SODA: foundations, history, and where next?

The term SODA was originally introduced by Colin Eden in 1989. Coming from an engineering background with a keen interest in tackling real world problems, Colin conceptualized SODA as an alternative way for dealing with problems of such complexity that defied quantitative methods, not only because of the excessive need for calculations but also because many significant variables could not be measured. In this sense, SODA is Colin’s response to what he formulated a decade earlier about the nature of problems in consulting practice. In addition to this view of the problems the foundations include the role of the facilitator who wants to engage with the clients in person and aspires to action more than discovery, the political feasibility of the process, the negotiated order as an outcome of which the participants have ownership. Importantly, the intuitions and emotions of participants and their pain points are as important for SODA as what can be calculated and/or logically argued. Further principles were added as tools were developed, and the map became a boundary object and a transitional object, the length of the process became increasingly important, and the steps got more explicitly formulated resulting in a set of formalized processes. Big data, AI, online interactivity and other developments have opened further possibilities and impacted SODA, but, remarkably, the first principle has never changed: the facilitator is still the most important element of the process.