Level 3 - Structural Features (WIP2)

🚩Flagpost: Redesign Method

🖥 Tracing Norms from Structural Features

Example: Structural Features generate norms

Here are three Social System, each with a Structural Feature and the Norm which emerges:

Can you name a Social System and a Norm of that social system?

⚙️Walkthrough Tour of Structural Features

Take five minutes to think through the four situations beneath. For each situation, take note of two (or more) structural features you notice. You can look at the cheat sheet for inspiration!

A Team Meeting

What two structural features characterise a team meeting?

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What were the structural features again?

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Click this for the filled in sheet "Team Meeting"

Poetry Reading

What two structural features characterise a poetry reading?

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What were the structural features again?

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Click this for the filled in sheet "Poetry Reading"

A Recent Time

Where did you go?

What structural features did you notice?

Example: Political debate on Facebook

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All structural features of Facebook news feed comments

🌳 Personal Value that was suppressed (way you couldn't be/approach things/treat people):

Open-mindedness - approaching conversation as an ongoing exploration, seeking out viewpoints that challenge my own, and deeply reflecting on how my view is evolving.

💍🛃 Expectations that suppressed the value (following social norms or promoting ideologies):

1) I need to come off as smart and informed (and think of myself as such)

2) Many ideologies; 'Flaming' with a tendency to defend or support others in your own "tribe"

📈 Goals and Fears that suppressed the value (strategies to get certain outcomes):

3) Running up points on the like button to like myself and be liked be others

😱 A Meaningless Time Interview

💩 Meaningless Time (one that felt empty, pointless, shitty):

🌳 Personal Value that was suppressed (way you couldn't be/approach things/treat people):

...treat people with ...act ...approach things ...keep things

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← Click here to open the 🛡Values Gauntlet

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← Click here to open 🧪 Pure Value

Begin by

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← Clicking here and running your value through ⭐️ On My Own Terms

Find a word or short phrase that captures your value (a way of being). Write it down:

Using the word above, answer these questions one at a time. (slowly works best)

1) To seem this way to others, I've been:

2) But on my own terms, being this way means being:

3) And people I admire for being this way inspire me because they are:

How would you name your value now?

Use your answers to 2) and/or 3). Write it here:

approaching things ___, treating people ___, acting ___, keeping things ___, living life __

Then continue by

asking these questions to make sure you have a "pure value".

Note: your value might already be spot on. If so, you don't need to answer the questions.

• Would it still be worth doing independent of the outcome? If so, continue to the next bullet point. If not, it's a goal or fear! Take notes below.

"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if I couldn't affect the outcome?"

• Would it still be worth doing if no one knew you did it? If so, continue to the next question. If not, it's a social norm. Take notes below.

"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if no one noticed?"

• Do you believe you could still be a good person even if you failed to be this way? If so, continue to the next question. If not, it's an internalized social norm. Take notes below.

"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if there were no rules?"

• Would it still be worth being this way if no one else ever joined in? If so, (after all the questions above) it's probably a value! If not, it’s an ideological commitment. Take notes below.

"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if I couldn't influence anyone?

Use any relevant answers to write out your value below.

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← Click here to open 🔎 Articulated Value

Note: your value might already be spot on. If so, you don't need to answer the questions.

Personal Value:

Is your value "clear"? If not, answer these questions:

When you manage to live by your personal value, what are you noticing? What specific aspects of the situation should your personal value phrase bring into the foreground?

Use that information to rephrase your value in non-poetic terms that anyone could understand:

approach things _____, treat people _____, act (with) _____, keep things _____, live life ______

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← Click here for an example of making a personal value CLEAR.

Better Formulation of a value around "how to be while criticizing people"

When you manage to live by your value, what are you noticing? What specific aspects of the situation should your value phrase bring into the foreground?

What I notice, and need to foreground: That we're both human beings, and that I make mistakes all the time, and that I often don't handle things the way I would have wanted to

How would you tell an actor to be in a scene where they make choices based on that?

Personal Value: approach other people's faults with humility and compassion, relate to them in a way that is deeply mindful of your own imperfections

Is your value "awareness-guiding"? If not, ask these questions:

Where should you direct your attention in order to live by this personal value?

Use that information to rephrase your personal value and make those things stand out:

approach things _____, treat people _____, act (with) _____, keep things _____, live life ______

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← Click here for an example of making a personal value AWARENESS-GUIDING.

Better Formulation of a value around "how to be while receiving criticism"

I need to figure out where to direct my attention. Not what to do, but how is it important to be when people are criticizing me.

Where should you direct your attention in order to live by this personal value?: Stay open to connection. Trust the person behind the mirror that they are holding up to me.

Rephrase the personal value to make those things stand out:

Personal Value: connect fearlessly, don't lose touch with the person and the relationship, even when you don't want to see what they are showing you.

Is your value an "improvisational directive"? If not, ask these questions:

How would you tell an actor to approach a scene in which she lives by your personal value?

Use that information to rephrase your personal value to be more about how to proceed:

approach things _____, treat people _____, act (with) _____, keep things _____, live life ______

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← Click here for an example of making a personal value an IMPROVISATIONAL DIRECTIVE.

Better Formulation of a value around "how I want to treat my friends in tough times"

How would you tell an actor to approach a scene in which she lives by your personal value?: Think outside the box, and find solutions that could arise from collective efforts that wouldn't have been available to any one of you alone

Rephrase your personal value to be more about how to proceed:

Personal Value: keep things creative when friends are facing hardships, address problems collectively, draw on the wealth of your communal talents

💍🛃 Expectations that suppressed the value (following social norms / promoting ideologies):

📈 Goals/Fears that suppressed the value (strategies to get certain outcomes):

⚙ Structural Features Dump

🔧 Salvage Interview

First Sweep

For each expectation and goal click the button + I found a norm / expectation.... Then copy and paste the expectation or goal from 'A Meaningless Time' into the first grey box. In the second box, list the structural features that fosters this norm.

Second Sweep

Go through each expectation or goal again. Choose a structural feature to change, which will support the value you are designing for. After identifying this structural feature, write how this might look like in the context of the meaningless time.

🤔 Reflection questions

Are there any struftural features you can think of that are not on the sheet?

Have you ever been to a space where it felt really easy to live by values that are hard to live by elsewhere? What are the structural features of that space that seem relevant to that?

At the end of this class, what questions remain open? What would you like to practice more?

🚩Getting ready for what's next

Your Next Classes:

Epiphany Interviews - requires fluency in Values Articulation

Space Jamming - requires knowledge of Hard Steps

Redesign - requires all of the above + Structural features.

🕵 Homework Structural Features: Fieldtrip!

Pick one or two places this weekend to analyse, with the help of structural features.

Where did you go?

What structural features did you notice?

List the norms and goals you observe

Answer these questions! Generate a new template for each non-value you find by clicking on the + grey button beneath.

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Cheat Sheet