Choose what you want to do now. Each path offers three cards: start with the one that will serve you this week. You can change path as the project, the people, and the time you have change.
If you already have a precise difficulty in mind, the index by situation takes you straight to the cards involved. All these routes are open without taking the test.
I want to start
You want to make something useful and you are looking for where to take hold of the problem. You can start with someone you know, on a personal project, or in a community group. A need you can observe is enough to try a first move.
Three cards to get going:
- Talk to the person who has the problem. Ask them to show you what they do today and where they hesitate or lose time. On this path, the person you are helping stands in for the customer the card talks about.
- Fast does not mean rushed. Choose a small thing you can do carefully inside the time you have.
- Come back a month later. Set a moment from the start to observe what your attempt produced. For a first move, that can be the next use, in a few days.
Your first attempt. A community group keeps getting questions about where a meeting is held. With someone coming for the first time, look at what is missing from the invitation. Propose to the organiser a message with a clear address, a landmark, and a time. Try it with their agreement at the next meeting. You can do this work on paper or in a message.
What you look at next. Did the person find the place? What did they still have to ask? Revise the message from their answer. For your own project, choose in the same way a bounded move, an agreement if you touch anyone else’s work, and an occasion to watch it being used.
A full case. A useful first attempt shows the question, both versions of the message, the stop criterion, and the feedback, with an explicit end to the help given.
I want to get better
You already build. Start from something you are pleased with, a difficulty that keeps coming back, or a skill you want to deepen. Keep what works and choose one precise point to work on.
Three cards for deepening your practice:
- Your best teacher does not work here. Compare one decision in your work to that of someone who handled a close problem, allowing for the differences in context.
- A good decision can still lose. Read back a choice, separating what you could know at the moment of deciding from what the result taught you.
- A review that only says yes teaches nothing. Make the reasoning visible when you review, or ask for that reasoning from whoever examines your work.
Your next attempt. On something you already do well, choose a detail you would like to master better. Set aside thirty minutes to look at a comparable example and to ask a peer for precise feedback. Write down what you will try at the next occasion, and why.
What you look at next. After that occasion, note what you kept, changed, or set aside, and what effect you were able to observe. If the feedback is still unknown, set the moment when you can look for it. You can deepen your craft on this path whatever your role in the team.
A full case. Improving without starting over begins from a practice that is already solid and runs through a decision, a before and after, a bounded account, and an accepted handover.
I want to grow my team
You want the people around you to understand, decide and learn together better. You can propose an attempt between colleagues, or act on working conditions if they are yours to change. The cards marked ⇄ call for involving whoever holds the necessary authority.
Three cards for opening the discussion:
- ⇄ The first reaction sets the rule. Get clear on what each person can decide and how an initiative will be received if it fails.
- Hand over a problem, not a task. Give a person the context, the expected result, the limits and the support they need to propose their own approach.
- ⇄ You ask for outcomes and you review activity. Make room for the result observed, the time it takes to know it, and what is still uncertain.
Your first attempt. With the people concerned, choose a bounded problem and a reversible decision. Agree who can decide, the time available, the help they can reach, and what must not be touched. If an agreement is missing, go looking for it with that concrete proposal before you start.
What you look at next. On the agreed date, take the decision and its effect again. Was the person able to act inside the limits announced? What helped or blocked them? Choose together what you keep or adjust.
A full case. Six weeks to learn together shows a log of decisions and results, a refused access, an adaptation, and an account.
To organise several discussions, the book also offers a session format.
I want to back other builders
You see the value in this way of working and you want to give it more room. Your help can be a slot of time, an introduction, an access, a review, or means you can commit. Start by asking the person what would help them on a precise project.
Three cards for choosing your backing:
- ⇄ Learning on your own time is a filter you did not mean to set. If you organise the work, give learning real room and name what gets pushed back. If not, help the person shape a request for time or access to whoever can grant it.
- A review that only says yes teaches nothing. Offer feedback that explains what you examined and why. If the subject goes beyond your craft, offer an introduction with the person’s agreement.
- ⇄ You pay for hours, you get hours. Make a useful contribution visible, including when it avoids work. Decisions about reward belong to whoever can make them; you can bring the facts that inform them.
Your first piece of backing. Agree with someone on precise help and a date: a thirty-minute review, an access to request, or a protected slot if that is yours to decide. Check that commitment fits both diaries. Choose an attempt small enough for the means available.
What you look at next. Did the help happen? What did it let them try, decide, or learn? Ask whether they want to continue it or change it. Passing something on inside the team can be enough; publishing stays a choice to discuss according to the project.
Bounded backing. In Six weeks to learn together, Nora gives a review with no hierarchical power. Her commitment has a limit and an end. The templates to adapt include a backing sheet and the material for the other paths.
You can keep a card for later and come back to these paths as your need changes. For a precise difficulty, see the index by situation. To explore a practice from situations you have met or would like to discover, the optional questions are another way in.