Pick the target user
Choose the one person you're building for first, and the moment that matters to them. The room shows where it agrees and where it doesn't, then a named decider makes the call.
60 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
How to run it
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Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving." Take the words in any order, not round the circle.
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Powers of Ten
15 minLevels: three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation
Before you start, say who the decider is: the one person who makes the call at the end. Draw a ladder on the wall with the problem at the top, and zoom out through three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation. At each level, give the room two minutes of silence to write who has this problem there, one person or role per sticky note: "a manager in their first month", not "managers". Then everyone reads the ladder and stars the two people they'd most want to build for first.
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Spectrum Mapping
10 minStatements: two
Take the two or three most-starred people from the ladder. Mark a line on the floor, "strongly agree" at one end and "strongly disagree" at the other. Read two statements about them, one at a time, such as "A new manager hits this problem every week" or "We could reach a new manager within a month." For each one, everyone walks to their spot at once. Look at the spread, say what you see, and ask one person from each end what put them there. Nobody argues: the splits are what the decider needs to hear.
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Target Selection
20 minQuestions the decider asks first: one question
Everyone writes their pick on a card: the person, the moment in their week that matters most, and one line on why. The cards go up in silence. The decider reads them all, then asks the room one question before choosing, such as "Who here has watched this person hit the problem?" The decider circles one person on the ladder, names the moment, and says why in a sentence or two. Then ask the room: "Can anyone not work with this?" Hear them out. The call stays with the decider.
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Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
Target Selection comes from the Google Ventures design sprint.
90 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
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Check-in
10 minSay what the room will leave with and point to the three steps on the wall. Then ask: "In one sentence: what do you need from the next ninety minutes?" Take answers in any order, not round the circle. If someone passes, move on.
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Powers of Ten
20 minLevels: five levels, from one person through their team, their organisation and their field to everyone
Before you start, say who the decider is: the one person who makes the call at the end. Draw a ladder on the wall with the problem at the top, and zoom out through five levels, from one person through their team, their organisation and their field to everyone. At each level, give the room two minutes of silence to write who has this problem there, one person or role per sticky note: "a manager in their first month", not "managers". Then everyone reads the ladder and stars the two people they'd most want to build for first.
-
Spectrum Mapping
20 minStatements: four
Take the two or three most-starred people from the ladder. Mark a line on the floor, "strongly agree" at one end and "strongly disagree" at the other. Read four statements about them, one at a time, such as "A new manager hits this problem every week" or "We could reach a new manager within a month." For each one, everyone walks to their spot at once. Look at the spread, say what you see, and ask one person from each end what put them there. Nobody argues: the splits are what the decider needs to hear.
In the 90 also: After the last statement, write the two widest splits at the top of the wall. They're what the decider weighs next.
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Target Selection
25 minQuestions the decider asks first: two questions
Everyone writes their pick on a card: the person, the moment in their week that matters most, and one line on why. The cards go up in silence. The decider reads them all, then asks the room two questions before choosing, such as "Who here has watched this person hit the problem?" The decider circles one person on the ladder, names the moment, and says why in a sentence or two. Then ask the room: "Can anyone not work with this?" Hear them out. The call stays with the decider.
-
Commit: who does what by when
15 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
In the 90 also: Ask each owner one question: "What could stop this?" One sentence back. If the answer is another person, that person is in the commitment too.
90 minutes, remote. Serves 8 to 12.
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Check-in
10 minSay what the room will leave with and show the three steps on the board. Then ask: "In one sentence: what do you need from the next ninety minutes? Type it in the chat, but don't press Enter until I say go." Say "Go" and read the chat out loud in one pass. It's faster than a round, and nobody answers in the shadow of the person before them.
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Powers of Ten
20 minLevels: five levels, from one person through their team, their organisation and their field to everyone
Before you start, say who the decider is: the one person who makes the call at the end. Put the problem at the top of the Ladder frame, with one row for each level, and zoom out through five levels, from one person through their team, their organisation and their field to everyone. At each level, give the room two minutes, no chat, to type who has this problem there, one person or role per sticky: "a manager in their first month", not "managers". Then everyone reads the ladder and stars the two people they'd most want to build for first.
Board: Frame 1, "Ladder": the problem at the top and one row for each level.
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Spectrum Mapping
20 minStatements: four
Take the two or three most-starred people from the ladder. Draw a line across the Spectrum frame, "strongly agree" at one end and "strongly disagree" at the other, and give everyone a sticky with their name on it. Read four statements about them, one at a time, such as "A new manager hits this problem every week" or "We could reach a new manager within a month." For each one, everyone drags their name to their spot at once. Look at the spread, say what you see, and ask one person from each end what put them there. Nobody argues: the splits are what the decider needs to hear.
In the 90 also: After the last statement, type the two widest splits at the top of the Spectrum frame. They're what the decider weighs next.
Board: Frame 2, "Spectrum": a line from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and a named sticky for each person.
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Target Selection
25 minQuestions the decider asks first: two questions
Everyone types their pick into the Picks frame: the person, the moment in their week that matters most, and one line on why. No chat while they write. The decider reads them all, then asks the room two questions before choosing, such as "Who here has watched this person hit the problem?" The decider circles one person on the ladder, names the moment, and says why in a sentence or two. Then ask the room: "Can anyone not work with this?" Hear them out. The call stays with the decider.
Board: Frame 3, "Picks": one sticky per person, saying who, the moment, and why.
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Commit: who does what by when
15 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. Owners type "I will [what] by [when]" into the Commitments frame, under the result they own. Read every commitment back out loud. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Type that into the frame too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
In the 90 also: Ask each owner one question: "What could stop this?" One sentence back. If the answer is another person, that person is in the commitment too.
Board: Frame "Commitments": one column per result, with space for "I will [what] by [when]".
60 minutes, in person. Serves 8 to 12.
-
Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving." Take the words in any order, not round the circle.
-
Powers of Ten
15 minLevels: three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation
Before you start, say who the decider is: the one person who makes the call at the end. Draw a ladder on the wall with the problem at the top, and zoom out through three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation. At each level, give the room two minutes of silence to write who has this problem there, one person or role per sticky note: "a manager in their first month", not "managers". Then everyone reads the ladder and stars the two people they'd most want to build for first.
-
Spectrum Mapping
10 minStatements: two
Take the two or three most-starred people from the ladder. Mark a line on the floor, "strongly agree" at one end and "strongly disagree" at the other. Read two statements about them, one at a time, such as "A new manager hits this problem every week" or "We could reach a new manager within a month." For each one, everyone walks to their spot at once. Look at the spread, say what you see, and ask one person from each end what put them there. Nobody argues: the splits are what the decider needs to hear.
-
Target Selection
20 minQuestions the decider asks first: one question
Everyone writes their pick on a card: the person, the moment in their week that matters most, and one line on why. The cards go up in silence. The decider reads them all, then asks the room one question before choosing, such as "Who here has watched this person hit the problem?" The decider circles one person on the ladder, names the moment, and says why in a sentence or two. Then ask the room: "Can anyone not work with this?" Hear them out. The call stays with the decider.
-
Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. The owner writes "I will [what] by [when]" on a card, reads it out and sticks it under the result. Only owners speak. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Write that on the wall too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
60 minutes, remote. Serves 8 to 12.
-
Check-in
5 minSay what the room will leave with. Then ask: "One word for how you're arriving. Type it in the chat, but don't press Enter until I say go." Say "Go" and read the chat out loud in one pass. It's faster than a round, and nobody answers in the shadow of the person before them.
-
Powers of Ten
15 minLevels: three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation
Before you start, say who the decider is: the one person who makes the call at the end. Put the problem at the top of the Ladder frame, with one row for each level, and zoom out through three levels, from one person through their team to their organisation. At each level, give the room two minutes, no chat, to type who has this problem there, one person or role per sticky: "a manager in their first month", not "managers". Then everyone reads the ladder and stars the two people they'd most want to build for first.
Board: Frame 1, "Ladder": the problem at the top and one row for each level.
-
Spectrum Mapping
10 minStatements: two
Take the two or three most-starred people from the ladder. Draw a line across the Spectrum frame, "strongly agree" at one end and "strongly disagree" at the other, and give everyone a sticky with their name on it. Read two statements about them, one at a time, such as "A new manager hits this problem every week" or "We could reach a new manager within a month." For each one, everyone drags their name to their spot at once. Look at the spread, say what you see, and ask one person from each end what put them there. Nobody argues: the splits are what the decider needs to hear.
Board: Frame 2, "Spectrum": a line from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and a named sticky for each person.
-
Target Selection
20 minQuestions the decider asks first: one question
Everyone types their pick into the Picks frame: the person, the moment in their week that matters most, and one line on why. No chat while they write. The decider reads them all, then asks the room one question before choosing, such as "Who here has watched this person hit the problem?" The decider circles one person on the ladder, names the moment, and says why in a sentence or two. Then ask the room: "Can anyone not work with this?" Hear them out. The call stays with the decider.
Board: Frame 3, "Picks": one sticky per person, saying who, the moment, and why.
-
Commit: who does what by when
10 minEach result the room produced needs an owner. Owners type "I will [what] by [when]" into the Commitments frame, under the result they own. Read every commitment back out loud. If a result has no owner, say so: "Nobody owns this yet." Type that into the frame too, so it leaves the room as an open item rather than a quiet gap.
Board: Frame "Commitments": one column per result, with space for "I will [what] by [when]".
Comments & Discussion
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Recent Comments (3)
This workshop was incredibly effective for our remote team! We adapted it slightly for a virtual setting and it worked wonderfully. The key was breaking into smaller breakout rooms.
Great resource! One tip: prepare all materials the day before to avoid any last-minute rushes.
Used this for our quarterly planning session. The structured approach really helped us stay on track!