Four moves, run before the proposal is signed.
Each move in the ways-of-thinking strand, set out so a planning group can run it next week: the steps with timings, the questions to read out, a worksheet to print, and the signs it has gone hollow. Every move is run on the same proposal, so you can see what each one adds. None of them needs a training day.
The four
What each move is for
Move 1 · Makes the default visible
Naming the frame
Say which way of thinking wrote the problem before you solve it.
- Time
- 30 min
- You leave with
- The problem in one sentence, its frame named, one sentence on what the frame hides, and a decision to keep it or switch
Move 2 · Changes what counts as the problem
Switching the frame
Restate the problem four ways and see which changes what you do first.
- Time
- 45 min
- You leave with
- Four alternative problem statements, one chosen to explore with a reason, and the first action it implies
Move 3 · Finds where the frames disagree
Holding two at once
Run two frames on one problem and study where they split.
- Time
- 75 min
- You leave with
- A list of findings both frames support, and a short list of open questions where they split, each with an owner and a way to find out
Move 4 · Makes the move repeatable
Making it routine
Shrink the move that worked to one question, and give it a home.
- Time
- 40 min
- You leave with
- A named routine with one question, a home, an owner for one term and a review date
In sequence
How the four run together
Run them in order the first time. Naming comes first, because the other three need a named frame to work on. Switching takes the named frame and tries the others. Holding two at once takes the two restatements that most disagree and runs both properly. Making it routine takes whichever move changed a decision and shrinks it to a question the team asks without a facilitator.
Naming and switching fit in one meeting of about 75 minutes, and that pair is the place to start. Holding two at once needs its own session, with a facilitator who has run it before, because it is the move most likely to turn into an argument. Making it routine is quick to set up and takes a term to prove.
Skip a move when its question is already answered. If the group named the frame and kept it for good reasons, you do not need to switch. If one restatement plainly changed the first action and nobody disagrees, holding two at once adds little. Never skip naming. Switching a frame nobody has named is just brainstorming.
The whole set takes a little over three hours of meeting time, spread across two or three weeks, plus two minutes at each planning meeting after that.
Worksheets
Every sheet in this strand
Each one is on its move’s page, ready to print on A4.
- Naming the frameFrame finderGets the problem statement, the frame behind it and what that frame hides onto one page, with a decision at the bottom.
- Switching the frameFour restatementsLays the original frame and four restatements side by side, so you can see which one changes the first action.
- Switching the frameThe chosen restatementRecords the restatement you are taking forward, why, and what you set aside, so the choice can be checked later.
- Holding two at onceSide by sidePuts the two frames’ findings next to each other, so the agreements and splits can be seen and marked.
- Holding two at onceOpen questionsTurns each disagreement into something a named person can find out, with the answer that would change the plan.
- Making it routineRoutine cardWrites the routine down once, with its question, home, owner and failure rule, so it outlasts the people who designed it.
- Making it routineSix-week logRecords each time the routine is used, so the review rests on what happened and not on memory.
Across the toolkit