problem identification

How many hours does a group need to invest on a co-laboratory?
The duration of a typical co-laboratory ranges from a minimum of 10-20 hours to over 100 hours. The application of virtual technologies has made it possible to shorten the time required for an SDDP application, while securing the fidelity of the process and of the products. Parts of the co-laboratory are done asynchronously (e.g. through email communication having the facilitators compile and share all data) and others synchronously, in a physical or virtual environment. The virtual SDDP model has been described in a recent paper by Laouris & Christakis.

Is SDDP grounded on solid science?
The SDDP is scientifically grounded on seven laws of cybernetics recognized by the names of their originators:
1. Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety (Ashby, 1958);
2. Miller’s Law of Requisite Parsimony (Miller, 1956; Warfield, 1988);
3. Boulding’s Law of Requisite Saliency (Boulding, 1966);
4. Peirce’s Law of Requisite Meaning (Turrisi, 1997);
5. Tsivacou’s Law of Requisite Autonomy in Decision (Tsivacou, 1997);
6. Dye’s Law of the Requisite Evolution of Observations (Dye et al., 1999) and
7. Laouris Law of Requisite Action (Laouris & Christakis, 2007).


What Axioms Guide Dialogic Design?
1. COMPLEXITY: We live in a world that is very complex. Problems are complex & interconnected.
2. PARSIMONY: Human cognition & attention is limited. Attention and cognition is usually overloaded in group design.
3. SALIENCY: The field of options in any evaluation is multidimensional. “Salient synthesis” is difficult.
4. ENGAGEMENT: Disregarding the participation of the stakeholders in designing action plans is unethical and the plans are bound to fail.


Where can I read more about SDDP?
You can search about SDDP on Wikipedia or visit any the following sites:

A history of the practice for practitioners
http://Harnessingcollectivewisdom.com
A Wiki for Dialogue community Support
http://blogora.net
Institute for 21st Century Agoras
http://www.globalagoras.org
Description of the technology of Democracy
http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/technologyofdemocracy.htm
New Geometry of Languaging and New Technology of Democracy
http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/NewAgora.htm
Application of SDP in a network of scientists from 20 countries
http://www.tiresias.org/cost219ter/inclusive_future/inclusive_future_ch7.htm
Application of synchronous/asynchronous SDDP
http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/Laouris_Christakis_VirtualSDDP_2007_04_28.pdf



Tom_Flanagan
Tom_Flanagan
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