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Open Canvas
A 90-minute session where your team maps the system it works in — together, in one online room with two other teams doing the same.
A 90-minute session where your team maps the system it works in — together, in one online room with two other teams doing the same.
All three teams learn the Canvas together. Nine zones, three properties, one framework.
Each team maps independently. No one sees another team's work-in-progress.
All three Canvases come into shared view. The differences are the data.
Open Canvas works when the team in the room together represents the system the team is working in. A team of five to seven people maps a system; the same five to seven people from only one slice of that system map something narrower — usually a version of the team's own assumptions about itself.
The teams that get the most from Open Canvas bring a mix:
One person can hold more than one of these. A team of five with all five represented does better work than a team of seven where everyone is in the same role.
The session is held by Victor Nuñez, author of Emergent Systems Thinking and Authentic Practice with Right Attention and developer of the Living Enterprise Canvas.
All three teams learn the Canvas together. You'll see how the nine zones work, what the three properties of a living system mean for your team, and what kind of conversation the Canvas asks for.
Each team works on its own Canvas in a shared online workspace, filling in the nine zones together as a team. The team talks, observes, disagrees, notices what it sees and what remains blank. The team's Canvas is built collaboratively — not by one person writing while others watch, but by all the people in the team adding what they see.
All three teams' Canvases come into shared view. Each team sees what the other teams mapped. The contrast across the three Canvases surfaces what was invisible inside each team's own mapping. Teams ask each other questions, notice patterns, see their own system reflected back through the differences.
Each team works on its own Canvas in its own visual workspace — a dedicated board in Mural. While you map, your team's Canvas stays your team's. The other teams in the session don't see your work-in-progress, and you don't see theirs. This protects each team's mapping from being shaped by what other teams are doing. Each Canvas reflects what that team actually saw.
Questions and comments directed to the facilitator are in a shared space all three teams can see throughout the session. A question one team asks is often a question another team is wrestling with too. By keeping the questions visible across teams, the session lets every team learn from the questions, not just the team that asked.
The team Canvases come into shared view only at the closing contrast phase. That's when the cross-team work begins.
Teams know their own work in detail. What teams rarely see is the system that shapes their work — the environment they swim in, the feedback loops they are inside, the relationships and interdependencies that determine what is possible. This is why Open Canvas brings three teams together rather than offering a private session for one. The contrast does work that no single team can do for itself.
The format is also why each team has its own board until the contrast phase. A team that sees another team's mapping mid-work starts unconsciously borrowing — copying language, adopting framings, second-guessing its own observations. The walls between team workspaces during mapping are deliberate. The walls coming down at the right moment is the work.
Open Canvas runs once a month. Each month offers two sittings — an APAC sitting on the second Tuesday and an EMEA / Americas sitting on the second Thursday — to accommodate different time zones. Sessions are held on Zoom; the mapping work happens in Mural. The calendar is published six months ahead.
The session runs whether one team registers or three. With two or more teams in the room, the work includes the cross-team contrast. With one team, the session goes deeper into that one system. If no teams register by seven days before the date, the time becomes an open conversation on systems thinking — same Zoom, drop-in welcome.
Each sitting holds a maximum of three teams. Once three teams have registered, that sitting is full and registration moves to the next month.
No preparation is required. Teams arrive with the team and the system they work in. No pre-reading, no pre-work, no slides.
Teams of three or four can register. The work still happens — there are simply fewer perspectives in the mapping. Teams of two are too small for the Canvas format; we can offer a 1:1 Walk-Through instead.
Yes. Open Canvas is designed to work without prior exposure to the framework. The first twenty minutes orient everyone. Teams that have read the book will go deeper faster; teams that haven't will still do the work.
The session itself is not recorded — the conversation depends on people speaking freely. Your team's Canvas in Mural remains accessible to you afterwards, and you can export or screenshot it.
No. Open Canvas works because everyone in the room is doing the mapping, not watching it. Observers change the dynamic of the team's conversation. If someone wants to see what Open Canvas is before bringing their own team, the next month's session is the place — as a participant, not an observer.
A computer (not phone or tablet), a reliable internet connection, a working camera and microphone, and a free Mural account. Mural is free for participants in a session; you'll receive the board link before the session. Browser is fine — no installation required.
Open Canvas works best with the team that intends to be in the room. If two or three people from your registered team can't attend, the session still runs for the rest. If fewer than three of the registered team show up, the team's mapping work is significantly weakened — we'd recommend rescheduling to the next month.
Open Canvas is grounded in Emergent Systems Thinking and Authentic Practice with Right Attention, a primer for systems work by Victor Nuñez. The book describes a way of working with human systems — teams, partnerships, organisations — that respects their living intelligence rather than treating them as machines to be optimised. The Living Enterprise Canvas is one of the tools developed from that framework.
For teams that want to go further after Open Canvas, the practitioner training opens in late 2026 with CCE accreditation. Cohorts are currently in expression-of-interest stage.
Open Canvas registrations are open on the website. Each session is €399 per system, with reduced pricing for the launch month.
To register, visit the Open Canvas page and select the sitting that fits your team's time zone.
For questions or to discuss whether Open Canvas fits what your team is working on, contact registration@emergententerprise.partners.
© Victor Nuñez. Open Canvas is a practice of Emergent Enterprise, grounded in Emergent Systems Thinking and Authentic Practice with Right Attention.
The Living Enterprise Canvas is a trademarked tool of Emergent Enterprise Partners.