Turn a tangled dispute into something you can work with

Mediators, SortYourThoughts!

From a dispute to a shared map

Watch a dispute become clearer

The map develops as the parties explain themselves.

Imagine a mediation between A and B. You might begin with five columns.

Each rectangle represents one point in the discussion.

1. Start with what the parties want.
   Capture their aims and interests so that everyone can see what each party is trying to achieve.
2. Add their arguments and standpoints.
   The map begins to show not just what the parties want, but why they say they want it.
3. Clarify and split the issues.
   An apparently indivisible position can be edited or divided into several smaller points.

4. And more specific arguments emerge.

   
5. Remove what is no longer relevant.
   The map develops as everybody's understanding of the dispute develops.
6. Find the points on which agreement is possible.
   Individual points can move into the Agreed column as the parties make progress.

7. Relationships between points can also be made explicit. For example, connections can indicate agreement, disagreement or another kind of relationship.

   

The map is no longer just a record of what people have said. It becomes a representation of how the different points relate to one another.

If you need to link to documents, graphics or websites, each item can contain a hyperlink:

A familiar mediation problem: the orange

Consider the classic mediation example of two people arguing over the last orange.

“I want the orange.”

“I want the orange.”

If the mediator concentrates only on the positions, there appears to be one indivisible problem: who gets the orange?

But asking about the underlying interests can reveal something very different. One person wants the juice; the other wants the peel for baking.

What appeared to be one conflict was actually two different interests.

The important question was not simply:

“Who gets the orange?”

but:

“What does each person actually need?”

SortYourThoughts helps make that transition visible — and then allows the mediator and the parties to continue breaking complex positions into smaller, potentially negotiable points.

Position → underlying interest → smaller points → possible agreement

Help parties move beyond positions

Mediation can become stuck when a position is treated as one indivisible demand:

“I want X.”

“I will not agree to X.”

With SortYourThoughts, a point can be edited, refined or split into several smaller points.

One of those smaller points may be much easier to discuss than the original position. Another may reveal an underlying interest. Another may turn out to be something both parties already accept.

Instead of asking only:

“How can we compromise on this?”

you can explore:

• What exactly is being disputed?
• Which part of this position really matters?
• What is the underlying interest?
• Can this point be divided into smaller questions?
• Which parts are already agreed?
• What would need to change for this point to move?

The software does not answer these questions for you. It helps you and the parties see the material you need in order to explore them.

Make common ground visible

One of the most valuable discoveries in mediation is that the parties often agree on more than they initially realise.

But agreements can easily disappear into the flow of conversation.

With SortYourThoughts, an agreed point can become a visible part of the shared map.

• What A is trying to achieve.
• What B is trying to achieve.
• Which arguments remain disputed.
• Which questions still need work.
• What they already agree on.

The aim is not to make disagreement disappear.

It is to make the boundary between disagreement and agreement visible.

One conversation. One shared picture.

The mediator is not the only person who can work with the map.

All participating parties can add, edit, move and develop the information.

Everyone therefore sees the same evolving representation of the mediation.

“This is where we are now.”

The map becomes a shared reference point for the conversation.

See what matters now — without losing what you already know

Complex disputes contain more information than is useful to consider at any one moment.

SortYourThoughts lets you assign your own aspects, or dimensions, to the items in the map.

Aspect	Example values
Who	A, B, both, third party
Status	To do, Working, Agreed
Priority	High, medium, low
Type	Aim, interest, argument, fact, option

You can then filter the map according to the question you are exploring.

• Show only B's arguments.
• Show only unresolved issues.
• Show only high-priority points.
• Show only facts.
• Show the points that have already been agreed.

The information does not have to be deleted simply because it is not relevant right now.

Why not just use a whiteboard?

A whiteboard is excellent for putting information in front of people.

But during a complex mediation, you may want to:

• reorganise the same information in a different way;
• hide irrelevant issues without deleting them;
• see only one party's arguments;
• focus on unresolved or high-priority points;
• split an argument into smaller points;
• show relationships between arguments;
• let everyone work on the map together;
• return to the same map in a later session.

This is where SortYourThoughts goes beyond a conventional whiteboard.

Don't lose the work between sessions

The map is automatically saved whenever it changes.

You can therefore return to the same map in a later session instead of reconstructing the discussion from handwritten notes or photographs of a whiteboard.

The map can also be printed when a physical representation is useful.

It works with your mediation method

SortYourThoughts does not prescribe a particular mediation methodology.

You decide:

• which information to capture;
• which aspects to define;
• how to structure the map;
• which information to show;
• and how to use the map in the conversation.

Whether you work in family, workplace, commercial or another form of mediation, you can structure the map according to the needs of the particular case.

The software adapts to your mediation — not the other way around.

What SortYourThoughts gives you as a mediator

From “What are we arguing about?” to “What can we agree on?”

That is the central idea behind using SortYourThoughts in mediation.

The goal is not to make the dispute look simpler than it is.

The goal is to make its complexity understandable enough that you and the parties can work with it.

Try SortYourThoughts free