bCisive Online

Step 6: Driving a Hard Bargain (Buying a Car)

2010-06-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

Back: Step 5 - Evaluation (buying a car)

My evaluation complete, I was ready to march into the dealership and drive a hard bargain for my car of choice, the Suzuki Swift. This meant not only getting the lowest price, but also getting the most value, which translated into:

Minimizing the trade-offs of choosing the Suzuki over the Jazz and Yaris.
Loads of free extras.

Minimizing Trade-offs:
From my evaluation I knew that the Jazz and Yaris were better in the following respects:

The Jazz had the most spacious trunk, followed by the Yaris
Both the Yaris and the Jazz had a full-sized spare, unlike the Swift's "compact" spare.
The Jazz's speakers sounded better better than the Swift's.

This knowledge was useful because it allowed to me exert pressure on the dealer by highlighting the strengths of rival options whilst avoiding the points I was already sold on:

"I like the Swift, but some other cars I looked it have more space in the trunk -- what can you offer to make up for the fact that I can't fit my desktop computer in the trunk of this car?"
OR
"The Swift is a fine car, but the sound system in some other cars is much clearer. What can we do to get better speakers in there?"

Note: the object is not to demand the unattainable, but exploit the weaknesses of your preferred option in order to minimize its trade-offs. This also helped to keep me from becoming enamoured of my first choice, which would have played into the dealer's hands.

Getting Loads of Free Extras:
In order to get loads of extras, I'd have to use good-old-fashioned haggling. There are a few things that made this difficult for, the two most pertinent being:

Experience in negotiations: the dealer negotiates a car's final price every day, whereas for me this is a journey into unfamiliar territory.
Recall under pressure: It's hard to remember everything when you're in the spotlight. Just think of any TV game show...

Enter bCisive Online, again:

Since bCisive Online had helped me to work out my car of choice, I decided to use it create an inviting checklist for the final negotiation:

Now here's a checklist I can follow under pressure!

Because bCisive Online does not rigidly conform to a particular methodology, it gives me the freedom to build a map to suit my purpose. This time, rather than use it to weigh up my options in pursuit of a decision, my bCisive Online map served as a road map for the journey to the dotted line.

After an intense session of haggling, we finally agreed on the following;

How much did I pay? To be honest, I slightly exceeded my self-imposed limit of $17,000 , but I got value for money. Had I been on a strict budget, I'd have been well placed to determine what to leave out and what to drive hard for.

Next: Post-purchase: Thoughts on Using bCisive Online

Step 5: Evaluation (Buying a car)

2010-06-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Back: Step 4 - Analysis (buying a car)

My analysis in the previous step gave me a simple, elegant scheme for evaluation. I looked at the criteria in the first category and simply ranked the cars in order of preference -- i.e. which car was best for me in this regard?

The beginning of my evaluation (click to enlarge)

I found that the Suzuki Swift was a clear winner in the criteria that mattered most to me. Until then, the Honda Jazz had seemed very attractive as well, but prior to laying out and organizing the criteria I had struggled to make sense of it all.

Click the Full Screen button in the bottom right for the best view.

The results are in! Well done to the Suzuki Swift. (Click to enlarge)

I could have applied a quantitative scoring and weighting scheme to my raw criteria, but I do not believe that this would have led to as compelling a result as my qualitative analysis.

Notes

If I had to justify a purchase decision to a boss or other stakeholders, the map would be a great way to present my analysis.
In this purchase my categories were roughly of equal importance, but in a more complex evaluation I could weight the categories (and even individual criteria) if need be.

At this stage in the process, here's what I was certain about:

Which car I wanted
Why I wanted it
What it lacked (i.e. what the others had)

As a final safety check I sought the advice of an expert, my car mechanic friend, to make sure that I had not overlooked anything important. With his blessing I was now equipped to march into the dealership and haggle with the dealer for the very best car I could get. I knew what other similar cars had, and I was well prepared to negotiate for the best possible deal.

Next: Step 6 - Drive a Hard Bargain

Step 4: Analysis (Buying a Car)

2010-05-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Back: Step 3 - Detailed research (buying a car)

My table in the previous step was a good way of listing the pros and cons of each car, and even counting the number of things I liked and disliked, but it didn't show me which criteria were the most important. I could see that the Swift was a winner in many categories, but were they the most important ones?

To get a clearer picture I extracted my criteria from my notes and organized them into a hierarchy in bCisive Online in five steps:

List all the criteria that come to mind (brainstorming)
Identify all the major criteria (what's most important)
Group the major criteria into categories
Organize the minor criteria

All these cars had satisfied my original criteria, but in the course of my research I had identified many new criteria, which I hoped would serve to distinguish them.

To help me with this somewhat daunting task I turned to bCisive Online, which is ideally suited to sifting, organizing, structuring and refining a mass of ideas. Its drag & drop and automatic layout allowed me to brainstorm and categorize, and play with different arrangements until clarity emerged. Its flexibility allowed me to use both top-down and bottom-up styles of structuring, and to switch freely between the two. Here's what I came up with:

My detailed criteria as a map (click for a larger image)

The new criteria, broken down into the categories that emerged, were:

Handling: On the road, parking, acceleration
Comfort: Height of the interior ceiling, feel of the gearshift, seat comfort
Cost: purchase price, fuel economy, cost of parts and services
Storage: Trunk capacity, size of spare tyre
Safety: Crash safety rating, brakes

Now that my criteria and categories were in order I had a simple, elegant scheme for evaluating each car on its own merits, without losing sight of the big picture.

Next: Step 5 - Analysis and ranking (buying a car)

Step 3: Detailed research (Buying a Car)

2010-05-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Back: Step 2 - Basic research

Now that I had a manageable shortlist of 6 cars it was time to compare them in more detail. By the end of this step I wanted to have a clear and comprehensive list of criteria. These detailed criteria would enable me to:

Identify the 3 (or so) leading cars
Articulate my criteria for purposes of comparison and ranking (for use in step 4)
Start to prepare me for the bargaining process with car dealers (step 5)

As I considered the six cars on my shortlist I became aware of a further, hitherto tacit, criterion:

Does the car look good to me?

In my reading I also began to take notice of what the experts were saying. While the experts would be applying different criteria and I did not have the patience to go through all the minutiae in their reviews, general consensus among experts carries some weight. Hence:

Has the car received generally good reviews?

By answering these two additional questions I was able to narrow my selection to the 3 most appealing and acclaimed cars: Honda Jazz, Suzuki Swift, Toyota Yaris.

My next step was to visit a few dealerships, take these cars for a test drive, and grill the dealers for more information. I noted what I liked and disliked about each car and after a few test drives I had a good idea of what to look for. Here are my notes:

Honda Jazz	Suzuki Swift	Toyota Yaris
Spacious boot (trunk) Narrow body Fuel economy not great Full-sized spare tinted windows High safety rating	Small boot (trunk) Wide body Excellent fuel economy Small spare Great around corners Excellent brakes Great acceleration	Very good fuel economy Full-sized spare High safety rating Great safety rating Good brakes Cheap to repair Mechanics love it

At this point my list of criteria was expanded (although not yet organized) and I had a much clearer idea of what to consider. I had the reassuring feeling of being in much greater control of the process:

I was no longer was paralyzed by choice, having reduced my selection to a very manageable final list;
I no longer felt ignorant, having researched my selection and noted each car's pros and cons; and
I no longer was afraid of paying too much, having ascertained the market price of my prospective cars.

I was now ready to compare the finalists in detail and was only one step away from driving a hard bargain for myself.

Next: Step 4 - Brainstorm and categorize

Step 2: Basic Research (Buying a Car)

2010-05-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

Back: Step 1 - Basic criteria

Step 2: Do your research
With my basic criteria -- price, car type, transmission -- in hand I set out to find what sort of cars I might consider buying. In the case of looking for cars, there are plenty of search engines that allow you to search on these (and many more) criteria, so that's what I did ...

... and got 624 matches (click to enlarge)

As you can see, there were plenty of cars that met my basic criteria, and I quickly added another criterion to my list - I sorted on mileage:

New criterion in light of initial search results: low mileage

However, I still had far too many to choose from, but I was heading (driving?) in the right direction.

Tip: Stepping back from the car example for a moment, this is not an uncommon result. If you are lucky (or very good) your initial criteria will yield a manageable number of options. However, if your criteria are too tight, you may not have enough (any?) results to work on, which means that you need to keep looking and/or loosen your criteria by dropping something. If your criteria are too loose, there will be too many results, and you will need to identify additional criteria.

At this stage there were a few things I could do to help me identify further criteria and thereby trim my results:

Some ways to cut down the list (click to enlarge)

In this case I was happy to use popular opinion as a guide, so I searched online for the most popular cars in my category:

(Chances are someone else has been looking up the same thing on Google)

And before long I had a short list of popular, highly rated cars that met my basic criteria:

Honda Jazz, Holden Barina

Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent

Suzuki Swift, Toyota Yaris

Next: Step 3 - Detailed research

Step 1: Basic Criteria (Buying a Car)

2010-05-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Back: Major Purchase Overview (Buying a Car)

Looking for a car can be daunting: in every category there are so many cars to choose from, and so many features.

So we'll start with something simple.

Step 1: Start with basic criteria
I might not know everything that I'll want, but I do know some things. These explicit criteria are where I start. Later in the process (step 3) I will uncover further criteria.

My basic criteria
Price: $10,000 - $20,0000
Type of car: Small
Transmission: Manual

And, just for fun, let's use bCisive Online to show why these are important to me:

bCisive Online map of my basic criteria (click to enlarge)

Expert tip: Since there is no "Criterion" box in bCisive Online, I simply edited the heading of the "Requirement" box to get the required effect.

Next: Step 2 - Basic research

Tutorial: Major Purchase Overview (Buying a Car)

2010-05-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

Back: Introduction & Contents

For the purposes of this tutorial, we are going to dive into a major purchase example, buying a car.

Please note that many of the steps that we go through will be applicable to other purchases, and to other kinds of decisions.

Objective
The first thing that we need to do is set an objective. Here's mine:

Choose the best car for me, and get a good price.

Process
Next, we need a process (or steps) to achieve our objective. Here's my process for buying a car:

Start with basic criteria, however vague.
Do some basic research: look online, and shortlist 5 or 6 cars that match my basic criteria.
Detailed research: Choose 3 cars that particularly appeal to me, and test-drive them; this helps me to expand my criteria and shortlist the leading cars.
Analysis: Brainstorm all of the criteria that come to mind in light of my detailed research and use bCisive Online to easily arrange and categorize them.
Evaluation: Perform a detailed comparison of the leading cars by ranking them in each criterion and category, possibly with the assistance of an expert.*
Use my now detailed knowledge of the best cars, to drive a hard bargain for my preferred car.

*Note: if all leading candidates are ruled out during step 4, I will need to revisit (and loosen) my criteria.

Advantages
For me this process has the advantage of addressing what seemed like the major obstacles in achieving my objective:

Paralysis by choice: there are so many cars to choose from
Feeling of ignorance: I am not a car buff, and I needed to learn more about the differences between the various cars, and which differences I cared about
Fear of paying too much: I want to be well-equipped to haggle with the car dealers, once I have made my choice

Naturally, your preferred process may well be different depending on personal style and the details of the situation. Fortunately bCisive Online is flexible; it does not mandate any particular process, so you can go with whatever works best for you. Please feel free to use my process as a starting point.

Next: Step 1 - Basic criteria

bCisive Online Tutorial: Introduction

2010-05-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

bCisive Online is a great tool for cutting through the detail of difficult decisions, especially those involving:

Significant ramifications (i.e. important)
Many factors (sizeable)
A lack of clarity at the outset over what is important, and what can be reasonably compromised on (complex)

General examples include:

A major purchase
Negotiating a deal
Formulating a strategy
Outlining a pitch or case

For the purposes of this tutorial we will walk through examples of each, introducing process, techniques and tips along the way.

Pre-requisites
This tutorial assumes that you:

Have created your own bCisive Online site
And are comfortable with the mechanics of making and editing maps in the bCisive Online workspace.

Before proceeding you may wish to review the basic map editing video, and have a bit of a play in a workspace.

Let's start with an example of a major purchase with a personal flavor, buying a car.

Next: Major purchase Overview (Buying a Car)

Attention bloggers: Embed bCisive Online maps in your blog posts

2010-05-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

You can now publish a bCisive Online map, making it available to the whole world to view, or just to members of your site. It's basically a YouTube for your maps.

For example, here's a map based on this editorial in the New York Times:

Unlike a screenshot, you can pan, zoom, and hide and show sub-branches of the map.

So give it a try to:

make complex discussions easier to follow
add visual interest to your blog

Note: You can also embed maps on other html web pages (not just blogs), or instead of embedding link directly to a web-page that hosts the map.

And ... we're released!

2010-03-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

You can now upgrade from your free bCisive Online account to a paid plan.

Introductory pricing is here.

Next up: Support for bloggers to publish their workspaces to the web, and embed them in their blogs.

Click-to-Skype is here

2010-03-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

bCisive Online now has simple (and easy to use) Skype integration for two-way voice, video and chat. Having a voice channel such as Skype is ideal for getting the most out of real-time collaboration with bCisive Online.

The click to Skype button also appears next to Skype-enabled occupants within a space.

How to tell bCisive Online that you are on Skype
By adding your Skype name to your profile, you can allow other users to see when you're available to Skype, and call you with a single click. Simply click on your name in the People section (above) and add your skype name to your profile:

Notes

If Skype isn't running on your computer when you click-to-Skype that's ok: it will launch automatically
You can use your Skype settings to control whether people can see that you are online.
If you try to initiate a conference by clicking on a second person's Skype button, you don't get a three-way conference call (yet) -- perhaps Skype will help us out with this!

Real-time collaboration overview

2010-02-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

bCisive Online offers orderly real-time collaboration. Multiple site members can access a Space simultaneously, but only one will be in control at any one time.

However, the other occupants will be able to see that person adding and moving boxes around in real-time, and everyone gets a remote pointer to gesture with while they talk over an audio link (e.g. try our click-to-Skype integration):

Learn more about the details of bCisive Online's features for real-time collaboration here.

What you can do when you're not in control

2010-02-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

In a real-time collaboration session you may be in control, hence able to edit the workspace and everything else besides. When you're not in control there are still several useful things that you can do:

Explore the workspace by panning and zooming
Use remote pointing and audio tools to contribute to the discussion
Request control

Using remote pointing

2010-02-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

When you're in a Space, but you are not in Control you can still point with your mouse, and other occupants of the space will see what you are referring to:

This feature is mainly intended to be used in conjunction with an audio link. Here Dan Prager is gesturing from a remote computer, and making a verbal point about the Question over an audio link.

Notes

The Pointer of the person in control appears in red, everyone else's pointer appears in purple
You can't see your own pointer: you just see your regular mouse pointer

Using audio and video tools with bCisive Online

2010-02-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

Real-time collaboration with bCisive Online works best with an audio link (video is nice too). You can use whatever service you and your colleagues prefer. The simplest choice right now is Skype, which is now integrated with bCisive Online to allow one click calls.

With an audio hook-up to other participants your remote pointer becomes a real aid to discussion. It allows you to point at a box on the workspace with your remote pointer, and everyone can see what you're referring to, whether you are in control, or not.

Also, the power to edit the space can be passed around in an orderly fashion.

Passing around control

2010-02-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

When multiple people are inside a Space, only one person at a time can edit. That user is in control. It's a lot like the idea of a talking stick, where only the stick-holder can talk; here only the person in control can edit.

Members and owners of the space can be "given control", and "request control", while viewers and guests cannot.

Any changes made by whoever is in control of the space can be seen in real-time, by everyone:

boxes fly around and reconnect
the position of the controller's mouse cursor is visible in red as an arrow (see below); other participants remote pointers may also be visible in the workspace (not shown)

Here's the view of someone not in control:

The grey background is an additional cue to tell you that you cannot edit, unless you gain control.

Who's in the Space?

2010-02-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

From the Spaces area in the Home page of your site, you can expand the information about a Space by clicking on its black triangle:

Among other things, this tells you who is in the space -- the current occupants. If you now enter the space you should be able to engage in real-time interaction with them.

From inside the Space, click on the Occupants drop-down to get a listing:

Edging towards commercial launch

2010-02-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

Starting tomorrow -- with the new look for bCisive Online -- we will be rolling out updates culminating in commercial launch.

For posterity, here is a comparison of the old public page, www.bcisiveonline.com:

and its replacement:

To follow later this month, before we remove the "beta" insignia:

Free sites will continue to be available, but we will be restricting the number of Spaces per site, probably to 3.
Pricing: Expect a base rate of around $25 per user per month / $250 per user per year
Lots of tweaks and improvements

Making a PowerPoint presentation

2010-01-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

While bCisive Online is great for capturing a group discussion or problem-solving session, the resulting map can be large and difficult to present to others in a way that's compelling and encourages buy-in.

Using parts of your map to tell a linear story in the form of a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation can be much more powerful. And it's easy: no copy-and-pasting required. Here's how bCisive Online's built-in export-to-PowerPoint feature works.

1. Take your slide snapshots
Hover over a box and click the small camera icon in the bottom right corner to take a slide.

A slide will be created containing your selected box and anything below it: its entire branch (excluding currently hidden boxes).

Tip: Use hide and show to arrange the map as you want it to appear on your PowerPoint slides, hiding unnecessary sections.

After a few seconds, the slide counter in the menu bar above the workspace will update from 0 to 1. Continue taking slide snapshots of other parts of your map until you are happy.

2. Export your slides to PowerPoint
When you are ready, click the Export button on the toolbar, and the Slide Presentation panel will slide out:

Clicking on the panel's Export button will download a PowerPoint presentation containing -- as separate slides -- the snapshots of the bCisive Online map that you have just taken.

3. Edit your presentation in PowerPoint
Add style templates, your company logo, headings, notes and so on around your map images to flesh out the presentation and tell your story. So much better than endless bullet points!

Related posts

Compelling presentations: why diagrams are a valuable format for presentations
Compelling presentations, faster: avoiding 'Death by PowerPoint'
Presenting a map in bite-sized chunks: more detail on breaking up your bCisive map for conversion into a great presentation

Uploading and attaching documents

2010-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Uploading and attaching supporting documents to your bCisive Online map is often a helpful way to keep information relating to an issue together.

To attach a document, select a box, double-click to open the text edit window and click the Edit Hyperlink/Attachment button:

Next, click the Link to uploaded file button, and either select a file from the list or click the + button to navigate and add one.

Select a file from the list or click + to add one

Click OK and the document will be uploaded, and a link to it will appear in the selected box. When clicked, the link will open the document.

Clickable link to document appears in box

The document also appears in the list of attached files in the header bar of the workspace.

Note: You can also insert hyperlinks to online content.

Adding hyperlinks

2010-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

When you're working with bCisive Online, it is often helpful to include in your map hyperlinks to useful websites and online information.

To insert a link into a box, double-click on the box to open the text edit window, and click the Edit Hyperlink/Attachment button:

Next, enter the URL to which you'd like to link.

Pro tip: You can also enter a text description if you want to. If you do, the text will appear as a link in your box; if you leave the Text field blank, the URL will appear as a link in your box.

When you're ready, click Save and your link will be displayed at the bottom of the selected box. When you click on the link, the website will be opened in a new window in your browser.

Clickable link appears in box

Note: You can also insert links to documents.

Excising a box

2010-01-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

Deleting a box from your map without removing its children is called 'excising'. To do it, select the single box you'd like to remove and press Ctrl+Delete (for both Mac and Windows users).

The selected box will be deleted and its child or children attached to its parent:

After excising the Idea box

If you make a mistake, it's easy to undo.

Adding a box by double-clicking

2010-01-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

In bCisive Online, you can add a new box of your choice to the workspace by dragging it out from the left panel and dropping it onto the space.

There is another easy way to create a new box: simply double-click on a clear area of the workspace and a plain box will appear.

To enter text into your new box, simply start typing. When you are ready, you can connect it to your map by dragging it near an existing box and releasing, or change it into a different box type.

Extreme Graphic Design makeover

2009-12-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

In the run-up towards commercial launch, we're giving bCisive Online an extreme makeover. Here's a taster:

Before (Current Spaces page):

After (early mock-up of the new "Home" page):

Click to enlarge

We certainly enjoy bringing in David Urbinder to help with this aspect of our products. Inevitably there's a nice interplay between graphic and interaction design.

We hope you like the way we're heading.

Is it possible to self-host bCisive Online?

2009-11-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

At present bCisive Online requires connection to the internet.

We are aware that some organizations may prefer or require an intranet / WAN hosting option for reasons of security, etc., and we expect to offer such an option, for sizable installations (probably 25 users+).

Please contact us if you are interested in exploring a self-hosted bCisive Online solution.

Controlling access to Spaces, plus renaming and deleting

2009-11-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

To control who has access to a space that you own, or rename it, or delete it, click Manage from the Spaces area of the home page:

Only the spaces that you own will have a Manage link.

Details
In an organizational setting, not everyone should have access to every Space. To this end we have introduced a new set of roles to bCisive Online. In any given space you will be exactly one of the following, in increasing order of power:

Denied: The Space will not appear on your Spaces page, and you cannot access it
Viewer (coming soon): You can view the space, but cannot edit it
Member: You can edit the space, request control, and pass on control
Moderator (coming soon): Like a member, plus you can grab control, and you can invite guests (non-site-members) temporarily into the space
Owner: Like a moderator, plus you can set the level of access of other site members

When you create a space you will automatically be appointed its Owner.

From a space's "Manage" page

you can:

restrict and limit access of site-members to the space,
control guest access to the space
rename* the space, and
delete the space (not shown)
set a default level of access for new users (members) of the site

Notes and tips:

Appointing someone else a co-owner of the space facilitates hand-off.
Owners can demote other owners
Making everyone except the owner of the space a Viewer effectively freezes the space.
Renaming the space does not kill hyperlinks to the space, but deleting it does

Ideas for better snapshots

2009-11-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

With bCisive Online you can save snapshots of a Space (and get them back). This facility could be even better:

The date-stamp on each saved version should show local time, not server time
The user should be prompted to add a short comment when (s)he saves
Space owners and moderators should be allowed to delete a snapshot
It would be handy to be able to preview a snapshot before loading it

Presently anyone who can edit a space can save and restore snapshots. An alternative arrangement would restrict saving and uploading to space owners and moderators. A logical consequence of this would be that space members would only be allowed to edit a space in the presence of an owner (or moderator), since otherwise a member could use auto-save to obtain unsupervised save rights.

Any backing for this refinement?

Save snapshots of the workspace

2009-11-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

Although bCisive Online has periodic auto-save there are times when you want to go back to an earlier version of the workspace. Saving allows you to do just that:

Before exiting a Space while in control, to keep any changes
In case you lose work by accident, error, or technology failure
To replay the history of a discussion

When you click the "Save" button the current state of the workspace is saved and stamped with current date-time (for now the time at the central server).

To go back to an earlier saved version of the workspace, click on the "History" tab and click on the "Revert To" button to call up the old version. Tip: Consider Saving the current version first!

Wishlist functionality:

Text comments when saving, for a more informative history
Graphic preview before reverting

Presenting a map in bite-sized chunks

2009-11-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

bCisive Online (and bCisive desktop) are great tools for capturing team planning and problem-solving sessions. They encourage buy-in and help participants to work together both thoroughly and constructively.

But a great session does not automatically make for a great presentation to others. bCisive contains a powerful tool -- PowerPoint export -- to help construct visually compelling presentations, but to get the most out of it, you need to know how to break a big map into a well-organized story.

The problem: You had to be there!

The result of a good session typically yields a big map, and if this is presented as it stands to someone who wasn't part of the original session, rather than getting buy-in more typical responses are incomprehension or distancing.

The solution: Tell a story

The basic idea is to break down the map, which in its original form shows everything all at once, into a linear narrative: a story.

Using the output-to-PowerPoint feature, you can export your map straight to PowerPoint where you can add logos and text for a great visual summary. To create your story, break your map into bite-size chunks, and organize them in a way that will make it easy for your audience to follow. Here's how we do it:

Start with an overview
Drill down into the good bits (discard the bits you don't need)
Show the links

An example of a big map (click for full size)

Breaking a map into several slides
First, we create an overview slide by hiding the branches below the top couple of levels, and taking a slide.

Next, we show the branches again and take slides of each one separately. Export to PowerPoint for (in this case) a four-slide presentation:

Now, we simply add joiners in PowerPoint to indicate how the parts of the map connect.

The result is a clear and easy-to-follow presentation of the separate parts of the argument, resolution or proposal.

Expert tips:

For deep maps, the drill-down may need to be broken across multiple slides, repeating the same trick
In bCisive desktop you can add headers and footers from within bCisive, and also choose to export some slides in a dot point format; these features can be expected to arrive in due course in bCisive Online
A conclusion slide at the end can remind the audience of the original overview, ideally with a little visual variation

Going further
We've found that this process works very well for us, but it may not be suitable for some styles of presentation. We'd love to hear about other ways that also work well, especially with an instructive example. Please let us know!

We think it would be great if a map sliced up into slides and exported from bCisive Online had any necessary joiners added automatically. Something to look forward to.

Keyboard shortcuts

2009-11-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

Undo and redo

Undo* (Ctrl+Z): Multi-level undo
Redo* (Ctrl+Y): Redo

* Apple users: Use "Command" instead of "Ctrl" for these shortcuts.

Delete a box or a branch

Delete (Delete or Backspace): Delete the selected box and its children
Excise (Ctrl+Delete): Delete the selected box only

Add a new box to a map

Add sibling (Enter or Shift+Right Arrow): Add a new box of the same type to the right of the selected box
Add child (Insert or Shift+Down Arrow): Add a new plain box below the selected box

Text editing

Enter edit mode: Select a box and start typing
Exit edit mode (Shift+Enter): Save changes and exit the text editor

From maps to text

2009-11-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just want the text, and nothing but the text. You've planned a report visually in bCisive Online, but now it's time to write the report in your word-processor of choice.

For example, automatically turn this

Overview of the proposed text output feature

into something like this:

Proposed feature: Text output

1. What is it for?
1.1. Example: Writing reports
1.2. Example: Writing executive summaries
1.3. Example: Extracting lists of tasks

2. What is a good starting feature set?

This what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach allows the user (or team!) to fully explore ideas by creating a really large map, but when producing the text output to be selective, and break the worthwhile parts of the map into smaller, more digestible chunks. In this example I have hidden the details of the starting feature set, which we can now reveal:

Suggestions for the initial feature set

and generate the text for these too:

2. What is a good starting feature set?
2.1. Idea: Similar to the PowerPoint output feature: Take "snapshots" of branches
2.2. Idea: Respect hide-show, so that What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get
2.2.1. Example: Only show the top two or three levels to get the draft for an exec. summary.
2.3. Idea: Filter option to get a flat list of all the boxes of a particular type
2.3.1. Example: Extract all the Tasks (probably a good default) into a list
2.4. Idea: Settings to allow or disallow automatic numbering, indentation, color, etc. (similar to bCisive desktop)

From there the idea would be to polish up the text in your word-processor (or email software, etc.) and either maintain outline form; edit it into a traditional text of headings, paragraphs, and sentences; or, perhaps most likely, create a mix of both.

Early beta feedback

2009-10-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Being able to interact live is terrific. I have found it saves me trips to our other office. -- Beta user working in IT & communications

Over the last five weeks, around 90 people have got involved in our beta trial of bCisive Online. Valuable comments have been rolling in; here is some of the feedback we've been getting.

Some users struggled with setting up sites and getting started building maps; we're working on a series of tutorial videos to help with this, and of course you can browse our straightforward how-to tips on this blog too.

Some areas of value identified by our beta users:

Making and documenting complex decisions
Live, remote interaction with colleagues
1:1 and 1:few followups after group planning sessions

I see some potential to encourage its wider use in a digital democracy. -- Beta user working in civic government

Some requested features:

Single login that works across multiple sites -- already implemented; read more
The workspace should stretch vertically as the browser window is enlarged -- already implemented; read more
Keyboard shortcut to exit the text edit box -- already implemented; use Ctrl+S
Email notification of site details once you've set one up
Clearer Delete function [currently Delete is via a keyboard shortcut only; we plan to add a Delete button soon]
A 'Print' function
More icons; specific new icons e.g. Reason, Evidence, Claim; co-premise capability
More export options, e.g. PDF, image
Ability to moderate others' additions before they appear on a map
View-only invitations

Some concerns that we'll be addressing:

Security of data and uploaded documents
The mechanism for passing control between participants could be made clearer
Trying to log into a site with the same account on two separate computers at once causes strange behaviour

If you have further feedback for us, please email us or take our short beta feedback survey. If you'd like to be involved in the next stage, our pilot program for small teams, read more here.

Be part of our pilot program

2009-10-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who has been involved in our early beta trial for bCisive Online. For the next stage, we are looking for small teams from diverse organizations to partner with us in a more targeted pilot program.

We're aiming to work closely with our pilot teams to put bCisive Online through its paces in a real-life setting, and particularly to test out its collaborative and group features.

If your team is chosen for a pilot, we'll:

hold your hand to get bCisive Online set up and working with your team
give you and your team close support throughout the pilot in return for your valuable feedback
offer you discounted licensing or additional free licenses for the first year, once bCisive Online goes commercial

Interested? Great! Please send us an email and tell us:

Who are you?
The name of your organization
The role of your team
The size of your team
What are you hoping to use bCisive Online for?
What other product or process are you hoping bCisive Online will replace?

If you're interested in the pilot program but feel that bCisive Online as it currently stands isn't ready, please let us know what specific changes you would have to see before you got involved.

Inserting a box above multiple child boxes

2009-10-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

The most obvious way to build a map is by progressively adding new boxes below and next to existing ones (new children and siblings). However, you can also insert boxes into the middle of your map - new parent boxes. There are two ways to do this:

Inserting a box above an individual child box
Inserting a box above multiple child boxes (read on)

To insert a new box above multiple children, drag the new box until a red horizontal indicator line appears underneath the children's existing parent box.

Release the mouse button and the new box is inserted as a new parent to all child boxes.

Inserting a box above an individual child box

2009-10-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Inserting a box above an individual child box (read on)
Inserting a box above multiple child boxes

To insert a box above an individual child box, drag the new box until you see a horizontal red indicator line above the appropriate child box.

When you release the mouse button, your new box will be inserted into the map as the new parent box for that single child box.

Detaching and attaching a box or branch

2009-10-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

To detach a box or an entire branch from your map, click on the box (or the parent box, for a branch), hold and drag it away to a clear part of your workspace. When you release, the box or branch will drop onto the workspace, detached from your map.

You can use this detach function to turn part of your map into two separate maps, or as an intermediate step while restructuring a map; detached boxes and branches can be reattached later.

To attach a box or a branch to your map, just reverse the detaching process. Click and hold the box (or the parent box, for a branch) you want to attach, drag it to where it should go, look for the red indicator line, and release:

Remember:

Each bCisive Online workspace is infinitely big and can contain as many separate maps as you like.

Reordering sibling boxes

2009-10-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Siblings are boxes that share the same parent box. Swapping them around is a simple matter of drag-and-drop.

Take this example:

To relocate the Challenge after the Pro and Con, just click on it, hold and drag it until you see the red vertical indicator line to the right of the Con box, and then release:

If the box you're moving has child boxes, the entire branch will be moved together, as in this example:

Compelling presentations: Outline input

2009-10-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

In my two previous posts I showed why diagrams make for far better slides than bullet points and suggested adding outline input to supercharge bCisive Online to enable quick and eassy preparation of visually compelling, better thought-out PowerPoint presentations.

How would outline input work in practice?

Simple text input a la markdown:

With a little magic this would converted automatically to:

and then the user could quickly change the box-types by dragging out the appropriate icons from the left panel and dropping them on the boxes.

Even quicker, might be to allow some short-hand on the bullets:

    * = plain Box
    ? = Question
    + = Pro
    - = Con
    ! = Idea
    etc.

That way a draft along the lines of

would convert straight to:

which is much closer to the final form, with just a Fix and two E.g.s to be dropped onto the lower three boxes.

As an alternative to raw input, where the user is required to control indentation, another option would be to supply a more polished Outliner interface, similar to LooseStitch, but with inline editing.

The best of both worlds may well be plain text editing with helpful buttons for indenting, un-indenting, box-types, etc. together with map preview.

Conclusion

Outline text input would enhance bCisive Online's useability in developing compelling presentations by making it quicker and easier to get an initial map up for editing.

Various forms of text output -- text outline, executive summary -- would be a nice matching enhancement, allowing the user to concentrate on getting the content right, and then quickly mix and match different forms of output to get the most compelling and understandable result.

Compelling presentations, faster

2009-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Problem

Business people (and others) are increasingly familiar with the phenomenon of Death by Powerpoint:

"Death by PowerPoint" is a criticism of slide-based presentations refering to a state of boredom and fatigue induced by information overload during presentations such as those created by the Microsoft application. -- Wikipedia

Much of this can be attributed to two factors:

Poorly thought-out presentations
Over-use of "bullet points"

A solution

bCisive Online can help address both points by providing the workspace to help clarify and better structure the content of your presentation, and the "Export to PowerPoint" feature to convey structured information in a more visual and compelling way. The overall process currently looks like this:

Enter your ideas into bCisive Online
Rearrange and play with the map, maybe in collaboration with colleagues
Output maps into PowerPoint form, typically giving a high-level overview, and then drilling into depth where appropriate
Supplement, where appropriate, with bulleted lists, text, charts and other material to create a compelling Presentation

You can do steps 1-3 in bCisive Online already, and step 4 in PowerPoint.

How could this process be improved?

Outline input: Although I decried the over-use of outlines for presentation, they are an extremely fast and familiar way to "dump your brain". Certainly quicker than using a click-and-drag mouse-based interface. [On the other hand, click-and-drag is fantastic for editing and restructuring.]
Additional text-based output forms: Principally bullet points, and text forms, including executive summaries, to be used sparingly and tastefully!

Various text-based output forms are available in bCisive desktop (text outline, decision summary). They will be added in some form to bCisive Online in due course. Outline input, on the other hand, is new for us, and will be discussed in my next post. Together these features would lead to an even better process: Enter your ideas, quickly, in outline form
Automatically transform the outline into a bCisive Online map
Rearrange and play with the map (or maps), maybe in collaboration with colleagues
Output to Powerpoint as a mix of diagrams, bullet points, and text
Refine and supplement in PowerPoint.
Importantly, the first and last steps will be familiar to existing PowerPoint users, and the intermediate steps will deliver better structured and more visually compelling slides amazingly quickly. By keeping all hierarchical data in bCisive Online, you can structure the key content of your presentation in one place, and makes the choice of how best to present -- diagram, text, or bullet point -- a secondary consideration. Try them all; use what works best!

Compelling presentations

2009-10-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Unsure about the value of diagrams to presentations?

Compare this kind of bulleted outline form:

What are the Pros and Cons of Outline form?

Pro: Good for input: Fast and familiar
Pro: Handy for output, sometimes
Con: Boring: The reader / audience's eyes glaze over

Fix: Mix bullet point output with other more visually interesting and informative styles of presentation.

E.g.: Images
E.g. bCisive Online diagrams

Con: Not great for showing relationships

with the corresponding bCisive Online map (click on the diagram to enlarge):

Far more compelling, eh?

In my next post I make the case for using outline form for quickly jotting down ideas, and diagrammatic form for structuring and especially presenting. And in the final post in this mini-series I show how outline input might work in practice.

Bigger workspace size

2009-10-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Until now the workspace width expanded with the browser width, but not the height, which was fixed. We've removed this limitation to allow really big workspace sizes:

A bCisive Online workspace on a big screen: Click for full resolution

Above a minimum size, the workspace will stretch and squeeze with your browser. So if you have a large screen, you can now make use of all that real-estate.

Note: Depending on your web browser, you may need to clear your cache and reload a Space page for this upgrade to take effect.

Deleting a box or a branch

2009-09-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

It takes only a keystroke to delete a box or a branch from your bCisive Online map. Just select a box with a mouse-click, then click the Delete button, or press the Delete key:

After:

If your selected box has anything below it - children, grand-children, etc. - these boxes will also be deleted. But don't panic! If you delete something in error, you can easily undo your action.

Pro tip: To delete a box without deleting, try excising instead.

Moving around the workspace: panning, zooming

2009-09-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

A bCisive Online workspace is infinitely big, and you can build multiple maps within it. Once your map or maps get large, you won't often want to see all of the space you've used at once; here's how you can move around your bCisive Online workspace and focus on different parts.

Panning

You can pan around by clicking on any empty bit of the workspace and dragging it. This effectively displays a new part of the workspace in your viewing window.

Zooming

To zoom, use the slider or the - and + buttons at the top of the workspace:

Fit All / Fit Map

These handy shortcut buttons, next to the Zoom slider, allow you to zoom automatically to show the entire selected map, or the whole workspace. You can then identify and zoom in on the area you want to work on.

Interesting to note: Unlike in the desktop version of bCisive, in bCisive Online you can't zoom in and out on your map using the scroll button on your mouse. Instead, the scroll button does what you'd expect in a browser: scrolls the browser window.

Hide and show

2009-09-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

bCisive Online includes a Hide and Show feature that enables you to work more easily with larger maps, draw attention to a particular part of your map or customize your export to PowerPoint.

To hide everything below a box, hold your mouse pointer over the box; click on the 'minimize' sign (-) that appears.

A box that has hidden children appears 'stacked'. To show the hidden boxes again, hold your mouse pointer over it and click on the 'maximize' (+) button that appears.

Undoing and redoing actions

2009-09-27T23:09:00.001-07:00

Made a mistake? Changed your mind? No problem.

In bCisive Online, you can undo as many actions as you like; just keep clicking on the Undo button.

You can also redo.

Keyboard shortcuts:

Undo: Ctrl+Z (Windows) / Command+Z (Mac)
Redo: Ctrl+Y (Windows) / Command+Y (Mac)

Changing a box's type

2009-09-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Did you add a Pro to your map, when it should have been a Con? Or perhaps you want to change your Ideas to Options?

Easy: To change a box's type, drag a box from the tool panel into the workspace and over the box you want to change. A small red square will appear in the middle of the target box; release the mouse button and the box's type will change, but everything else – size, text, hyperlinks – will be kept.

And remember, you can always undo.

Connecting more boxes to your map

2009-09-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

Connecting more boxes to your first one to build a map is easy. Drag a new box from the tool panel onto the workspace, and hold it near to the box you'd like to attach it to. You'll see a red line showing where the new box will attach - underneath, beside or above another.

When you're happy, release the mouse button and drop the new box, and connections will automatically be drawn. If it's in the wrong spot, don't worry - just grab it again and drag it to the right place.

Things to note:

Maps can only be built in a top-down tree structure (for now).
The second box in a map can only be placed underneath the first box; after that, new boxes can be placed next to an existing one (a sibling), underneath it (a child), or on top of it (a new parent).
Boxes can have an unlimited number of child boxes, but each box can have only one parent.

Adding and editing text in a box

2009-09-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

bCisive Online includes a text editor to let you add text to a box on your workspace, or to edit text already there.

Double-click on the box to open the text editor:

Type or edit your text, and edit the font, font size, color and formatting using the options below the text field.

Tip: You can also edit the heading text in the top line of the pop-up box. [In the above example this is the box that says "Question: Bottom line".]

Press Shift+Enter or click Save and your text will appear in the box on your workspace:

Adding a box to the workspace

2009-09-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

The workspace within your bCisive Online Space provides a place for you to map your ideas, discussion or strategic thinking. Maps - structured diagrams - are built using the collection of icons in the tool panel on the left of the screen.

To add a box to your workspace, choose a box, drag it out onto the workspace and drop it where you want it.

Accessing a site

2009-09-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Once you've created a new site or joined an existing one, how do you access it next time?

The simplest approach is to go to the bCisive Online homepage and log in from the top right corner.

Alternatively, you can go straight to the particular site's url -- e..g "freesite99.bcisiveonline.com" -- and log in there:

Wresting control... from myself

2009-09-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

Recently, Donald ran into a problem to do with the luxury item 'Leave me signed in':

I signed into the [bCisive Online beta] sandbox at home with this feature implemented. Now I'm at work, and logging into the sandbox shows two people, me and me.

If I request control from me ....I am not 'there' (at my home computer) to say yes or no.

Good point, Donald!

Our thoughts:

I should be able to take control from me, no questions asked! (i.e. if both occupants are associated with the same user account.)
Time-out for inactivity: automatically pass control to a requestor.
Grab control option (by force!)

Single login is here

2009-09-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Until today, you were required to create a new login account for each bCisive Online site you created or were invited to access. Confusing, and cumbersome, I'm sure you'll agree.

We've now replaced this with a single login system: once you've set up an account for your email address, you can use it to access any number of sites. (At this stage you still need to log into each site separately, but you'll now use the same password.)

Existing users:

If you only had the one account, you will now be able to use it to log into other bCisive sites in the future.
If you previously had more than one account, we have kept the password for the first account you created and removed the rest. (If you need a password reminder, just let us know.)

As yet, there's no 'My account' management screen where you can see a list of the sites you have access to through your single account, but that's on the wishlist.

Entering and leaving a Space

2009-09-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Enter an existing Space

From the site's home page, click on its title in the list in the Spaces area, or click on the space's thumbnail image in the Latest Activity area:

You'll be taken to the Space, where you will see:

the name of the owner(s) of the space;
a list of any other Occupants currently in the Space; and
the mapping workspace and any map(s) already built.

To leave a Space

In the header area near the top of the page, click on the site Site's name and you'll be taken back to the site's Home page. E.g. In Dan's Space on "http://freesite99.bcisiveonline.com/1872/dans-space" you would click on "Free Site #99" to leave the space:

bCisive Online > Free Site #99 > Dan's Space

Tip: If you're in control of the space, you will usually want to Save before you leave. Otherwise you will be prompted.

Creating a new Space

2009-09-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

Within each bCisive Online site, there can be any number of Spaces, each containing an embedded bCisive workspace where you can create and edit bCisive Online "maps". The site owner or anyone invited to access the site can create a new Space.

To create a Space, from the home page of your site, type a name for your new Space, and click the Create button:

Your Space will be added to the list, and then you just have to click on its title to enter it and start mapping.

Notes:

Free sites are limited to a maximum of three spaces.
At the moment, reordering and categorizing the Spaces list (into folders, for example) isn't possible: spaces are ordered alphabetically, and recently accessed spaces appear in the "latest activity" area at the top of the home page.

How to use bCisive Online: contents

2009-09-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the bCisive Online blog!

Browse our how-to tips for information on how to get started and make the most of bCisive Online.

1. Site management

2. Space management

3. Workspace: basic map building

Video instruction: Workspace basics (2:43)

4. Workspace: manipulating a map

Video instruction: Manipulating a map (1:26)

5. Workspace: viewing and saving

6. Workspace: exporting and publishing

Making a PowerPoint presentation
Publishing to your site, or to the web
Example: A bCisive Online map embedded in a blog

7. Workspace: advanced

8. Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts

9. Real-time collaboration

Would you like help on how to do something in bCisive Online? Ask us in the comments, or contact us.

Inviting people into your site

2009-09-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

It's easy to invite others into your site, if you are a site owner or admin.

You will see the "Invite new users" at the top of the People pane on your site's Home Page:

Clicking on it reveals an invitation form:

An email with sign-up instructions will be dispatched to your invitees, together with your message.

Creating a new bCisive Online site

2009-09-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

A bCisive Online site is a private area that you create for your organization or yourself.

Free site
To create a free site, go to http://www.bcisiveonline.com and Sign up:

You will be assigned a site with an address of the form "http://freesite99.bcisiveonline.com", and you will be logged straight in.

You are now the owner of the site, and sole member. Perhaps it's time to invite other people to join your site?

Later, you can log back in to your site from directly at http://freesite99.bcisiveonline.com (or whatever), or from the bCisive Online homepage.

Paid sites (coming soon)

From late February 2010, you will be able to upgrade to a paid site, which besides offering a better service, will allow you to choose a more suitable name for your bCisive Online site, like "http://abccorp.bcisiveonline.com".

Accepting an invitation to a bCisive Online site

2009-09-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

When someone invites you to their bCisive Online site, you will receive an email. To accept, open the email and click on the link to the sign-up page and follow the instructions.

Accounts, accounts everywhere

2009-09-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

"...but I thought I already had a bCisive Online login. Why, when I head over to my friend's bCisive Online site, am I being asked to set up a new account?"

Bear with us! We're the first to admit that the login system still needs work. Here's how it works at the moment:

bCisive Online site
This is the private area that you create for yourself or your organization, or are invited to join. Each site is accessed via a different subdomain, e.g. http://abccorp.bcisiveonline.com.

Spaces
Within each site, there can be any number of Spaces, each containing an embedded bCisive workspace where you can create a map. The site owner or anyone invited to access the site can create a Space. Click on the Spaces tab for a list of the Spaces in the site.

Login accounts
An account is your personal login information, and consists of the name, email address and password you enter when you create a site or accept an invitation to somebody else's.

Here's the rub. Currently, there isn't a global/single sign-on facility, although it is coming in the near future. At the moment, you need to create a new account for each bCisive Online site you wish to access.

-- Update: we've now implemented a single login. Read more here.

Accessing other people's sites
The only way to access a colleague or friend's site is to click the link in the invitation email they send you.

If you do this, you will be prompted to set up an account for that site, and then you'll be taken straight into the site.

Just going to the site's URL and trying to login using an account you've previously set up won't work, because that's the account for a different site.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to have one global login account to access all of my bCisive Online sites?"

Yup. We agree. We're working on it! -- Update: it's done. Read more here.

Wishlist for faciliation / collaboration / mentoring

2009-09-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

During a real-time session:

Who edited the box? E.g. History of edits at the box level
Add a box without having control: Allow a participant (without control) to add a single box to the workspace (and text), allowing the user with control (the facilitator) to request suggestions, without having to relinquish control; good for brain-storming; ideally, if you have control you can toggle this feature on/off
Avatar facial expressions: Allow avatars (the little faces) to appear confused, happy, sad, etc. to give feedback to the facilitator, allow simple votes, etc.
History of the space: Explicitly save snap-shots of the whole space as it develops, to better understand how the final result was reached
Follow: Allow other participants to automatically follow the zooming and panning of the user with control
Guest passes: Invite non-users to temporarily join a space, e.g. a customer
Chat: As an alternative / addition to skype, gtalk, etc.

Between real-time sessions:

Alerts: When a space is changed; subscribe / unsubscribe
Invitations: Schedule times to meet in a space, send emails

Where are we going?

2009-09-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

We'd like to know too!

Our very short-term plans

The beauty of software is that it is "soft". We've deliberately taken bCisive Online early, in line with a "release early, release often" approach.

We don't just want bCisive Online to be a pleasure to use, but also really, really useful.

So while bCisive desktop was mainly oriented to decision-making decision-making, Rationale to clearer critical thinking, and bSelling to consultative selling, we're leaving bCisive Online a bit more open for now.

Our initial idea is to make it a great tool for facilitation, collaboration and mentoring, especially remotely, and in combination with skype, gtalk or similar audio-conferencing software.

Here's an example of father/daughter mentoring from a happy bCisive/Rationale user:

Dear Anna

Thank-you ... It works perfect. I really enjoy working with these programs. Once I helped my daughter (27) using bCisive to make a decision about whether she should continue her job. It took us a whole sunday afternoon. A week later she was flying to Spain where she studied Spanish for 3 months. When she came back she was full of gusto to find a new job. Now she is a lecturer at the same university where I work. -- Gerard

The directions that we are considering include:

Facilitation / collaboration / mentoring: Especially for geographically separated teams
Organizational teamwork / planning / reporting: Build a shared understanding during planning, review and structured problem-solving sessions; stored in a central place
Visual tools for capturing repeatable business processes and making them fun and engaging: See our bSelling product for some examples of how we apply visual-thinking to get better engagement and reporting in the sales arena -- we can apply the same smarts elsewhere
Project management for Agile, and/or geographically separated teams: Existing tools are list-based, rather than hierarchical, and lack the real-time collaboration dimension
More powerful presentations: Our answer to Death by PowerPoint; our approach easily shows relationships as well as bullet-points, and when used "live" lends itself to interactive exploration and "drill-down" with an audience. Our proposal.

In forthcoming posts I will show some of our mock-ups of proposed features for bCisive Online , depending on the tack that we take.

Welcome to the bCisive Online blog!

2009-09-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

At Austhink Software, we're busy taking our visualization software bCisive online. In this blog, we'll be:

writing about the feature ideas we're pondering;
letting you know what's new;
giving 'how-to' tips; and
posting information about how our early users are going: what you love, and what bugs you're encountering.

Please check back often, leave comments, and get involved in the evolution of bCisive Online. You can contact us directly too.