Strategy and priorities
Align a Cross-Unit Roadmap
Work backwards from a future destination to milestones and dependencies, and make clashes between assignments visible.
- People
- 4–12
- Session time
- 270 minutes
- Format
- In person
English session plan
Original program status: draft. Source safety category: Medium; this is not a guarantee of safety.
Preparation: More preparation. Facilitation team: Four roles, including someone with facilitation experience.
What this session can decide
Agree milestones, dependencies, and proposed owners. Keep the future roadmap separate from each person's work slots for the next fourteen days; the work slots alone do not establish future owner or delivery-date commitments. Each responsible person takes formal staffing decisions and delivery-date commitments back for consideration.
Outside its scope
- Do not commit people to assignments without authority.
- Do not set deadlines for absent units.
- Do not try to resolve every dependency in one day.
Primary caution: Do not commit people to assignments without authority.
Before starting
- Question and scope
- Work backwards from a future destination to milestones and dependencies, and make clashes between assignments visible. Before starting, state the subject and time period in one sentence.
- What this session decides
- Agree milestones, dependencies, and proposed owners. Keep the future roadmap separate from each person's work slots for the next fourteen days; the work slots alone do not establish future owner or delivery-date commitments. Each responsible person takes formal staffing decisions and delivery-date commitments back for consideration.
- Output recipient
- The Recorder stores the final assignment-clash list, distinguishing future proposed owners, required timing, and unassigned work from responsibilities overlapping in the next fourteen days' work slots. Pass the future roadmap to the recipient alongside it.
- Participation and information boundaries
- Explain the choices to pass, take a break, or leave. Keep personal information, confidential information, and attribute-based evaluation off the record surface. Assign Participant support separately.
- Operating roles
- Assign Lead facilitator, Recorder, Timekeeper, and Participant support before starting, and confirm who announces switching and stopping.
- Next review
- Set a review date, viewers, and the person responsible for the next decision on the assignment-clash list.
Who takes responsibility
- Lead facilitator
Keep Align a Cross-Unit Roadmap within its purpose and exclusions, and announce the start and end of each stage.
From before the start through the end
- Recorder
Record the backcast roadmap, change-driver and dependency map, and assignment-clash list at each stage, then hand them to the recipient at the end.
From preparing record surfaces before the start through storage after the end
- Timekeeper
Notify the Lead facilitator 3 minutes before each stage ends and when switching to breaks or buffer time.
At the start of every stage and 3 minutes before its end
- Participant support
Receive requests to pass, take a break, leave, or check individually, and decide with the Lead facilitator whether resumption is possible.
From before the start through the end
Session flow
Minutes are measured from the session start. Method time, transition time, breaks and buffer are shown separately; they are not additional overlapping activities.
0–93 minutes
Work backwards from the future to milestones
Method: Backcasting · 0–90 minutes. Transition: 90–93 minutes (3 minutes).
Define the desired destination in observable terms. Work backwards from the future to the present, writing each milestone's prerequisites, signs, and required timing on cards. Keep future milestones and dependencies in this card sequence, separate from work slots for the next fourteen days.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support
Output: Backcast roadmap
Handoff: Pass the milestone cards, prerequisite cards, and required timing to the discussion of change drivers as the future roadmap.
This stage may be shortened only in accordance with the stated conditions.
93–186 minutes
Organise the factors that affect milestones
Method: Driver Mapping · 93–183 minutes. Transition: 183–186 minutes (3 minutes).
Identify enabling and obstructing factors for each milestone. Connect related factors with lines and mark those your own unit can influence.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support
Output: Change-driver and dependency map
Handoff: Retain future milestones, dependencies, proposed owners, and required timing. Separately identify work that can start within the next fourteen days and pass both layers to the clash check.
This stage is not marked as shortenable.
196–234 minutes
Resolve clashes in assignments and timing
Method: Owner Deadline Collision Sort · 196–231 minutes. Transition: 231–234 minutes (3 minutes).
Check proposed owners and required timing for each milestone in the future card sequence. Copy only work that can start within the next fourteen days to each person's half-day work-slot table. Mark slots overlapping for the same owner for moving, sharing, or deferral. Keep milestones and dependencies outside the fourteen-day window in the future card sequence; do not use the work-slot table alone to commit future owners or delivery dates.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Participant support
Output: Assignment-clash list
Handoff: Pass each unit's responsible person a list distinguishing future proposed owners and required timing from clashes found in the next fourteen days' work slots. Set a deadline for the responsible person to report whether formal owner and delivery-date commitments can be made.
This stage is not marked as shortenable.
What is retained and who receives it
Backcast roadmap
Owner: Recorder
Place milestones, prerequisites, dependencies, and required timing leading to the destination in chronological order. Store this separately from the next fourteen days' work-slot table.
Change-driver and dependency map
Owner: Recorder
Distinguish factors within your control, external factors, and dependencies.
Assignment-clash list
Owner: Recorder
Record future proposed owners, required timing, and unassigned work separately from overlaps in each person's work slots for the next fourteen days. Do not use the latter alone to commit future owners or delivery dates.
Materials and setup
Material names, quantities, groups and handling instructions retain the fixed draft's original helper-derived guidance. Where a format is marked “Source material specification”, the entire bound English source material entry takes precedence over the old helper-derived format guidance. This format-only correction does not resolve other instruction or safety concerns. English names are not substituted into a Japanese-keyed lookup.
Everyday tools
- Writing implements
Quantity: 1 per person
Format: Dark broad-tip pens or whiteboard markers
Check that ink flows and place them within participants' reach. Avoid pale-coloured pens.
- Uncertainty markers
Quantity: 3 per person
Format: Pen marks. Use round stickers only if anonymity or movement is needed.
Use pen marks by default. Divide round stickers by participant count only if repositioning or anonymous collection is needed.
- Writing implements
Quantity: 1 per person
Format: Dark broad-tip pens or whiteboard markers
Check that ink flows and place them within participants' reach. Avoid pale-coloured pens.
Sheets to prepare by hand
- Future completion-state cards
Quantity: 1 per group
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Write Future completion state at the top, with an Evidence field below it. Leave room for one entry per card.
- Cards for the gap from the present
Quantity: 4 per person
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Create Present and Future fields on one sheet. Write a heading for each field rather than relying on colour alone.
- Condition cards
Quantity: 6 per group
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Do not buy special-purpose cards. Write Milestone condition at the top of each paper piece. On each card, record one milestone, its prerequisites, and required timing. Arrange the cards from the future to the present and keep them separate from the fourteen-day work-slot table.
- Arrows connecting preceding and subsequent conditions, with an owner field
Quantity: 8 per group
Format: Masking tape or A4 copy paper cut into long strips
Draw an arrow from the earlier condition to the next and write Prerequisite for this link and Person to check the prerequisite. Connect future milestone cards and label any unconfirmed owner as proposed. Keep dependencies outside the fourteen-day table in this card sequence as well.
- Markers showing the scope for influencing conditions
Quantity: 18 per group
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Write We can influence this ourselves, We can influence this with others, and An external decision is needed on separate pieces of paper, preparing enough of each type. Distinguish them by written headings even when using the same colour.
- First-action sheets
Quantity: 2 per group
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Do not buy special sheets; write First action at the top of paper pieces. If participants fill them in, put one entry on each sheet and handwrite the necessary headings before starting.
- Driver cards
Quantity: 5 per person
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Write Driver at the top, with a Reason field below it. Leave room for one entry per card.
- Arrows showing direction
Quantity: 12 per group
Format: Masking tape or A4 copy paper cut into long strips
Draw thick arrows that clearly show one-way flow. There is no need to buy special arrow cards to change the arrangement.
- Influence circles
Quantity: 2 per group
Format: Large paper or a whiteboard
Draw two circles, one large and one small, on large paper or a whiteboard. There is no need to buy special rings or string.
- Table where each person records time available for work over the next 14 days
Quantity: 1 card per person
Format: A4 copy paper
Make rows for Day 1 through Day 14 and columns for morning and afternoon. Only the person concerned marks half-day slots available for work. Do not write reasons or private-life plans, and do not add slots beyond prescribed working hours. Use this table only for the next 14 days; retain future milestones, dependencies, and required timing in a separate card sequence. An entry in this table is not a future owner or delivery-date commitment.
- Work-placement sheet for 14 days
Quantity: 1 per task
Format: A4 copy paper
Divide the work surface into six fields: Earliest start date, Deadline, Number of half-day slots needed, Owner, Work to finish first, and Can it be split across days? Write the headings in words. Provisionally place only work that can start within the next 14 days in the person's work slots. Label unconfirmed owners and deadlines as proposed, and retain milestones or dependencies outside the fourteen-day window in the future card sequence. Provisional placement is not a formal owner or delivery-date commitment.
- Cards separating responses to excess work
Quantity: 3 of each per group
Format: Sticky notes about 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into 4 pieces
Write Postpone, Transfer, Reduce scope, and Escalate on separate pieces of paper, preparing enough of each type. Distinguish them by written headings even when using the same colour.
Setup for each method
Backcasting
- One island table per group of 3–6
- One reverse-route surface per group running backwards from the future completion state at the right to the present at the left
- One whole-group ‘present position’ surface for collecting first-action slips and external conditions
Driver Mapping
- One island table per group of 3–5, with group sizes differing by no more than 1 person
- One circular surface per group for the central change
- One whole-group surface for bringing priority drivers together
Owner Deadline Collision Sort
- Limit the scope to work already agreed and the next 14 days
- Explain that only each person decides their available slots, without giving reasons, and no slots beyond prescribed working hours are placed
When to switch or stop
Fallbacks
- The future vision splits into three or more alternatives.
Use only the minimum destination state they share and defer the alternative branches.
Method guide: Backcasting
Stop conditions
- People try to assign responsibilities or deadlines to a unit whose representatives are absent.
- Record them as proposals, leave commitment fields blank, and ask the responsible person to confirm.
- A statutory or contractual deadline is changed on the basis of an assumption.
- Fix the item in place and do not reposition it until a specialist check is complete.
Sources, rights and limits
This site has composed this programme's purpose, connections between methods, facilitation, roles, outputs, and switching conditions. See each method's individual page for its sources and licence.
Original source records and their required notices are retained below. Their presence does not mean a new legal or cultural-safety clearance. Original citation titles are kept in their source language.
Sources and required notices for the 3 methods used
Backcasting
- Government Office for Science: Backcasting — Adaptation under OGL 3.0; changes made
- OGL 3.0
- Source: Government Office for Science: Backcasting | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/futures-toolkit-for-policy-makers-and-analysts/the-futures-toolkit-html | Adaptation under OGL 3.0; changes made
- Source: OGL 3.0 | https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
- Attribution: Government Office for Science | Original-source author and contributor credit
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | Japanese adaptation and this site's own diagrams
- Changes and adaptation: Adapted as a Japanese facilitation score; changes made
- Cultural caution: open-method screening complete: No closed, ritual, or sacred cultural practice is used as a source; declining participation, sensitive information, and power differences are addressed in each method's limits and branches.
- Limits of this record: The covered Crown copyright 2024 text was adapted with changes as a Japanese facilitation score under OGL v3.0. Third-party material, original diagrams, and logos were excluded.
Driver Mapping
- Government Office for Science: Driver Mapping — Adaptation under OGL 3.0; changes made
- OGL 3.0
- Source: Government Office for Science: Driver Mapping | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/futures-toolkit-for-policy-makers-and-analysts/the-futures-toolkit-html | Adaptation under OGL 3.0; changes made
- Source: OGL 3.0 | https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
- Attribution: Government Office for Science | Original-source author and contributor credit
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | Japanese adaptation and this site's own diagrams
- Changes and adaptation: Adapted as a Japanese facilitation score; changes made
- Cultural caution: open-method screening complete: No closed, ritual, or sacred cultural practice is used as a source; declining participation, sensitive information, and power differences are addressed in each method's limits and branches.
- Limits of this record: The covered Crown copyright 2024 text was adapted with changes as a Japanese facilitation score under OGL v3.0. Third-party material, original diagrams, and logos were excluded.
Owner Deadline Collision Sort
- 対話の譜面編集部による設計 — This description is original
- Source: Designed by the Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | This description is original
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | This site's text and diagrams
- Cultural caution: This manifest contains no structured cultural-safety assessment. A person checks context, the option to decline participation, and power differences.
- Limits of this record: Only the notices displayed in the public YAML were transcribed. No claim is made that individual rights do not exist.
Confirmed programme clarification
The user confirmed the current programme text and programme-specific material instructions. Original methods, quantities, timing and print diagrams are unchanged. Earlier fixed notes are retained below as historical notes; they are not removed or treated as independently resolved. User confirmation of programme wording is distinct from independent acceptance of its English translation, rendered screens, rights and release checks.
Historical fixed-draft notes
The original fixed draft notes are retained without deletion as historical records of those fixed source versions. Current material format corrections are separately identified above; these notes do not imply that other concerns have been resolved.
- The roadmap covers future milestones, while the owner-collision preparation sheet covers the next 14 days. The source does not specify how distant milestones are mapped into that short horizon; no additional scheduling rule has been invented.
Japanese resources and historical source records
Original Japanese plan and its print view · Japanese operation pack or starter materials
An English print edition is not provided here. The linked plans, print views and operation materials are Japanese resources.
Historical recorded publication holds
The following original hold statements are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. They are not a statement of current acceptance, nor does this historical label resolve a source-specific restriction.
- English translation and rendered-page independent acceptance pending
- Method dependency source/text SHA binding and current source-specific rights verification pending
- Publication not cleared
Historical fixed-source and English-draft provenance
Japanese program SHA-256: e38034b66dd27412db8e7d0a5b99cb4abbb76b57dd4d308a2c045a346dce7654
Fixed source context SHA-256: c1b055847c3e5ec9a043e76029f3710c407dc967f5ad05cb44c77e4e06632ecd
English draft SHA-256: 710bdc2bebec0b274a867f414e38d8c6f7e215bc4b59d249f3655a017be3aafa
- backcasting: source
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These hashes identify the checked inputs; they do not grant independent acceptance or publication clearance.