Field guide

The book’s chapters teach the six diagram types of systems and feedback; the other twelve are described only here.

Systems & feedback

Type	Question it answers	A line with an arrowhead means
system context map	What is inside the system you're responsible for?	passes: an exchange, one named thing from the party that gives to the party that receives
influence map	Which things affect an outcome, before you know how each changes it?	bears on: an influence claim, which way unsaid; changes once upgraded with a polarity
causal loop diagram	Why do some changes snowball while others settle?	changes: an effect, its polarity giving which way
stock & flow diagram	What would still be there if everything stopped?	moves: a flow's double line, carrying material; changes: a signal, carrying a reading
feedback control diagram	How does anything stay near a target?	changes: a signal, carrying a reading or a setting; a flow's double line moves material
system archetype	Which stories play out again and again?	changes: an effect, as in a causal loop diagram

Processes & experience

Type	Question it answers	A line with an arrowhead means
process map	What steps does the work go through, with its decisions, exceptions and rework?	then: the next step
swimlane diagram	Who does each step, and where does work change hands?	then, across lanes at a change of hands
BPMN	What happens, precisely enough that it could be run?	then; between participants, what is sent
value stream map	Where does material wait from order to delivery, and what starts each step?	then; separate lines carry information
service blueprint	How does what the customer sees connect to the work behind it?	depends on, across the rows; time is position
customer journey map	How does the customer's experience change, stage by stage?	No arrowheads: stages are columns

Strategy & decisions

Type	Question it answers	A line with an arrowhead means
theory of change	What must change, and in what order, to reach a long-term outcome?	must come before: a precondition
decision tree	Which choice, given the chances of what follows each?	No arrowheads: a branch per choice or outcome
stakeholder map	Who can affect or is affected by a decision, with what power and interest?	Nothing: each party has a place on two axes
capability map	What must an organization be able to do, whatever its structure?	Nothing: a box inside another is part of it
risk bow-tie	What could release one hazard, what follows, and what barriers stand between?	No arrowheads: can lead to, threat to top event to consequence
Wardley map	What does someone need, what chain of components meets it, and how evolved is each?	moves to: expected evolution; plain lines, needs

How the types relate

Types	How they relate	Support
influence map and causal loop diagram	An influence map is converted to a causal loop diagram: its variables and causal claims carry over, and its influence claims, weights and clusters are left behind.	chapter 3, Conversion to a causal loop diagram
causal loop diagram and stock & flow diagram	A causal loop diagram is redrawn by hand as a stock & flow diagram, what accumulates becoming stocks, filled and drained by flows that signals set.	chapter 12, Converting between types
causal loop diagram and feedback control diagram	A feedback control diagram is drawn as a causal loop diagram is, with a role written above each variable that plays one, its effects called signals.	chapter 8, What the notation expresses
stock & flow diagram and feedback control diagram	Where the controlled variable accumulates, it is drawn on a feedback control diagram with a stock & flow diagram’s stock, flows and signals, the roles written above them.	chapter 8, Control with accumulation
causal loop diagram and system archetype	A system archetype is drawn with a causal loop diagram’s marks, with roles and a declared archetype written on it.	chapter 10, What the notation expresses; chapter 12, Converting between types
system context map and stakeholder map	There are parties on both: on a system context map, those outside a system’s boundary, with what passes each way across it; on a stakeholder map, those inside an organization and outside it, placed by power and interest.	chapter 2, External entities; Eden and Ackermann 2021, §3
process map and swimlane diagram	A swimlane diagram is a process map with a lane for each party that does part of the work.	Improvement Cymru Academy, Swimlane Diagrams (2024)
process map and BPMN	In BPMN, steps, decisions and their order are drawn as on a process map, in a notation defined formally enough that some diagrams can be run by software.	BPMN 2.0.2, §7.1, p. 19, and §7.2.1, p. 21
swimlane diagram and BPMN	BPMN’s swimlanes are of two kinds, a band for each participant and lanes within it, where a swimlane diagram has a lane for each party.	BPMN 2.0.2, Table 7.1, p. 27
process map and value stream map	A value stream map is a process map with data added: each step’s time, the waiting between steps, and the information that tells each step what to make next.	Madsen and McManus 2012, slide 5; Rother and Shook 1999, p. 5
customer journey map and service blueprint	On a service blueprint, a customer journey map’s steps run along the top, with the work behind each one drawn beneath.	Gibbons 2018; Gibbons 2017
process map and service blueprint	A service blueprint is a flowchart, as a process map is, with the customer’s actions laid out first, along the top, and the work that supports them beneath.	Bitner, Ostrom and Morgan 2008, p. 72
service blueprint and BPMN	Diagrams of the work behind a service blueprint can be drawn in BPMN, a more internally focused notation, and referred to from the blueprint.	Bitner, Ostrom and Morgan 2008, p. 71
process map and Wardley map	A process map orders the steps of the work with no mark for how they could change; on a Wardley map each component is placed by how evolved it is, and its expected movement is drawn.	Wardley 2020, ch. 1, p. 27
customer journey map and Wardley map	A customer journey map can open a Wardley map: the journey’s steps give the needs at the map’s top, with the components that meet them beneath.	Wardley 2020, ch. 2, p. 50, and ch. 4, p. 108