The moment someone picked up a pen and started drawing while they talked, everything clicked. Not because the drawing was good — it wasn't. That was the whole point. A rough map drawn in real time tells the person across from you: this is still in progress, and you're allowed to push back.

Anyone can make a call in the moment. The hard part is being able to explain six months later why you made it — and having the receipts to prove it wasn't just a guess.

It's easy to get curious together, ask great questions, and walk away unchanged. The harder work is letting what you learn actually ask something of you.

A member once thought a colleague was disengaged. Turns out they were just quiet. Another thought someone was difficult — until that person became one of their closest collaborators. This week's conversation was a reminder that the story we hold about someone is rarely the whole story.

AI Field Notes, Making Sense of Change, Making Sense of Ethics, Making Sense of Other Humans, and Making Sense of Complexity & Chaos all next up at The Sensemakers Club.

AI Field Notes, Making Sense of Change, Making Sense of Ethics, Making Sense of Other Humans, and Making Sense of Complexity & Chaos all next up at The Sensemakers Club.

Overheard in Making Sense of Facilitation

Two years ago a founding member wrote down a vision for herself. Today she's living it — with peers who showed up every step of the way. That's what this community does. Thank you to everyone who helped bring more people into it.

Facilitation looks effortless when it's done well. That's the trick — the planning, the presence, and the patience to hold space without filling it.

Safe spaces for real conversation are rare. We're glad you found this one — and even more glad you helped others find it too. Thank you for spreading the word.

"It's not about the money. It's about my relationship to it."

Career pivots are rarely clean or linear — but they're a lot easier when you're not figuring it out alone. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/calendar

You Might Meet... other sense makers who believe in doing it the right way, whatever that means.

A brainstorming partner, a group figuring out AI together, a place to suggest what's missing — that's what you get here. And it keeps growing because members like you keep telling people about it. Thank you.

Recently a group sat down to talk about money — and ended up talking about childhood, safety nets, and the quiet beliefs we carry into every financial decision we make. The amount in your account matters less than you think. Your relationship to it matters more than you know.

Most of us were taught to draw. Very few of us were taught to see. There's a difference — and it turns out you can relearn it at any age, with any object, in about seven minutes.

One year in. Career clarity, peer learning, and a community that actually gets what you do. That's what membership looks like here — and it's growing because members like you are telling people about it. Thank you.

Accountability isn't about blame — it's about being willing to stay in the room when things get hard. That's where the real work happens.

The Beginner’s Meeting, The Analog Leap, Design Jam, Making Sense of Facilitation, and Making Sense of Money are all up this week at The Sensemakers Club.

A member returned after months away and left with a new way of seeing. Sometimes the most honest version leaves things out.

The best communities grow person to person. This week we're celebrating the members who introduced a friend, colleague, or stranger to The Sensemakers Club. You knew someone needed this. You were right.

The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out. We are looking to bring in 10 new members before our Beginner's Meeting TOMORROW at 2 PM ET!

The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out. We are looking to bring in 10 new members before our Beginner's Meeting on April 13 (which is this Monday!!!)

The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out. We are looking to bring in 10 new members before our Beginner's Meeting on April 13!

Many members tell us that they use our sessions to take a break while tuning in to some other perspectives for an hour. You don’t need to prepare anything to join. Listening counts as participation. In fact, we call it podcast mode.

The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out. If you are seeing this post, someone you know is already a member. We are looking to bring in 10 new members before April 13th!

Reminder: TOMORROW Our Chief Sensemaker, Abby Covert, will be hosting a FREE Ask Me Anything session at 1 PM ET to answer people’s questions about joining the Sensemakers Club. 👉 RSVP: https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/ask-me-anything Not a lecture. Not a pitch. Just a space to ask questions.

One thing we hear that members love is that there’s no pressure to have a “good take” or “new insight” You’ll hear people say: “I’m still figuring this out” “I changed my mind” “I don’t know yet” That’s normal here.

Our Chief Sensemaker, Abby Covert, will be hosting a FREE Ask Me Anything session on April 8th at 1 PM ET to answer people’s questions about joining the Sensemakers Club. 👉 RSVP: https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/ask-me-anything Not a lecture. Not a pitch. Just a space to ask questions.

Courses can teach you a framework. But at some point you hit a moment where you think: “Okay… but how do I apply this?” That’s where most people get stuck.

Everyone wants *the answer.* But the answer is usually: you need structure *and* flexibility. And no one likes that answer because it requires discernment. Welcome to the work.

“Bring your whole self to work!” …as long as it’s the version that performs well under pressure and doesn’t make things messy. Most systems say they want humanity. Few are designed to hold it.

Every org says these are different. Every roadmap treats them the same. The tension between user value and business value isn’t a bug. It’s the work.

“We don’t rise to the level of our goals … we fall to the level of our systems.” Unless no one agrees on what the goals are. Or what the system is. Or who “we” even means. This was inspired by a session where members were asked to dissect the assumptions baked into aphorisms.

Some days the win is not spiraling. Some days the win is shipping. Some days the win is just… stopping. Progress isn’t always visible. But it counts.

The gap between how we treat others and how we treat ourselves is… loud. We design for users with empathy. We design for ourselves with judgment. Same brain. Different rules.

People don’t just want to be right. They want to *feel certain.* Certainty beats status. Certainty beats money. Certainty drives decisions more than we admit. Which makes our job as sensemakers … well, complicated.

The moment you go from “I’m sure” to “wait… let me look into that…” That’s where the real work starts. And also where things can fall apart 😅 Sensemaking is knowing when to seek clarity … and when you’re about to overcorrect into chaos.

What people think “shipping” looks like vs. what it actually takes to make something make sense. Most of the work is invisible. Most of the value is preventative. Most of the effort is explaining the same thing again … and again. If you know, you know.

We’re closed this week for Spring Break (back TOMORROW!), so our Chief Sensemaker, Abby Covert, is sharing her favorite memes from the past year as inspired by real conversations inside the club.

We are closed for spring break next week, see you soon!

Overheard in Career Transitions

This month explored process as survival, not bureaucracy. Without it, you're fighting to exist instead of doing the work. Before-and-afters prove value. Capture the mess first.

"Innovation does not stop when there is a process or it has to be agile. But we're not truly agile if we're running really fast but with no direction in mind and just redoing our work and re-litigating every decision. It's just wasteful then."

Join Sarah Rice and Tarryn Lambert every second Friday at 2pm ET to explore money's emotional weight, the taboos we've internalized, and choosing abundance over fear. Burn the candles. Use the firewood. Stop punishing yourself for nothing. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/discussion-groups

course shows you how to wrangle messy terminology and create vocabularies that improve clarity, findability, and communication. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/programs/structuring-information/controlled-vocabularies

You might meet... Sensemakers making wholistic change, with wholistic inclusion in mind.

The illusion: You're accountable for UX clarity. The reality: Roadmap decisions happen elsewhere. We're setting the table, hoping someone has a good meal—but we're not invited to dinner. You can recommend structure but not enforce governance. That's not authority. That's performance art.

We've normalized treating content as communication when it's actually product design. Until organizations understand the difference, content teams will keep being treated like copywriters instead of strategists. Content isn't marketing. It's usability, accessibility, and user research in action.