one-on-one mind melds

Shawn Murphy channelling his inner Vulcan as he describes what happens when "two people only are having a conversation ... a particular magical thing ... call it Mind Melding". This is something similar to shared mental map, an idea I borrowed from England's relatively famous footback coach in the 1990s.

But this isn't football: "Mind Melds are deliberate conversations ... explicit goal of developing deeper sympathy and comprehension for each other's perspectives, mental models, and terminology... focus specifically on understanding how another person thinks and communicates."

He then defines several related, overlapping domains where everyone uses these terms but mean different things:

• "Collective Cognition ... how groups process information, make decisions, and generate insights beyond individual capacity.
• Global Brain Building ... emphasize the structural and technological systems that connect human minds at scale.
• Sense-making ... processes by which individuals and groups construct meaning"

Of particular importance: "Bridging the Architect-Visionary-Activist Divide", which resonates with me because my day job is information architect and my side project is envisioning collective intelligence.

These three types use different terms for related concepts, siloing their essential expertise:

• "The architect's rigorous structural thinking
• The visionary's expansive imagination of possibilities
• The activist's grounding in human needs and social contexts"

How to mind meld?

1. "Set clear intentions" - we're aiming for mutual understanding, not scoring points
2. "Exchange mental models... describing how you conceptualize specific aspects of your work
3. Terminology mapping... create a shared understanding
4. Explore misunderstandings created by terminology differences...
5. Co-create new language... develop new terms that capture shared understanding."

Apart from better communication and hence collaboration, benefits range from "Intellectual cross-pollination... New ideas ... Knowledge transfer... [and] accelerating knowledge building".