Kindle Notes & Highlights
Bottom line: If you design a visual template, start with the content, then the visual concept. Not the other way around.
If you're having trouble defining the why behind your visual template, use the 5x WHY template. Ask yourself why five times, to get into the depth.
If you read Getting Things Done
Ask your team to write the first step on a post-it. They do this individually. Have them put the post-its on the visual and ask them to talk about their first step. So this can be “our first step” or “your
first step.” Ask the group if the steps are real and physical. Thinkings steps are not real steps. Make them more concise with each other. Decide who does what and when (next template).
3.3 Community
3.5 Problem There is a project and there is a problem. But most people are not aware of this problem and the goal of this template is to make it visible and see all the different perspectives. Because sometimes there is a problem for
one person, but not for the rest.
Do you know the Draw Your Future template by Patti Dobrowolski (check out her TED talk)?
3.8 Goal
Give everybody some post-its.
Define the goal you want to reach and where you are at now. Now ask them to define actions, one per post-it. And have them put the post-its somewhere on the stairs. When everybody is done, discuss the post-its and cluster them.
3.9 Meeting Most meetings take too long, are boring, and you discuss a lot of the same stuff every time. It's time
for different meetings. Short and fun. We call them tension-based meetings.
This meeting doesn't have a regular agenda. We only discuss the things that give us some kind of tension and are necessary to talk about.
Write down the date and
name of the meeting. Ask your team: Which tasks/projects cause what? And do we really need to talk about it and make a decision? Write down every topic in a circle. Now discuss each circle, let the “tension owner” do the intro, and ask him how he needs help. Write down the decision in the c...
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3.11 Storyboard
The storyboard is made out of story essentials. See them as building blocks for your story. Based on this block, you can write and design your story. You can use this to make a pitch, story, or even a presentation. Ask your team different
3.13 Who Is Who A different way of meeting each other instead of telling your name and your business function.
The Who Is Who template makes getting to know each other visual, by asking people to draw a symbol and introduce themselves. Give everybody one post-it. Ask them to draw a symbol. This can be a symbol about themselves? A
project? Or something that nobody knows (yet). Give the group one minute to draw something. Ask them, one at a time, to put the post-it on the template. Ask them what they drew and what their goal is for today. You can write comments next to the post-it, if you want to remember it.
3.14 Evaluation When a project is done,
it's time to evaluate with each other. This is the moment you learn from each other for the next project.
3.16 Golden Tree
3.17 Project We are working on this project, but does everybody have the overview? No? Let's make it visual.
3.18 +/- If you have to make a decision, it's good to know the pros and cons. You can think about this all by yourself, but you can also use the collective knowledge of the team.
The +/- template is a group process to get to the real pros and cons.
3.19 3X Win You have a brilliant idea. But is it really? A good idea has impact on you, the world, and your community. You can use the 3X Win template to find out. You can also use this template to analyse a project or organisation.
3.21 What Does Your Brain Say? Did you know you've got two brains? Not literally, but you have an impulsive brain and a wise brain. A creative one and a critical one. There are friends and enemies, but they need each other. Without one, you
can’t function. This template helps to get both of their perspectives, so they can work together.
At each project, situation, idea, you can change your perspective. A rational perspective. Or a creative one. Hand out some post-its and let people add their view, based on the question.
Left: Which risks do we have? What can go wrong? What must we do? Right: Which opportunities do you see in this situation? Which creative solutions can you think of? Discuss and define actions.
3.22. Overview Some situations are complex. Multiple projects
run through each other and you need to collaborate with different teams. The problem in those situations is that nobody has the overview, because it feels so complex.
3.23 Revenue Models When you're running a business, and it works, you probably won't easily change your business model. But you can brainstorm about models and you can use the Business Model Canvas, designed by Alexander Osterwalder, for it.
This template zooms in on the revenue models to do a quick brainstorm about different forms, so you can gain insight into what the effect will be on your business. Per column, you ask yourself the following questions:
How does it look if we sell a product, license, service, online product, or something else? How many products do we have to sell? What does the product cost for the customer? What will the revenue and the profit be? What do we think of that?
3.25 Product
3.26 Future We overestimate what we can do this year. But we underestimate what we
can do in the following ten years. Let's make it visual.
The Future template’s goal is to make a visual for what our goals are. And to visualize the potential impact we can have. Let people use post-its to add goals to the timeline.
Where do we want to be in a year? What have we accomplished by then? Where do we want to be in five years? Where do we want to be in ten years?
3.28 Value Proposition It's time to make the value proposition a little less sexy. The more concise you can be with your proposition, the easier it is to do business.
3.29 Find Your Customer If you are running a business or organisation, then you need to connect with your customers. The Find Your Customer is a brainstorm template to know where they are hanging out. Where can you find your customer? Where can you ask them questions? Where can you sell them something? The template should be used with some examples, but the team can add extra options if they want.
Where can you find your customer? Which keywords does he use in Google? Which local places does he visit? Which apps does he use? Which values and beliefs does he have? And how are they translated to behavior? Who are his friends? Discuss the outcomes.
3.30 What Can Go Wrong?
The What Can Go Wrong template helps you to find the essence of your project. You'll find the MUST DO actions instead of the nice to have ones.
It’s easy to think negatively. Our brain is programmed to see negative things at first. Let's use it, because if we know the
biggest risks, we can find solutions. Make a top five list of risks for a situation. Do this together. Think of a solution for every risk. Decide what's the next step.
