Design Playbook (Tools & Practices)

 

Assumption Dump: Write down all assumptions about a challenge, then test or discard them.

Reverse Thinking: Ask, “What if the opposite were true?”

Unlearning Interviews: Ask users or peers what they wish people would stop believing.

Stop–Start Map: Identify behaviours, mindsets, or processes to stop as well as to start.

KISS Framework: What should I... Keep doing. Increase doing. Stop doing. Start doing.

 

Mindset (Reflection & Journaling)

 

What am I holding onto that no longer serves me?

Which beliefs or habits might be blocking creativity?

Am I brave enough to let go of “what worked before”?

 

Provocation:

“Unlearning is not forgetting. It is the courage to release what no longer serves, so something new can grow.”

 

Facilitation Principle

 

As a facilitator, your role is to create space for release. Encourage participants to surface assumptions, name old habits, and consciously let them go. Remind them that unlearning is not loss — it is renewal.

 

Facilitator’s Mantra: “Let go to grow.”

 

Facilitation Toolkit (Methods & Activities)

 

Burn the Assumptions: Write limiting beliefs on paper and symbolically discard them.

Unlearning Circle: Share stories of things once believed that turned out untrue.

Challenge the Obvious: Ask groups to list “truths” about their field, then test them.

Before & After Wall: Compare old practices with new ones and reflect on what shifted.

Mindset Reset: Pause in the process to ask, “What do we need to unlearn here?”