Toolkit Overview

An offline version of the kit is available, consisting of a readable, PDF document and many templates. Please contact ICONDA if this is of interest to you.

The kit is fully described, with explanations and examples, in the book Client Encounters of the Technical Kind.

Here is a brief summary of the tools:

The first eight tools of ICON9TM are organised around an Encounter Process (Prepare-Engage-Do-Check-Follow-up). This serves to structure meetings and the work that supports them. The other tools either fit into this process, in the sense that their use can be linked to specific process steps, or they support it in a more general sense.

The MAP tool, which is used in the Prepare phase of an encounter to clarify my objectives, audience and plan, is not only a stand alone device but also a front end to five other tools: PAGE, used to align meeting participants, DISCOVER-Y, for discovering data, the TWO-MINUTE MESSAGE, used when informing clients through presentations etc., TABLE, used for negotiating anything from a meeting agenda to a complex product specification and OAR, for improved collaboration with internal clients.

Complementing the above, and used in all phases of any encounter, is the SUBROUTINE, for listening and explaining. For written communication, the TWO-SECOND MESSAGE completes the toolkit.

The ambition of ICON9TM is to cover the essential aspects of customer-facing communications with just a few, carefully chosen tools, and so the number of tools in the core of the system is deliberately fixed at eight. Or nine, when we include the Customer-Facing Engineer themselves – TOOL9.