5 Comments

Hi Mark. Thank you for explaining the origins of your title. I found it quite insightful. I am also very intrigued about 'The Users Guide to the Future', particularly the model and look forward to you sharing more thoughts around this.

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Thanks Mark. More in the Host book and also in this online article (which you may have already found :-)). https://www.sfio.org/interaction/2019-1/users-guide-to-the-future/

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Your Small Step approach really resonate to me and reminds me the Liberating Structures 15% Solutions which Is very powerful in my experience.

Love also the distinction with Kaizen, really insightful.

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Thanks Eleanora. For everyone else, here's the link to Liberating Structures 15% Solutions https://www.liberatingstructures.com/7-15-solutions/

The interesting thing (for me) is that SF emerged as a psychotherapy for serious mental health problems. So there is a mismatch in the idea of solutions' there for the taking' in a situation whcih has driven the person to distraction for months or years. Or is there... focusing on trying to solve the (alleged) problem is not at all the same as building a solution (steps to a better future). It's both everyday and totally fundamental.

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Great insight!

Sharing your post with a bunch of colleaguees I was thinking about something similar.

Kaizen is similar to an incremental approach in software development. You already know which is the solution you want to create, you Just achieve it in batches. In such approach, the 'goal' - your focus - can easily becomes 'the solution' and you lose focus on the problem/issue. So you just inspect the output and not the outcome.

Small steps (as well as 15% Solutions) focus on the problem, overcome the problem is the destination of your journey.

After each Small step, you inspect the outcome: Is It still a problem? Is It solved? What I learn now that I didn't know before? What's the next step now?

An iterative AND incremental approach, Indeed.

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