Method guide · Progress through phases
Dropped Ask Catcher
Recover requests overlooked during a meeting without silently turning unanswered requests into assignments.
- People
- 3–20
- Base procedure time
- 25 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Explore through dialogue; Make a decision.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A conversation for recovering requests that were not received during a meeting, in speaking order. The recorder extracts up to 6 statements that appear to be requests chronologically and checks only the intended object and intent with the speaker. Proposed recipients choose among acceptance, refusal, pending confirmation, or private confirmation/transfer to a formal channel. Do not silently turn a request without a response into an assignment. Leave the unresolved count, next person to handle it, and deadline in the unresolved area. At the end, the selected requests have no unanswered items. Do not use this method to replace emergency reports, personnel orders, or legal notices with agreement inside a meeting.
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.
- Collect candidate requests0–5 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Prepare. Participation: Everyone or small groups.
Shared record
- Complete the three elements5–11 minutes from the start (6 minutes)
Action: Read. Participation: Everyone or small groups.
Shared record
- Return each request to its recipient11–17 minutes from the start (6 minutes)
Action: Rework. Participation: Everyone or small groups.
Shared record
- Separate the responses17–22 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Separate. Participation: Everyone or small groups.
Shared record
- Count unanswered requests22–25 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Discuss. Participation: Everyone or small groups.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 5 minutes, extract up to 6 apparent requests from the meeting notes in speaking order.
- For 6 minutes, check the requested action, recipient, and time needed with the speaker, one request at a time, and write them on the five-field form.
- For 6 minutes, return each candidate form to its proposed recipient. If the person is absent, do not presume acceptance; mark it pending confirmation.
- For 5 minutes, each recipient chooses acceptance, refusal, pending confirmation, or private confirmation/transfer to a formal channel.
- For 3 minutes, count whether the selected requests have zero unanswered items and retain the owner and deadline for excess requests on the storage sheet.
If something changes
If
At least one candidate request names a recipient who is not present.
Then
Do not presume acceptance. Mark it pending confirmation and record only the person who will make contact and the deadline.
If
The speaker says the statement was not a request.
Then
Mark the candidate form as not a request and close it without keeping it as an action item.
If
The person or facilitator indicates a power difference or a risk of disadvantage from responding publicly.
Then
Stop public confirmation and move to private confirmation without requiring reasons, or to the organisation’s formal channel.
Preparation
Materials
- One copy of that day’s meeting notes that participants can view together
- Up to 6 five-field forms: statement, action, recipient, time needed, and four response categories
- One storage sheet for the excess count, person responsible next time, and deadline
- One pen per person
Room and setup
- Limit the scope to that day’s shared notes and the first 6 candidate requests in speaking order
- Explain that reasons for responses will not be requested and individual response forms will not be displayed to everyone
Adjust for people and time
Do not run this method with fewer than 3 people, because requester, recipient, and recording perspectives cannot be separated. With 3–8, check up to 6 requests from one set of notes in order. With 9–20, identify candidates by speaking segment but process only the first 6 across the whole meeting in speaking order. For the seventh and later requests, save only their count and the time of the next check. With 21 or more, do not process the entire meeting at once; arrange topic-specific confirmation sessions of no more than 20 people.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not infer acceptance from absence or silence. Allow refusal and pending confirmation without requiring reasons. Do not publicly display individual responses. Stop public confirmation when power differences or public-response risks are indicated, and use private confirmation or the formal organisational channel. Do not replace emergency reporting, personnel orders, or legal notices with meeting agreement.
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 states that selected items finish with zero unanswered requests while allowing pending confirmation as a response category; it does not define the counting rule that reconciles those statements.
- The final step retains an owner and deadline for excess requests, while scaling says to save only the count and next check time from the seventh request onwards. Both instructions are preserved.
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.
- Designed by the Taiwa no Fumen editorial team
This description is original.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.