Method guide · Work with a structured grid
TRIZ Stop-Doing Scan
Identify what to stop by comparing behaviours that would create the worst outcome with current habits.
- People
- 4–50
- Base procedure time
- 50 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Reflect and learn; Make a decision; Generate ideas.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A conversation that examines current habits through behaviours that would produce the worst outcome. Use it when improvement proposals leave existing behaviours unchanged and the same failures recur. First exaggerate the behaviours that would reliably create an unwanted outcome, then identify which of them people actually practise. Only behaviours that match current practice become candidates to stop, helping the group choose specific actions to discontinue rather than abstract ideals. The result is a paradox table containing evidence of matches with current practice and the first behaviour to stop. Do not use it where imagining failure turns into blaming the people involved.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Imagine the worst0–10 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Imagine. Participation: 1 person.
Individual record
- Collect behaviours10–20 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Collect. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Compare with current practice20–30 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Compare. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Turn matches into stop-doing actions30–42 minutes from the start (12 minutes)
Action: Reframe. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Choose a first action42–50 minutes from the start (8 minutes)
Action: Choose. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 10 minutes, each person exaggerates behaviours that would reliably create an unwanted outcome, writing one behaviour per note.
- For 10 minutes, read the behaviours in groups of 3–6. Bundle notes that work through the same mechanism and place them in the making-things-worse column.
- For 10 minutes, the same groups of 3–6 mark behaviours that occur now and write observable facts in the matches-with-current-practice column.
- For 12 minutes, the same groups of 3–6 reframe matched behaviours as statements of what to stop, then move them to the candidates-to-stop column.
- For 5 minutes, the same groups of 3–6 add one sentence to each candidate describing the side effects of stopping and the conditions for resuming it.
- For 3 minutes, everyone chooses one candidate to stop for a 1-week trial and appoints someone to observe what happens.
If something changes
If
Five minutes after imagining the worst begins, each group still has 3 or more notes containing only abstract terms.
Then
Rewrite them to say who does what, removing adjectives that cannot be observed.
If
When comparing with current practice, at least half the groups have no matching notes.
Then
Choose one meeting, approval, or reporting situation from the past week and compare only the behaviours in that situation.
If
Four minutes into choosing what to stop, 5 or more candidates remain.
Then
Limit the candidates to behaviours that can be stopped for 1 week and resumed, then narrow them to one.
Preparation
Materials
- One three-column sheet per group of 3–6, approximately A3 size, with columns for making things worse, matches with current practice, and candidates to stop
- 8 behaviour sticky notes per person
- One dark-coloured pen per person
- One whole-group stop-doing chart
Room and setup
- One island table per group of 3–6; 1–9 tables within the supported participant range
- One shared wall surface where the three-column sheets can be displayed side by side
Adjust for people and time
With fewer than 4 people, one person imagines the worst and compares it with current practice, while another checks for blaming language. With 4–50 people, divide participants evenly into 1–9 groups, with 3–6 people in each group and no group larger than 6. Use one three-column sheet per group. With 31 or more people, move only one candidate to stop from each group to the whole-group chart, then choose one behaviour for which the side effects overlap.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not use this method where imagining failure turns into blaming the people involved. Only matched current behaviours become candidates to stop. Record the side effects of stopping and the conditions for resuming each candidate before choosing the 1-week trial.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- The source gives a procedure for fewer than 4 people that requires one person to do the scan and another to check language; it does not specify how a single participant could use it. This draft preserves that limitation without adding a solo procedure.
- The source asks the whole group to choose a behaviour whose side effects overlap, without defining the comparison in more detail. This draft does not replace it with an invented prioritisation rule.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Liberating Structures Fieldbook (2026): Creative Destruction / TRIZ — Henri Lipmanowicz / Keith McCandless / Nancy White
https://www.liberatingstructures.com/creative-destruction
Adaptation under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes made
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- The original method name ‘Creative Destruction / TRIZ’ is used descriptively to identify the source.
Current-page licence notice
This explanation is an adaptation for Taiwa no Fumen based on the official Liberating Structures page linked below. The manuscript's recorded references are listed separately from the web page checked on 17 October 2026.
Changes: the Japanese explanation and facilitation plan have been edited for Taiwa no Fumen. The English edition translates that Japanese manuscript; it is not a verbatim translation of the official page.
The LS-adapted text on this page, including this site's editorial and translation contributions, is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. When reusing it, credit the creators, identify the source and licence, indicate changes, and follow the licence's ShareAlike terms when sharing adaptations.
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Credits on the checked source page
- Developed by: Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
Related work credited on that page: TRIZ (engineering approach).
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Creative Destruction (aka TRIZ).
Source lineage
- Original repertoire (2013): Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless
- 2026 Fieldbook: Keith McCandless, Nancy White
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
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Editorial provenance
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