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Taiwa no FumenPractical methods for shared thinking

English edition: the full translation has not yet received an independent line-by-line review. Check the linked sources and method-specific limits before use. Japanese PDFs and videos remain labelled.

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Start with purpose, people, and time. Check preparation and non-applicable situations before using a guide.

200 methods. English guides and labelled Japanese fallbacks stay in the same catalogue.

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Time

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Structure

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All 200 methods

English guide

Check-out

Close a meeting with a brief indication of each person's current state, allowing everyone to speak or pass.

5–100 people · 5 minutes

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Check-in

Briefly hear each person's present state at the start, with an equally available choice to pass and no record kept.

4–100 people · 5 minutes

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Shake all hands

Use for brief greetings with three different people, while allowing non-contact, stationary and pass choices.

10–20 people · 5 minutes

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Rain making

Build and reduce a four-stage wave across three groups through small sounds or equivalent visual signals, with shared silence on request.

3–100 people · 5 minutes

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Confidence Voting

Show confidence in one proposal simultaneously, then use concerns and the distribution to proceed, revise, or defer.

2–120 people · 5 minutes

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Go-round

Use when everyone should have a brief turn on one topic with a predictable order and a later chance for those who passed.

5–100 people · 5 minutes

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Dot Voting

Identify options attracting interest with equal dot allocations, keeping ties and serious concerns for further consideration.

2–120 people · 5 minutes

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Pronoun rounds

Allow voluntary sharing of how people wish to be referred to, with passing, no reasons required, and a route for later correction.

2–30 people · 6 minutes

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Name labels

Use at the start so people can write the name they want used and choose whether to wear or place their label.

2–30 people · 8 minutes

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One-word Story

Build an improvised story by listening and adding one word at a time, with passing and optional word-recording.

2–20 people · 10 minutes

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Personal take-aways

Privately connect a learning point to a usable first action and timing, without submission, group sharing, appraisal, or tracking.

2–100 people · 10 minutes

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Hand-signals

Use to agree a small set of local signals and accessible alternatives before using them during conversation.

3–40 people · 10 minutes

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Count to ten

Coordinate an unplanned count through voice or personal number cards without scoring success, blaming overlap, or recording results.

5–20 people · 10 minutes

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People map

Show only a region people may safely share through relative positions or seated cards, with passing and no location records.

5–40 people · 10 minutes

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Parking Lot

Set aside an off-topic issue without losing it, then decide how it leaves the holding area before closing.

3–30 people · 10 minutes

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Confirming Summary

Use to check a brief summary in participants’ actual words while keeping common understanding, differences and unresolved matters separate.

3–40 people · 12 minutes

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Group Weather Check

Offer a correctable, provisional reading of observable group changes and choose a next way of proceeding without diagnosing individuals.

3–30 people · 12 minutes

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Workshop gifts

Use for a short closing reflection through an imaginary gift or a concrete learning, without evaluating anyone’s interpretation.

5–20 people · 15 minutes

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Positive Gossip

Describe observed actions and the help they provided so each person receives concrete observations of their strengths.

12–100 people · 15 minutes

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Daily Standup

Briefly synchronise progress, plans, dependencies, and blockers around a shared team goal, parking detailed discussion.

3–12 people · 15 minutes

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Mirroring

Use for non-contact paired movement with role changes, equal acceptance of passing and accessible participation alternatives.

2–30 people · 15 minutes

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Paired listening

Use when people need uninterrupted time to put thoughts into words without recording them or reporting them to the whole group.

2–30 people · 15 minutes

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Ice Breakers

Create a small point of connection before the main topic, allowing people to choose a manageable subject or not speak.

2–50 people · 15 minutes

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Ranking

Order option cards against one criterion while retaining ties, unresolved positions, and options that fail mandatory conditions.

5–20 people · 20 minutes

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Hopes and Fears

Choose what to share about hopes and concerns, then identify support without requiring equal self-disclosure.

3–20 people · 20 minutes

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Permission Frontier

Compare how people place the same three actions under autonomy, consultation, or approval, and clarify where their understanding differs.

4–50 people · 20 minutes

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Nine Whys

Start from the work people actually do and use repeated questions about its importance to refine a statement of purpose.

2–30 people · 20 minutes

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Action Steps

Close a discussion with a named first action, completion time, and requested support rather than an unsupported promise.

2–30 people · 20 minutes

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Evaluation form

Use short anonymous forms to choose one thing to continue and one to change next time, with declared access, retention, and non-response choices.

2–30 people · 20 minutes

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15% Solutions

Find a small action you can start within your own discretion, without making an individual responsible for structural obstacles.

2–40 people · 20 minutes

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People bingo

Broaden opening conversations with one optional question per person, without competing over completion or collecting private answer sheets.

5–40 people · 20 minutes

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Pause and Parse

Pause conflicting statements and separate facts, interpretations, and requests before returning to the conversation.

3–16 people · 20 minutes

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Two-turn Witness

Hear another person’s summary of an experience, then let its speaker correct the meaning before the group uses it.

4–20 people · 20 minutes

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Pair introductions

Use to introduce people through uninterrupted paired speaking, while leaving the choice of wider sharing with the person concerned.

10–30 people · 20 minutes

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Talking sticks

Use a shared object or equivalent card to indicate a speaking turn without favouring people who can reach the object fastest.

3–20 people · 20 minutes

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Excitement sharing

Enter a meeting by receiving brief positive updates, with passing, breaks, ending, and a declared support route instead of forced positivity.

3–20 people · 23 minutes

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Personal object game

Trace an optional personal object's outline and hear only the owner's chosen meaning, with explicit control over retaining the shared paper.

5–20 people · 27 minutes

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Ideastorms

Use to collect an unevaluated list of ideas while keeping criticism and feasibility discussion for a later stage.

5–15 people · 30 minutes

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Quote Wall

Use when a team wants to retain memorable encouragement or praise and agree how to keep adding to it.

3–50 people · 30 minutes

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Agenda

Build a shared agenda with timings, background, order, and a destination for items that cannot be handled now.

2–30 people · 30 minutes

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Wise Crowds

Let several advisers build on each other's ideas while the client listens and chooses which advice to use.

5–100 people · 30 minutes

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Reviewing Mainstream and Margins

Review participation conditions treated as normal for a specific issue, redesign mainstream-side practice, and retain several participation routes without fixed identity labels.

4–30 people · 30 minutes

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Roving ideastorms

Use when small groups can build on earlier groups’ ideas by rotating among related questions or passing the papers instead.

8–40 people · 30 minutes

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Pros and cons

Compare benefits, drawbacks, and other points while preserving whose evaluation differs and excluding non-negotiable mandatory conditions from trade-offs.

3–20 people · 30 minutes

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Min Specs

Remove rules that are not needed for the shared purpose and retain only indispensable conditions.

4–40 people · 35 minutes

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Gallery Report-back

Use to compare small-group work at each person’s own pace and identify cross-cutting issues without treating them as formal decisions.

8–60 people · 40 minutes

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Trade-off Bridge

Identify losses on both sides and develop exchange conditions only with people who actually chose each position.

6–40 people · 40 minutes

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Sharing withholds

Use only with a pre-established trusted group, non-retaliation and support arrangements to hear concerns without rebuttal.

5–20 people · 40 minutes

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Picture yourself

Represent one aspect of oneself in a chosen form, check its meaning with a partner, and control whether and how it is shared.

6–20 people · 40 minutes

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Handoff Stations

Walk through actual handoffs to locate waiting, returns, and unclear receipt rather than blaming individual attention.

4–30 people · 45 minutes

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Rose Thorn Bud

Use when reflection needs to distinguish positives, problems and possibilities rather than stop at a list of good and bad points.

3–20 people · 45 minutes

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Rescue Route

Build a recovery route backwards from a safe state, then test withdrawal signs and return destinations.

4–30 people · 45 minutes

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Principle Stations

Explore the gap between stated principles and daily behaviour through three different questions and self-selected groups.

6–40 people · 45 minutes

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Loss Support Walk

Offer companionship and silence to someone speaking about loss or change, with participation and safety arrangements chosen in advance.

2–20 people · 45 minutes

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Troika Consulting

Receive peer advice without having to answer throughout the discussion.

3–60 people · 30–46 minutes

Standard groups of 3 take 30 minutes. Allow 38 minutes if any group has 4 people, or 46 minutes when there are only 5 participants.

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Idea Cyclone

Generate ideas through expansion, reversal, and combination, then retain priority ideas and reasons for votes.

4–30 people · 60 minutes

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Mentorship

Begin a one-to-one learning relationship with an explicit purpose, boundaries, and a way to review it, separate from performance appraisal.

2–2 people · 60 minutes

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Risk Radar

Use for a regular review of existing risks, their changes and the responses assigned to them.

3–20 people · 60 minutes

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Proto-Persona

Use when an early-stage team needs a shared, provisional picture of its users before deciding which needs to address.

3–12 people · 60 minutes

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SWOT Workshop

Separate internal and external factors, then combine them into an action with evidence and responsibility.

3–20 people · 60 minutes

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Controlled dialogue

Check that two willing parties have received one another's words through three response stages, with an agreed observer and freedom to stop.

3–3 people · 60 minutes

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Options Place

Let people propose topics and choose where to participate, while retaining minority interests and freedom to move.

10–200 people · 60 minutes

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Map-Based Audit

Use to organise sourced community information by verification status while keeping sensitive locations restricted and conflicting data unresolved.

4–24 people · 60 minutes

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Futurespective

Look back from an imagined successful future to identify supporting events, obstacles, and a first action now.

3–20 people · 60 minutes

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Futures Wheel

Explore first, second, and more distant consequences of one change, making causal leaps and missing conditions visible.

4–30 people · 60 minutes

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Priority Sliders

Show the relative priority of competing values and discuss their trade-offs without negotiating down law or safety.

3–15 people · 60 minutes

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Shift & Share

Visit practice stations in six rounds, using questions and proposals to refine examples and identify what to take back.

12–100 people · 75 minutes

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Feelings meeting

Listen to first-person feelings without decisions, advice, or diagnosis, in a voluntary and confidential session with exit and support choices.

3–12 people · 90 minutes

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Agile Health Check

Describe good and poor collaboration states in observable actions, compare experiences, and select one improvement to try.

3–15 people · 90 minutes

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Social Contract

Use when a team needs explicit, revisable working norms and a way to record consent, objections and reservations.

3–25 people · 90 minutes

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Three Horizons

Connect present functions, transition experiments, and future states without discarding what must be preserved now.

4–30 people · 90 minutes

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Rotating Table Dialogue

Use to connect experiences and ideas across tables with equal stationary participation and a tightly bounded route for sensitive information.

12–48 people · 90 minutes

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Community Walk Audit

Use to observe public-space resources and issues along a safe route, with indoor participation and tightly limited photo handling.

4–30 people · 90 minutes

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Driver Mapping

Map directional relationships between drivers and distinguish influence from uncertainty when choosing what to explore next.

4–30 people · 90 minutes

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Backcasting

Work backwards from a desired future to necessary conditions and identify first actions within your influence.

4–30 people · 90 minutes

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Roadmapping

Arrange milestones, capabilities, and external conditions over time, then use dependencies to decide where to start.

4–30 people · 90 minutes

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Leadership Launch

Make leaders' implicit arrangements for time, decisions, conduct, and communication explicit after organisational change.

3–15 people · 120 minutes

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Leadership Map

Surface difficult leadership issues across four areas and prioritise improvement themes by impact and effort.

3–15 people · 120 minutes

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Outcome Mapping

Connect a goal to expected effects, obstacles, and named next actions rather than pursuing disconnected measures.

3–15 people · 120 minutes

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Purpose to Practice

Connect purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices, then check and revise inconsistencies across the design.

4–20 people · 120 minutes

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