The worst plan

A structure that turns the ordinary brainstorm around. You take a goal you really want to reach, and first work out how you would wreck it for certain: a wild, exaggerated list. Then that list becomes a mirror: which of these things are we actually doing already? And finally you choose one thing to stop. It is based on Making Space with TRIZ, one of the Liberating Structures.

With the default settings the whole structure takes ± 19 minutes, briefing and look-back included.

With the default settings about nineteen minutes when everyone works alone: five minutes for the worst plan, six for the mirror and four to choose what you stop. That is a quarter of an hour of steps; the preparation adds two minutes for naming the goal and two minutes of reflection at the end. In groups two minutes are added to form the groups, which makes it about twenty minutes. You set each step yourself, in steps of thirty seconds. The player only moves on when you click, because the mirror ends when the room goes quiet, not when the clock runs out.

Both work, and alone is the default. Alone, the list is yours and so is the mirror: suited to anything about your own approach, such as your presentation or the way you learn. In groups of two to eight the list gets longer and more honest, because what one person dares not write down, another will; that fits when it is about the class or the team. In a group, too, everyone first writes alone, and then you lay the lists side by side.

Because it takes the shame out. Naming what is not going well sounds like an accusation, of yourself or of someone else. Thinking up the worst case is safe and funny: nobody is singled out, and exaggerating is allowed. Only then comes the mirror, and by then the list is already there. Whoever sees their own habit on a list of crazy plans recognises themselves without anyone having to say it.

Everyone, or each group, goes down their own list line by line with one question: are we already doing any of this? Whatever you really do sometimes, you mark. There are two rules: no names and no blame, only what happens. This step usually goes quiet, and that silence is part of it. You guard the form and let the silence stand.

Because you can see a stop, and you cannot see a good intention. A group that says "we are going to plan better" has an intention that shows nowhere. A group that says "we no longer start a new task before the last one is finished" has a stop everyone can see. So choose one marked line, phrase it as something you no longer do, and say when it starts and who will notice. One thing, not three.

A good goal is phrased positively, is the result the group really wants to reach, and is concrete enough that you can imagine how to wreck it. "Everyone takes part in the group work" works, "a nice atmosphere" is too vague, and "no more arguments" is already a problem instead of a goal. The goal stays on the screen for the whole structure; you can also say it out loud. No goal in mind? Choose "AI writes them" in the preparation: you get a few possible goals for your topic and the age of your class, and tap one. If you prefer your own assistant, such as Microsoft Copilot, copy the request from the same screen.

Five Whys takes one problem and digs for the cause: why does this happen? The worst plan takes a goal and looks for the habits that get in its way: what are we already doing that wrecks this goal? If you know what goes wrong and want to understand why, take Five Whys. If the group feels it is getting in its own way but cannot see how, The worst plan works better.

Beforehand: phrase the goal, and choose whether everyone works alone or in groups. In the first step: let it be wild and correct nothing; walk around and read along without reacting. In the mirror: guard only the form (no names) and let the silence stand. Only click on once it has gone quiet. At the stop: keep asking until there is one thing somebody else could see happening, and ask when it starts. Come back to it after a few weeks.

The worst plan is our name for Making Space with TRIZ, one of the Liberating Structures by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. Many facilitators simply call it TRIZ, and on liberatingstructures.com it is now listed as Creative Destruction. The name refers to TRIZ, the theory of inventive problem solving that Genrich Altshuller developed in the Soviet Union; the structure itself is a simple reversal: first think up the worst, then look at how much of it you already do. The LudensFlow version has everyone work alone by default, makes groups an option, and has the player wait for you, because the mirror ends when the room goes quiet and not when the clock runs out.