A. Nicklas Malik is an enterprise strategy architect for Microsoft in the United States and a well-respected leader, speaker, and writer in the field of Enterprise Architecture. Key to his success has been the use of visual stories, a technique he learned from Martin's early training sessions. Nick has used the CAST process in settings ranging from founding a small business to influencing corporate executives.

Mark D. West is a graphic designer and educator, with experience developing successful training and graphic design solutions for retail and IT-based clients in the US Pacific Northwest (including Boeing and Microsoft) over the last 15 years. Numerous design colleges and IT-based clients have benefited from his expertise in design to support organizational effectiveness, learning, and results that stick.

Visual Stories 5

Should We Blame the Tools? 6

Finding the Right Tool for the Job  6

To Be Effective, You Have to Affect People  7

Convincing Evidence 10

2 CAST AND THE VISUAL STORY MAP 12

The Visual Story Map 12

3 USING CAST TO TELL STORIES 22

Use the Visual Story Map 23

Learn From Our Experience  24

Examples of Using CAST 25

Build Your Own Example 25

Example 1: Personal Trainer 26

Example 2: City University Hospital  27

Tell the Right Story 29

Tell the Story Right 29

4 WHY 34

The Three Big Whys 35

Focusing First on “Why” 36

All Motivation is Personal 37

Techniques for Discovering Whys  37

Five Whys 38

Pain Chain 40

Outcome Mapping 41

5 WHAT 48

Elements of Change. 50

Brainstorming the Changes 52

Filter and Focus  53

6 HOW 62

Traceability and Milestones 64

Finding the “How” 65

Understanding the Dependencies 68

Cum hoc ergo propter hoc 70

7 WHAT IF 76

Walking Backward Through the Story  78

Alternative Scenarios 80

Final Thoughts on the Story Content  89

8 WHO 92

Finding the Common Ground  96

Creating a Power Map 98

9 LEARNING AND DECISION STYLES 108

Categorizing Your Audience 109

Preferences, Not Prescriptions  109

Learning Styles 110

Decision Styles  112

10 STRUCTURE 122

Plot Structure 123

Nesting and Embedding (or How to Tell Many Stories at the Same Time)  139

Using Reality and Fiction 139

Hope’s Story  141

Putting All the Parts Together  141

In a Hurry? 143

11 CHARACTER 148

The Hero and the Villain 150

Character Associations 152

Believability 153

The Cast of Characters 154

Personification  154

12 SENSE OF URGENCY 164

The Enemies of Change: Complacency and Distraction 165

Common Factors Creating a Sense of Urgency 166

Success Is a Decision 168

Success Is a Commitment 168

13 DELIVERY PLAN 174

Decisions Take Time 176

Planning for Scale 178

Hook, Line, and Sinker 179

City University Hospital 180

Delivery Tips  186

14 DESIGN 192

Intentional Design 193

Many Formats, One Root 196

The Infographic 197

Ideation 198

Composition  200

Content Coding 209

Writing 214

15 TEST 222

Testing and Rehearsals 223

Opening, Closing, and Timing  224

Repetition 225

Retention 225

The Six Key Tests 226

16 CAST EXAMPLE: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY CAN MAKE 232

17 AFTERWORD: IMPROVING YOUR VISUAL STORYTELLING 242

Practice Makes Perfect 242

Use Your Tools. 243

REFERENCES 246

INDEX 252

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