This course is exploring a key question of effective peership:

How do we make sense of ourselves?

Whether you are seeking community, taking on unconventional roles, changing careers mid-stream, finding a new role or determining how to move up in the role you currently have – you need a clear, strong sense of self.

Sense of Self: Your perception of the pieces that define you.

Along with cultivating a clear sense of self, you also need to be able to confidently make choices about what paths to pursue given your own values and mission - this is your personal information architecture.

Developing a personal information architecture is hard, but critical sensemaking work. Work that many people de-prioritize in favor of messes they get paid to solve. Yet this critical mess of not having a clear or strong enough sense of self can get in the way of so many of our goals, both personally and professionally.

Meet Your Guides

Abby Covert is an information architect with 20 years experience making sense of messes and teaching others how to do the same. She has written two books, How to Make Sense of Any Mess, a beginner’s guide to information architecture and Stuck? Diagrams Help. a field guide for the trek from diagram novice to diagram nerd.

Alfi Oloo is a self-taught product designer with a deep specialization in design systems. As a co-host of the "Edit Undo Podcast" and a trailblazing advocate for mentorship. Alfi introduced his innovative approach to mentorship—melding psychology and performance coaching—on the TEDx Pretoria stage in 2022, marking the start of a new chapter in his Professional Journey.

"This course was inspired by us forming a peership during a time of radical change for each of us."

Abby and Alfi met in 2022 while preparing for Makesensemess 22. They formed a self-proclaimed peership in early 2023 and have spent this year getting to know themselves, in an effort to get to know one another.

This course is centered on the thesis of their peership: helping you get to know yourself to get more value from peership, mentorship and self-directed education.

"I went in with a healthy dose of skepticism around some of the early reflections, but by the end I was really impressed by how everything really did build and come together into a meaningful whole. I will definitely be taking learnings from this course into my personal and professional life!"

- Student in Cohort 1

"MSoYS is like a guided and supported journey through the messiness you've been avoiding, alongside peers who are exploring their own messes that -- surprisingly (but not surprisingly) -- look similar to your mess."

- Student in Cohort 1

"This course was not just beneficial for my life and goals, but just enjoyable."

- Student in Cohort 1

"Making Sense of Yourself provides an incredibly valuable toolkit for personal reflection and development, that you explore within a supportive community of remarkable and courageous people who are on that challenging journey alongside you."

- Student in Cohort 1

"The material was well-thought out and each section built on top of the previous one seamlessly. Abby and Alfi’s facilitation was generous and mindful. They shined the spotlight on each of us in a comforting way and offered space for meaningful one-on-one conversations I never thought I’d have."

- Student in Cohort 1

Join Abby's Monthly IA Office Hours

Making Sense of Yourself is a 12-week intensive course in self-directed learning and exploration co-taught by Abby Covert and Alfi Oloo.

A small cohort of students will embark on a process of self discovery using a combination of self reflection, live interactive workshops and weekly group coaching.

WHO IS THIS COURSE DESIGNED FOR?

We only recommend this course if you have the time and space in your life at this time to do some deep exploration into yourself. We are looking for a small group of thoughtful, self-aware people who are willing to share and grow alongside a cohort of folks with a similar intention.

You will get the most from this course if you are …

Seeking direction outside your professional goals
Taking on an unconventional role
Pivoting your directional focus
Changing your career mid-stream and looking to connect prior experience with future goals
Specializing or focusing in on parts of your current role
At a crossroads on a decision about your direction

OBJECTIVES

Abby and Alfi designed this course to help you:

Gain a clearer perspective on your experience, strengths and community
Establish a mission and set of values to drive your future decision-making
Learn how to talk about yourself with strangers
Understand what it means to let others talk about themselves
Identify a self-directed learning plan
Play with the idea of structured peership

ARE YOU READY TO

MAKE SENSE OF YOURSELF

Week 1: Tell me your life story

Week 2: Explore Your Network

Week 3: Talking About Strengths

Week 4: Talking About Passion

Week 5: Talking About Community

Week 6: Talking About Service

Week 7: Talking About Values

Week 8: Talking About Balancing Values

Week 9: Talking About Mission Statements

Week 10: Talking About Growth

Week 11: Collaborative Problem Solving

Week 12: Projecting Your Path

BY THE END OF THIS COURSE

YOUR PERSONAL IA WILL INCLUDE:

Five icons representing outcomes from the course

Join the Waiting List

We have already filled our first cohort but we are already thinking about when it makes sense to run this program again. If you want to be notified when we do, please opt into our waiting list via the form below.