Circle dependency feature

[tomnixon]

The need: As organisations get more complex there are dependencies between circles on a map that don't fit into the pattern of nested circles. It's very useful for people to be able to visualise these dependencies to understand how the org fits together. Also, these dependencies are a key part of Sociocracy, so if we can cater for this need we can much better serve this market.

Current situation: At the moment this can be partially solved using tags to represent themes that apply to multiple initiatives on the map. However this does not show which people are responsible for those dependencies. Also, the visualisation is weak. You can filter the map to highlight circles which have a particular tag, but you can't see the bigger picture of the network of dependencies in the org. Zappistore are using a separate tool for doing this at the moment.

Solution:

1. Add the ability to create a special role in a circle which serves as a link to another circle. Perhaps the way this could work is that when a helper is added to a circle there is some way to see the other circles where they are also a helper, and then create a connection between them. So it would be clear that their role as a helper in Circle A represents a dependency with Circle B, and that they are the person responsible for that link.

2. Create a new view called Dependencies. This view also uses a network visualisation. The nodes on the network would be all of the initiatives on the map and the connections between them would be where there is a helper link as described above. Perhaps their avatar could be shown in the middle of the line so you can see who is responsible for each dependency.

[rgoj]

We've not been tracking how many times this has been requested, but... many! To have a record of this, I'll try to start recording all the requests. Here's the most recent one: https://app.intercom.com/a/inbox/q3x5lnhp/inbox/shared/all/conversation/106323200016613?view=TableFullscreen

The dependency view is certainly possible.

I always thought it'd be nice to use the circle view for this and use arcs to connect the circles in the background. On hover / select, these could become more prominent, also highlighting the connected circles. I couldn't find a visualisation that would quite match what I'm thinking about, but here's a quick "mini mood board" for this:

Source for 👆🏻

Source for ☝🏻 - indirect, via Google Images

Or we could use straight lines even, though that wouldn't look as nice, but still. Source

[rgoj]

Cited here as one of the reasons for not going ahead with using Maptio! https://app.intercom.com/a/inbox/q3x5lnhp/inbox/conversation/106323200016942?view=List