What should I do for my first NarraFirma project?

We recommend that you start small, and if possible, do your first project off-line, in a room, with people. There is something about story work that is hard to understand if you start doing it on-line. You need human contact to really understand how the exchange of stories works. You can use NarraFirma to plan your project and reflect on what you learned, even if your project takes an hour to carry out. Using NarraFirma to “get your feet on the ground” in this way will make it easier to use the software for more complicated projects (involving more people and more technology) later on.

This is so complicated! How can I get started?

The best way to understand NarraFirma (we think) is to poke around in the example project on the NarraFirma web site. Start with the Planning section (click on the orange box that says “Planning”) and work your way through the links you see there, reading what is on each page. At the end of each page, click the Next button to move on. If you don’t understand a page, click the Help link and read the part that says “What to do here.”

NarraFirma is companion software to the book Working with Stories in Your Community or Organization. Taking a quick look at book excerpts on the workingwithstories.org web site will help you understand the method NarraFirma supports.