Which product is right for you?

Rationale™ and bCisive™ are based on a common core: using visual mapping techniques for improving reasoning and structuring thinking. Both tools are very valuable for making sense of complexity. However, they are distinct products with different feature sets.

Rationale is primarily an educational tool, focusing on rigorous reasoning and argument, and honing students’ critical thinking skills. It is particularly useful for developing arguments and for finding the answer to closed questions: is it true? Can this work? Is X guilty?

bCisive is intended for the professional or workplace market and is oriented towards business decision making. You’ll find stronger support for formatting of maps and for communicating with others, and a lot of work has gone into making it extremely easy to use. It’s ideal for bringing clarity to open questions: what can we do to increase revenue? How can we deal with the challenge of X?

If your main interest is using a mapping tool in the workplace, specifically for decisions, you will love the flexibility of bCisive. If you are interested in teaching or learning the fundamentals of reasoning and critical thinking, Rationale is the tool for you.

Which tool is better suited for…?    bCisive       Rationale   
Use in the workplace ✔  
Use by students and teachers   ✔
Making sense of complexity ✔ ✔
Visualizing your thinking and reasoning ✔ ✔
Finding the answer to closed questions   ✔
Exploring open questions ✔  
Business decision making ✔  
Making a recommendation ✔  
Teaching reasoning and critical thinking   ✔
Collaboration and sharing your thinking ✔ ✔
Discovering assumptions and holes in your logic ✔ ✔
Laying out the options, pros and cons, and evidence for a decision ✔  
Rigorous examination of reasoning supporting or challenging a contention   ✔
Improving workplace productivity ✔  
Summarizing your decision rationale ✔  
Learning to plan essays   ✔  
Improving workplace knowledge management ✔