To use the Human Systems
- [Facebook News Feed] around the suppressed value of [open-minded political debate]
- [family dinners] around the suppressed value of [free expression of feelings and desires]
- [classroom workgroups] around the suppressed value of [learner self-direction]
Social Processes You Could Redesign
A social process is something a group of people do that can be described as a game: composed of roles, rules, and steps, where it goes roughly the same way every time.
Room-scale
Group practices party formats, bars, clubs, debate structures, group therapy or support practices, church meetings, improv scores
Family & shared living family dinner, chores, partnership expectations, parent-child time
Rituals daily practices, weddings, funerals, coming of age, new team members, trials
Org-scale
Organizational policies promotions reviews, project planning meetings, budget allocation, stand-ups, reporting structures
Workplaces team checkins, lunches, group physical activities
Schools grading, classroom exercises, teamwork structures, credentialing practices
Society-scale
Political institutions voting, unemployment centers, court procedures, legislative decision-making, licensing practices, prisons and rehabilitation centers, city volunteering, online governance
Social apps news feeds, matchmaking apps, online social spaces, chatrooms, onboarding flows, community reviews, work tracking, asynchronous sharing, scheduling, marketplaces
System to Redesign
Suppressed Values
Suppressed Value that You'll Focus On
Let's clarify your value to make sure that it isn't polluted with norms, goals, fears, etc. Note that your value might already be on spot, in which case you don't need to answer the questions below.
- 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.
- Would 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.
- 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.
- 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 affect the outcome?"
"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if no one noticed?"
"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if there were no rules?"
"How would I want to approach things/treat people/etc. if I couldn't influence anyone?
Write your clarified 🌳 Personal Value in the box below using one of the following pre-fixes.
approaching things ___, treating people ___, acting ___, keeping things ___, living life ____
Role Play for the Original System
Imagine that you wanted to make a bad game—a game that suppressed your value. Imagine that you wanted to make a game that suppressed the value in exactly the same way it is commonly suppressed in the system you want to redesign. Using the same structural features leading to the same norms, goals, or fears.
So this is a game that's a lot like the system you want to redesign, except that it can take place as a role-play, in a single room, by a room-sized number of people.
What would be instructions for such a game?
Structural Features which Lead to Evolution of Norms or Goals / Fears
👣 Hard Steps of the Value above
- What is hard about living by this value?
- What is it, that is hard to do?
- Which challenging action do you have to take to live by this value?
- Where do your attempts to live by this value break down?
- Noticing—Noticing an internal or external stimulus, Attending to something, Tracking something.
- Feeling—Noticing, Identifying the emotion, Disentangling the immediate cause and associated beliefs.
- Focusing—Noticing, Selecting what to focus on, Attending to Something, Shifting focus, Tracking something over time, Keeping in mind, Staying in Touch with, Not getting distracted.
- Recognizing, Identifying—Noticing an internal or external stimulus, Having a Referent (e.g. previous experience with the thing I am trying to identify)
- Gathering information, Finding out—Discovering, Investigating, Scanning for—Knowing what you need (to know, to look out for), Gaining access, Interpreting what you learn.
- Remembering, Recalling—Remembering how to do something or explicit knowledge, Having gained that knowledge, Remembering to remember.
- Generating, imagining alternatives (creativity)
- Assessing, discerning—Assessing, Evaluating, Discerning, Telling whether, Separating, Identifying.
- Deciding, Weighing, Choosing—Trading off, Prioritising, Balancing more than one concern, Choosing the best ... (team, time, space)
- Modeling, Foreseeing—Modeling interactions, Stepping into the shoes of the other, Foreseeing consequences, Anticipating.
- Changing Situations and Games—Making space for, Creating, Getting, Finding, Arranging, Collecting, Building, Borrowing, Asking for support with, Pausing, Rearranging
- Social Skills—Negotiating, Listening, Asking, Understanding, Reminding, Providing support, Stepping into their shoes, Empathy
- Resources, Capacity, Experience—Setting yourself up ahead of time to do hard things later.
- Changing Course, Dealing with Setbacks—Accepting, Sitting with, Bearing, Knowing it's okay, Improvising, Stepping back, Aborting, Changing mental model, gear, lens.
- The (right) equipment (to) remember, identity, find, arrange, collect, build, borrow ❓Do you need a special kind of equipment? What’s hard to do about knowing what you need or getting those things?
- The (right) people (to) identify, gather, select, find, get on board, convince, build relationships with ❓Does this value require a specific person? If so, what’s hard to do about gathering people who fit the criteria? What’s hard to do about knowing where to find them? What kind of information would you need to tell if someone is right? What’s hard to do about gathering that information? ❓What would you need to set up long in advance?
- The (right) time and timing (to) identify, notice, make, schedule ❓Does the moment need to be right? What would you need to be able to tell if the moment is right? What’s hard to do about evaluating that?
- The (right) setting (to) imagine, find, identify, set up, make, negotiate, decorate ❓Is this value easier in a specific setting? If so, what’s hard to do about creating that setting? ❓Do you need a certain mood or situation? If so, what’s hard to do about setting that mood / getting into that situation?
- Current capacity and needs (physical, intellectual, emotional) (to) Assess, bolster, provide support, keep in mind, make space for, listen to, ask about ❓What do you need to be capable of handling as it unfolds? What is hard to do about that?
- Skills, ability (to) Assess, bolster, practice, grow, accommodate, keep in mind
- Current mood/emotions (to) Assess, make space for, acknowledge, change plans for, improvise, change gears, model, foresee, track, keep in mind ❓What do you need to be able to feel? What’s hard to do about that? What’s hard to do about knowing when you’re ready to handle and feel those things? ❓Do you need a certain mood? What’s hard to do about setting that mood? ❓Does this value require a person to be in a specific state? If so, what’s hard to do about getting people into that state? What kind of information would you need in order to tell if someone is in the right state? What’s hard to do about gathering that info? Is the state you/they need to be in fragile? What’s hard to do about getting yourself/others there?
- Limiting beliefs (to) notice, identify, name, process, make time for, sit with, keep in mind, not get drawn into
- Sense of safety, trust (to) Assess, reassure, call to mind, remember, remind, provide support, keep in mind, ask about ❓Are there reasons it might be unsafe to do this? What kind of information do you need to decide? What’s hard to do about figuring out whether it’s safe in this particular situation?
- How might they see and understand me (to) model, assess, step into their shoes, remember, ask about, listen to, adjust course
- Status, Relationship Durability, Communication, Willingness to cooperate (to) assess, take into account, change, remember, remind, track over time, change, ignore, make space for, address
- Other consequences living by this value might have (to) assess, accept, sit with, make space for, hear out, mitigate, prepare for, remember, change, ignore
Structural Features which Influence the Hard Steps
Redesign!
Role Play a Modified System (a)
See how you can modify the role play, making the hard steps easier.
Role Play a Modified System (b)
See if you can change some of the structural features in role-play (a), to make the value better supported.
Port the Changes
How would you apply what you learned from the role-plays outside of a role-play? How could you modify the original system?