facilitation-practices

Facilitation practices library

A curated, extensible library of facilitation structures, one markdown file per practice in practices/. This skill is the grounding source for the designer agent and a browsable reference for the facilitator.

What you can do with it

• List the available practices and what each is good for.
• Explain a practice (purpose, steps, medium fit, facilitator notes).
• Recommend structures for a situation (charged topic, surfacing input, debrief, naming a paradox…).
• Ground a design — every structure in a workshop design.md must cite a practice that exists here.

Citation convention (important)

Practices are cited by slug — the filename without .md. Examples: triz, 1-2-4-all, impromptu-networking. A design is "grounded" only if every cited slug resolves to a practices/<slug>.md in this skill. Designs never hardcode the physical path — they cite the slug — so the library can move (e.g. into a packaged plugin) without rewriting any design.

How to add a practice

1. Copy practices/_TEMPLATE.md to practices/<kebab-slug>.md.
2. Fill the frontmatter (the index) and the prose body (the detail).
3. Done — no code change. The designer agent and this skill glob practices/*.md and pick it up.

Practice file shape: frontmatter index + prose body

Each practice is YAML frontmatter (machine-readable) followed by a markdown body (the rich detail).

Frontmatter fields: slug (== filename) · name · type (structure | principle | framework) · source · source_url · mediums (subset of in-person/miro/video) · group_min / group_max · time_min / time_max (minutes; structures only) · tags (optional).

type meanings: structure = a timed activity that becomes an agenda row; principle = a lens applied across the agenda (no timing); framework = a macro-arc you map structures onto (e.g. the 4Cs).

Body sections: Purpose · When to use · Group config · Timing · Medium fit (per-medium notes) · Steps · Facilitator notes.

Recommending practices (use the frontmatter)

To recommend structures for a situation, filter on frontmatter first, then judge fit from the body:

• Medium → mediums contains the session medium.
• Group size → group_min ≤ size ≤ group_max.
• Time → time_min ≤ available slot.
• Purpose → match tags + the Purpose/When to use prose. A type: principle entry (e.g. tbr-concrete-practice, tbr-brain-rules) is a lens applied across the agenda, not a timed block. A type: framework entry (e.g. tbr-4cs) is a backbone you sequence structures onto. Recommend both as stance/structure-of-the-whole, never as an agenda row with a duration.

Sources, attribution & rights

Every practice file is an original, attributed summary — our own words describing a method, never a reproduction of the source's text or materials. Full per-source attribution and rights status live in NOTICE.md; practice content is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (see LICENSE-CONTENT). Underlying methods, names, and trademarks belong to their originators; inclusion is descriptive and implies no affiliation or endorsement. When adding a method, follow the four gates in NOTICE.md.

Sources seeded so far

• Liberating Structures — Lipmanowicz & McCandless (2013); Fieldbook (2026) McCandless & White — CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://www.liberatingstructures.com/ — the full menu of 33 is included.
• Training from the BACK of the Room (Sharon Bowman) — all rights reserved; not affiliated/endorsed; "Training from the BACK of the Room"™ — https://bowperson.com/resources/index.html
• Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (Sam Kaner et al., Community at Work) — https://communityatwork.com/
• The Art & Science of Facilitation (Marsha Acker) / structural dynamics (David Kantor) — https://artandscienceoffacilitation.com/
• Innovation Games (Luke Hohmann — registered trademark; techniques attributed, no branded materials) — https://www.lukehohmann.com/innovation-games
• Gamestorming (Gray, Brown, Macanufo) — https://gamestorming.com/ (note: it catalogs others' methods — attribute to originals, e.g. pre-mortem = Gary Klein, empathy map = XPLANE)
• Agile Retrospectives (Esther Derby & Diana Larsen) — https://pragprog.com/titles/dlret/agile-retrospectives/ (some activities predate the book — credit originals, e.g. temperature reading = Satir)

Current practices

Grouped by what they're good for; cite by slug. Sources: LS = Liberating Structures · TBR = Training from the BACK of the Room · plus Kaner, Hohmann, Klein, Kantor/Acker, Gamestorming (XPLANE), Derby & Larsen.

Openers & connection

Slug	Source	Good for
impromptu-networking	LS	Warm-ups; equalizing voice early
heard-seen-respected	LS	Empathy + deep-listening opener
nine-whys	LS	Surfacing the shared deeper purpose of the work
appreciative-interviews	LS	Mining success stories for what already works
conversation-cafe	LS	Calm collective sense-making of a big/disturbing challenge
esvp	Derby/Larsen	Anonymous read on engagement/buy-in toward the session

Diverge & surface input

Slug	Source	Good for
1-2-4-all	LS	Surfacing input without domination
25-10-crowd-sourcing	LS	Crowd-ranking bold ideas fast (15+ people)
drawing-together	LS	Surfacing insight words can't reach (visual)
social-network-webbing	LS	Mapping who you really need to engage
empathy-map	XPLANE	Stakeholder-perspective canvas (see/hear/say/do, think/feel)

Converge, decide & prioritize

Slug	Source	Good for
min-specs	LS	Stripping rules to the minimum that still works
15-percent-solutions	LS	Turning big problems into doable first steps + ownership
agreement-certainty-matrix	LS	Matching approach to problem type (simple…chaotic)
design-storyboards	LS	Making a plan concrete and testable before committing
gradients-of-agreement	Kaner	Testing the strength of support for a proposal — prevents false consensus
buy-a-feature	Hohmann	Budget-constrained prioritization that forces real trade-offs
prune-the-product-tree	Hohmann	Roadmap shaping via a tree — balance of where growth clusters

Charged topics & relationships

Slug	Source	Good for
triz	LS	Charged topics; admitting what we already do wrong
wicked-questions	LS	Naming a paradox instead of forcing an either/or
integrated-autonomy	LS	Breaking an either/or into both/and
generative-relationships-star	LS	Diagnosing a stuck working relationship without blame
what-i-need-from-you	LS	Surfacing cross-team interdependencies (WINFY)

Peer help & learning transfer

Slug	Source	Good for
troika-consulting	LS	Peer coaching in trios (client turns away)
wise-crowds	LS	Group consults one client at a time
helping-heuristics	LS	Practising how to give/receive help well
improv-prototyping	LS	Acting out solutions so they stick
shift-and-share	LS	Spreading innovations via station rotation
celebrity-interview	LS	Interviewing a leader/expert instead of a lecture
user-experience-fishbowl	LS	Transferring tacit know-how (inner/outer circle)
discovery-action-dialogue	LS	Finding the group's own already-working behaviors (DAD)
simple-ethnography	LS	Observing real behavior in the field

Retrospective, debrief & sense-making

Slug	Source	Good for
what-so-what-now-what	LS	Debrief; sense-making without premature solutions
speed-boat	Hohmann	Retro: surfacing impediments via boat-and-anchors (depersonalized)
mad-sad-glad	Derby/Larsen	Gathering feelings as data (retro Gather Data)
team-radar	Derby/Larsen	Multi-factor self-assessment, repeatable as a progress measure
learning-matrix	Derby/Larsen	Fast 4-quadrant insight capture (keep/change/idea/appreciate)
plus-delta	Derby/Larsen	Minimal "improve the meeting" close (retro-on-the-retro)
roti	Derby/Larsen	Was this session worth the time? 0–4 meta-evaluation (any meeting)

Strategy, foresight & big-picture

Slug	Source	Good for
ecocycle-planning	LS	Portfolio view: what to start, sustain, let go
critical-uncertainties	LS	Scenario strategy under deep uncertainty
panarchy	LS	Seeing why change stalls across nested system levels
purpose-to-practice	LS	Designing a resilient initiative (P2P, 5 elements)
open-space-technology	LS	Self-organizing marketplace for big complex challenges
remember-the-future	Hohmann	Prospective-hindsight visioning ("imagine it worked — what did it do?")
pre-mortem	Klein	Prospective risk: imagine it failed, surface why (before committing)
cover-story	Gamestorming	Bold aspiration via a future magazine cover (past-tense visioning)

Lenses & frameworks (apply as stance/backbone, not agenda rows)

Slug	Source	Good for
tbr-concrete-practice	TBR	Lens: participants do the work, not the facilitator
tbr-brain-rules	TBR	Lens: the Six Trumps (+ WIIFM, primacy-recency) — brain-friendly design
tbr-4cs	TBR	Framework: session backbone — Connections → Concepts → Concrete Practice → Conclusions
participatory-decision-diamond	Kaner	Framework: Divergent → Groan Zone → Convergent decision arc
four-player-model	Kantor/Acker	Lens: read why a conversation is stuck (Move/Follow/Oppose/Bystand)
five-phase-retrospective	Derby/Larsen	Framework: Stage → Data → Insights → Decide → Close (reflection arc)