What is dialogue mapping? Dialogue mapping is a facilitation method, developed by Jeff Conklin, in which a facilitator captures a group's conversation in real time as a shared visual map using IBIS notation — questions, ideas, and pros and cons.
Dialogue mapping uses IBIS, the Issue-Based Information System created by Werner Kunz and Horst Rittel, which structures a discussion into three core node types: questions (also called issues), ideas (positions that respond to a question), and pros and cons (arguments that support or object to an idea). During a meeting, a trained facilitator listens to the group and places each contribution onto a growing map projected for everyone to see, so the conversation becomes a shared artifact rather than a stream of talk. Dialogue mapping is especially suited to wicked problems — ill-defined issues with no single right answer and many stakeholders — because it makes competing questions, options, and trade-offs visible side by side, which builds shared understanding and reduces circular argument. The classic dialogue-mapping tools, gIBIS and its successor Compendium, are now largely unmaintained. Argumentree offers a modern, collaborative alternative: it structures a decision the same way — questions to positions to pros and cons — but works asynchronously and in real time across a distributed group, and keeps a searchable record of the reasoning.
What Is Dialogue Mapping?
Dialogue mapping is a facilitation technique that captures a group's conversation, in real time, as a shared visual map. Developed by Jeff Conklin, it uses a simple grammar called IBIS — questions, ideas, and pros and cons — to turn a messy discussion into a structure everyone can see and reason about together.
Last updated: 2026-07-04
In short
Dialogue mapping is a method for capturing a group discussion live as a shared map, popularized by Jeff Conklin in his 2006 book Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems. It is built on IBIS (Issue-Based Information System), a notation created by Werner Kunz and Horst Rittel that organizes a conversation into questions, ideas that respond to them, and pros and cons that weigh those ideas. Because it lays out competing options and trade-offs visually, it is especially good for wicked problems and for building shared understanding across a group.
What IBIS is: the grammar of a dialogue map
- 1
Questions (Issues)
The open questions the group is wrestling with — e.g. "How should we handle onboarding?" A dialogue map is organized around these, not around who is speaking. Rittel and Kunz originally called them issues, which is where the "I" in IBIS comes from.
- 2
Ideas (Positions)
The possible answers, options, or proposals raised in response to a question. Several competing ideas can hang off the same question, so alternatives sit side by side instead of being lost in the back-and-forth.
- 3
Pros
Arguments that support an idea — reasons in favor, evidence, and benefits. Each pro attaches to the specific idea it strengthens, so the case for an option is visible at a glance.
- 4
Cons
Arguments that object to an idea — risks, costs, and objections. Placing pros and cons on the same idea makes the trade-offs explicit rather than leaving them implied.
- 5
The links between nodes
IBIS is a grammar, not just a list of node types: questions respond to ideas, ideas respond to questions, and arguments respond to ideas. The links are what turn scattered points into a navigable structure — and new questions can branch off any node as the discussion deepens.
- 6
The live, shared map
In dialogue mapping the map is built and projected during the meeting, so the group is looking at the same evolving picture. The artifact — not the transcript — is the record of what the conversation actually established.
IBIS was introduced by Werner Kunz and Horst Rittel in 1970 as a way to capture the reasoning behind decisions on hard planning problems. Jeff Conklin later paired it with real-time facilitation to create dialogue mapping. The grammar is deliberately small — that is what lets a facilitator keep up with a live conversation.
Why dialogue mapping works
Dialogue mapping earns its place on genuinely hard problems for three reasons:
Built for wicked problems
Horst Rittel coined the term "wicked problem" for issues that are ill-defined, have no single right answer, and involve many stakeholders who disagree on the framing. By laying competing questions, ideas, and trade-offs out visually, dialogue mapping keeps a group productive on exactly the problems where linear agendas break down.
Shared understanding
Because everyone is looking at the same growing map, the group builds a common picture of the problem — what has been asked, what has been proposed, and what has been said for and against each option. Conklin's phrase for the goal is "building shared understanding," and the visible map is what makes it possible.
Captured in real time
The map is created live as people talk, so the reasoning is recorded while it is fresh instead of being reconstructed from memory or minutes afterward. Points don't get repeated endlessly, because once something is on the map, everyone can see it has already been said.
How Argumentree modernizes dialogue mapping
Classic dialogue mapping relies on legacy desktop software — gIBIS and its open-source successor Compendium — that is now largely unmaintained and was designed around a single facilitator driving one shared screen. Argumentree keeps the IBIS grammar that makes dialogue mapping work, but rebuilds it as a modern, collaborative platform:
The same question → position → pro/con structure
Argumentree organizes a decision exactly the way IBIS does: open questions, the positions that answer them, and the pros and cons that weigh each position — so the discipline of dialogue mapping is built into the tool, not dependent on one expert facilitator.
Asynchronous and real-time together
A dialogue map no longer needs everyone in one room at one time. Participants can contribute live in a meeting or asynchronously across time zones, so the map keeps growing between sessions instead of being frozen when the meeting ends.
A searchable, durable record
Every map is stored and searchable, so months later anyone can find a decision and see the questions, options, and arguments that shaped it — rather than opening an orphaned file in abandoned desktop software.
A living map anyone can extend
New questions can branch off any node, ratings surface which arguments carried weight, and the map stays open for the whole group to extend — turning a one-time facilitated session into an evolving, shared record of reasoning.
The technique is the same one Conklin taught — capture the conversation as questions, ideas, and pros and cons. Argumentree simply removes the two things that limited it: the need for one skilled facilitator at a shared screen, and the aging tools that were built for that setup.
Explore further
What is argument mapping?
The broader practice of laying out claims, reasons, and objections visually — the family of methods that dialogue mapping belongs to.
What is debate mapping?
How the competing sides of a contested question can be structured and compared, point by point.
What are wicked problems?
Rittel's term for the ill-defined, high-stakes problems that dialogue mapping was designed to make tractable.
Argument map maker
Build a structured question-and-argument map with Argumentree — a modern take on the IBIS approach behind dialogue mapping.
Frequently asked questions
What is dialogue mapping?
Dialogue mapping is a facilitation technique, developed by Jeff Conklin, in which a facilitator captures a group's conversation in real time as a shared visual map. It uses IBIS notation — questions, ideas, and pros and cons — so that a discussion becomes a structure the whole group can see and reason about, rather than a stream of talk that is hard to follow.
What is IBIS?
IBIS stands for Issue-Based Information System, a notation created by Werner Kunz and Horst Rittel in 1970. It structures a discussion into three core node types: questions (or issues), ideas (positions that respond to a question), and pros and cons (arguments that support or object to an idea). Dialogue mapping is the practice of building an IBIS map live during a conversation.
What tool is used for dialogue mapping?
Historically, dialogue mapping was done with gIBIS and later Compendium, a free desktop tool from the Open University — but Compendium is no longer actively maintained. Today you can use a modern collaborative platform such as Argumentree, which keeps the same IBIS structure of questions, positions, and pros and cons while supporting real-time and asynchronous participation and a searchable record.
What kinds of problems is dialogue mapping best for?
Dialogue mapping is especially suited to "wicked problems" — a term coined by Horst Rittel for issues that are ill-defined, have no single correct answer, and involve many stakeholders who disagree on how to frame them. On these problems, laying out competing questions, options, and trade-offs visually keeps a group productive where a linear agenda would stall.
How is dialogue mapping different from mind mapping or meeting minutes?
Mind mapping arranges topics freely around a central idea, and meeting minutes summarize what was said in order. Dialogue mapping is stricter: it uses the IBIS grammar so that every contribution is captured as a question, an idea, or a pro or con and linked to what it responds to. The result is a shared map of the group's reasoning — you can see which options answer which question and what was argued for and against each — not just a summary or a loose cluster of notes.
References & further reading
Conklin, J. (2006). Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems. Wiley.
The foundational book on dialogue mapping — introduces the practice of capturing group conversation live as an IBIS map. Cited by name.
Kunz, W. & Rittel, H. W. J. (1970). Issues as Elements of Information Systems.
The working paper that introduced IBIS (Issue-Based Information System), the notation of questions, positions, and arguments that dialogue mapping builds on. Cited by name.
Rittel, H. W. J. & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences.
The paper that introduced the concept of "wicked problems" — the class of ill-defined, multi-stakeholder problems dialogue mapping is designed to address. Cited by name.
Compendium Institute — Compendium hypermedia / IBIS tool
The open-source dialogue-mapping tool developed at the Open University's Knowledge Media Institute (successor to gIBIS). Now largely unmaintained; listed as historical context for IBIS tooling.
View source →Map the conversation, not just the minutes
Capture your group's questions, options, and the arguments for and against each — as a shared, searchable map. Argumentree brings the discipline of dialogue mapping to a modern, collaborative tool.
Start free