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About Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

Description of Picture.“Stakeholders are persons or organizations that are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the performance or completion of the project!”, PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition

So, Stakeholdres ARE KINGS. They must discuss all issues about everything and make decisions.

Conventional Dialogue Misadventures

What usually happens with conventional facilitation techniques?

- Those with power use it to settle differences
- Iterative discussions take hours, even weeks
- Group work products of uneven quality or usefulness
- No convergence to an agreement to take action with the consensus of participants
- Not democratic: Experts settle the issues they “own,” relieving burden of learning
- Not participatory: True diverse stakeholder sessions are rare, “customers” have no say

The history of SDD

The history of SDD finds its foundations in the 1970s. It emerged as an application of systems sciences in social contexts, out of cybernetics, and the science of complex systems, especially in the sphere of social systems. SDD engages stakeholders in participative democracy through disciplined dialogue.

SDD encourages innovation and is very effective in resolving multiple conflicts of purpose and values and in generating consensus on organizational, inter-organizational strategy and projects.

Also, SDD efficiently enables democratic redesign of socio-organizational systems and practices based upon a dialogic process that consolidates power relationships into consensus agreement for effective cross-functional collaborative action.

So, using Structured Dialogic Design (SDD) as a systemic tool, we can better manage project stakeholders. More specifically we can advance stakeholder engagement, stakeholder management and stakeholder decision making for improving project delivery results.

Structured Dialogic Design Science (SDD) Components

  • 4 Axioms
  • 6 Consensus Building Methods
  • 7 Laws of Dialogue
  • 7 Geometrical/Graphic Language Patterns
  • 4 Stages of Interactive Inquiry

The 4 Axioms of Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

  1. COMPLEXITY
  2. PARSIMONY
  3. SALIENCY
  4. ENGAGEMENT

The 6 Methods to Build Consensus in Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

  1. Nominal Group Technique
  2. Interpretive Structural Modelling
  3. DELPHI Technique
  4. Options Field
  5. Options Profile
  6. Trade-off Analysis

The 7 Laws of Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

  1. Law of Requisite Variety
  2. Law of Requisite Parsimony
  3. Law of Requisite Saliency
  4. Law of Requisite Meaning
  5. Law of Requisite Autonomy and Authenticity
  6. Law of Requisite Evolution of Observations
  7. Law Requisite Action

The 7 Patterns of Graphic Language in Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

  • Elemental Observation
  • Problematique
  • Influence Tree
  • Options Field
  • Options Profile / Scenario
  • Superposition Pattern
  • Action Plan Pattern

The 4 Stages of Interactive Inquiry in Structured Dialogic Design (SDD)

  • Definition or Anticipation
  • Design of Alternatives
  • Decision
  • Action Planning


"In Social System Designing, process is the most important product.” Dr. Alexander N. Christakis