Tips & Best Practices

Get the most out of Systemic with these recommendations.

Writing Better Prompts

Be Specific, Not Vague

Add context to help the AI understand what you're exploring:

Instead of...	Try...
"Economy"	"Post-pandemic economic recovery in Southeast Asia"
"Health"	"Factors affecting mental health in remote workers"
"Technology"	"How AI adoption impacts employment in manufacturing"

Frame as Questions

Questions often produce more focused, insightful maps:

• "What causes X to happen?"

• "How does A affect B?"

• "Why do some X succeed while others fail?"

• "What are the unintended consequences of Y?"

Include Relevant Context

• Timeframes - "in 2024", "over the past decade"

• Locations - "in urban China", "across Europe"

• Domains - "in fintech", "for small businesses"

• Perspectives - "from an environmental standpoint"

Building Complex Maps

Start Simple, Then Expand

1. Initial map - Use a focused prompt to create a foundation

2. First expansion - Add one dimension (e.g., "economic factors")

3. Auto-format - Clean up the layout

4. Second expansion - Add another dimension (e.g., "social impacts")

5. Iterate - Repeat until comprehensive

Select Your Entire Map for All Operations

Always select your entire map, including summary cards and citation cards, before using Expand, Update Summaries, or Auto-Format. Your selection is the context the AI works with:

• Expand: Full selection prevents duplicate nodes and produces more coherent additions

• Update Summaries: The AI uses all selected elements to generate richer, more accurate summaries

• Auto-Format: Selecting everything ensures the layout algorithm considers all elements

Use the Select All button in the app panel, or press Cmd/Ctrl + A on your board. If your board has other content besides your map, select your map elements manually instead.

Use Focused Expansion Prompts

Guide expansions with specific angles:

• "Explore the long-term consequences"

• "What feedback loops exist?"

• "Add the stakeholder perspectives"

• "Consider the technological factors"

Workflow Recommendations

The Iterative Approach

Think of Systemic as a first-draft generator:

1. Generate an initial map

2. Review and manually adjust if needed

3. Expand to add depth

4. Auto-format to clean up

5. Repeat until your map captures the full system

After Each Expansion

• Review new elements for relevance

• Delete anything that doesn't fit

• Auto-format if elements overlap

• Manually position key elements if needed

Before Important Work

• Start with a clear question or topic

• Have a rough idea of what dimensions you want to explore

• Plan your expansion sequence

Common Pitfalls

Too Broad

"Everything about climate change" is too broad. Try "Arctic ice melt feedback loops" instead.

Too Narrow

"The colour of the login button" won't generate useful systems. Think in terms of causes, effects, and relationships.

Skipping Auto-Format

Overlapping elements make maps hard to read. Run auto-format after expansions.

Not Selecting All

Partial selection affects all operations, not just Expand. Without full context (including summary cards and citation cards), expansions produce duplicates, summaries miss key relationships, and auto-format may not resolve all overlaps.

Power User Tips

Combine with Manual Editing

Systemic creates a foundation - enhance it by:

• Adding your own nodes and connections

• Reorganising for your preferred layout

• Highlighting key relationships

• Adding notes and annotations

Use for Different Purposes

• Brainstorming - Quickly explore a new topic

• Analysis - Map out a problem you're trying to solve

• Communication - Create visuals to explain complex systems

• Learning - Understand how different factors connect

Export and Share

Your maps are standard Miro content - export, share, and present them like any other Miro board.

General Tips

Enable Differentiated Connections

The Differentiate connections toggle colour-codes connectors (red for reinforcing, blue for balancing) and varies connector thickness by relationship strength. This makes feedback loops and system dynamics immediately visible. Available in both Quick and Pro modes.

Pro Mode Tips

Use Citations for Validation

Click Pro nodes to see their source references. Use these to verify the AI's analysis and as starting points for deeper research.

Upload Your Own Sources

Pro mode lets you provide URLs and PDFs as source material for both map generation and expansion. This is especially useful when you have specific reports, articles, or documents you want the AI to incorporate into your map.

Leverage the 50k Character Limit

Pro mode accepts up to 50,000 characters. Paste in full articles, reports, or detailed descriptions to get more contextually rich maps.

Allow Extra Time

Pro generation takes longer because it searches the web for real sources first. The richer results are worth the wait.

Pro Mode Knowledge Advantage

Pro mode searches live web sources, overcoming Quick mode's knowledge cutoff (January 1, 2025). This makes Pro especially valuable for:

• Current events and recent developments: Topics where information has changed since January 2025

• Niche and emerging subjects: Areas where standard AI training data may be sparse or incomplete

• Specialised domains: Fields not well-covered in general AI training data

If your topic is well-established and doesn't require the latest information, Quick mode is fast and effective. For anything time-sensitive or specialised, Pro mode's live research produces significantly richer maps.

See Free vs Pro for the full list of Pro features.