Hypothesis: If I announce my office hours on Twitter and Facebook, I will get at least one participant.

Invite folks to office hours on Twitter, Facebook, and The Value Web’s Mighty Networks one day in advance. Send a reminder an hour before office hours starts.

In order to avoid Zoom bombing, going to ask folks to @ me for the URL rather than sharing it publicly, recognizing that this is an additional barrier to participation. In my initial experiment, only five out of the 11 who showed had RSVPed.

Hypothesis: Practitioners in my community want unstructured connection time.

Invite people to virtual office hours. No agenda, no need to show up at a particular time, and no need to stay on for the whole time. It’s just an opportunity to say hello, reconnect, and talk for as long or as little as you’d like about whatever you’d like to talk about with whomever shows up.

Send invitation to Colearning, my newsletter, and Bay Area practitioners list.

Hypothesis: People I email are interested in my workshops.

I think my emails are an underutilized opportunity to share what’s happening for me, whether it’s an offering or a blog post. I want to experiment with using that space as a subtle way to share. I’ll start with a very simple experiment:

1. Create a bitly link for my Success Spectrum peer coaching workshop.

2. Add it to my email .signature:

—
Clear Alignment Around Goals → High-Performance Collaboration
Register for our Tuesday, October 1 Good Goal-Setting Peer Coaching online session! Deadline is Friday, September 20.

3. Leave it up for a week. Track clicks and registrations.

Hypothesis: Hosting standing coworking days in my home will combat isolation and build connections without requiring a lot of extra work.

Initial pilot:

• Two days of coworking (September 26-27, 2019 — last Thurday and Friday of the month, a potential standing time) at my home in San Francisco. Only come if you can make both days. No Doodles; whomever can make it makes it.
• Use those days to work on whatever you need to work on. You can request help or other sessions from other participants, but you have no obligation to do so. We’ll organize via Open Space.
• The only scheduled together time will be lunch, with an optional Land’s End walk. (Gotta take advantage of the beauty of this area.)
• Accommodate 3-8 people.

This is based on the two-day colearning strategy and visioning retreats I’ve been a part of for the past three years. The main difference is that there’s no explicit strategy and visioning focus — work on whatever you want to work on. It’s especially inspired by the third iteration of the experiment, where I realized how much I enjoy hosting people (as opposed to finding a retreat space somewhere).

Hypothesis: Packaging my offerings with photography will enable me to offer something impactful, but non-traditional with minimal cultivation overhead.

1. Write up offerings
2. Send to initial list of 56 people
3. See if there any takers

Hypothesis: We’re doing better than we think we are

Start an internal blog where we log success stories related to the DIY Strategy / Culture toolkits.

Import data we already have.

Commit to logging new stories regularly.

Hypothesis: Drawing a picture after a meeting will help me remember what happened at the meeting

Refrain from taking notes during meetings beyond Next Steps / Decisions Made. Draw a picture within 24-hours of the meeting.

Hypothesis: Logging our group activities regularly will help us find the right balance between task and process work.

1. Create a spreadsheet for tracking task vs process activities
2. Use it for a month
3. Iterate

Hypothesis: A three-question format will achieve my desired sweet spot around intention, reach, and effort.

Interview and share five audio recordings of practitioners answering the following three questions:

1. What’s your story?
2. What was a great experience you had collaborating with others?
3. Let’s workshop a real-life example of your practice. (Need to figure out how to frame this question.)

I want to highlight practitioners who are:

• Doing great work
• Not widely known
• Values-aligned, especially around craft

Production constraints:

• No more than two-hours of post-production per recording
• Publish them on my blog (might as well)

Hypothesis: Two months of Inbox Zero a month at a time will enable me to get a handle on my email overall.

Goals:

• Better follow-through
• Better prioritization
• Manage overwhelm / anxiety

This is basically a test in chunking email management. Rather than DMZ my email (which I’ve tried before), I’m committing to being at Inbox Zero at the end of each month for that month and the previous month only. In other words, by August 1, 2018, I should have zero emails from June and July 2018 in my inbox.

This not only means I’m caught up for that month, but it also means I’m gradually shrinking my inbox (versus doing Monthly Inbox Zero only, which would keep my inbox at more or less its current size).

I’ll try this for three months to see how it goes.

Hypothesis: Quickly and easily converting checklists into Trello tasks will get me into the habit of using them.

Create a Google Spreadsheet app that converts a checklist into Trello items. Timebox development to one-day.

Use the checklist for one upcoming project.

Hypothesis: Duende’s Clarity alpha template will help me manage my daily and weekly priorities more skillfully.

Use two sheets of Duende’s Clarity alpha toolkit for two weeks. Log real-time reactions, reflections upon completion.

Hypothesis: More frequent contact will enable us to collaborate more effectively and quickly

Each of us will pair up and check in with each other for one hour/week for eight weeks.

Hypothesis: Pulling off an actual retreat (i.e. not at someone’s house) requires committing to dates / location at least four months in advance.

Commit to dates (July 26-27) for next retreat at end of current retreat. Announce the dates, and give people ~1 month (by March 9) to commit. Once we have a number, reserve a location, and collect the money. Do the retreat!

Hypothesis: Individual practitioners will want to participate in a two-day, self-organized retreat at least an hour away from where we all live (i.e. NOT held at someone’s house).

Pick a date (January 30-31) and location (Bay Area), and invite the other colearners to:

1. Declare their individual goals and requests of others
2. Co-design the retreat

Do the retreat!

Debrief at the end of the retreat.

Hypothesis: Tracking my energy, focus, and mood every hour for a week will reveal natural rhythms that will help me optimize my day.

Every waking hour for seven days, track Energy, Focus, and Mood on a five point scale in a Google Spreadsheet. Set a calendar reminder to make sure I update the log. Carry around a small notebook when I’ll be away from digital devices.

After seven days, analyze the data and see if there are trends.

Hypothesis: Linking to Faster Than 20 blog posts on LinkedIn will result in just as much engagement as re-publishing.

1. Share a link to the next two Faster Than 20 blog posts
2. Measure views and engagement, and compare to results of Untapped Social Media Potential

Hypothesis: Three Medium recommends is enough to start getting visibility without more broad sharing.

1. Republish two Faster Than 20 blog posts on Medium
2. Ask one friend to recommend the post. Watch and wait for two days.
3. Rinse and repeat with at least two more friends.
4. Measure views and engagement, and compare to results of Untapped Social Media Potential

Hypothesis: One person sharing a short video takeaway every day for five days will inspire others to share as well Eugene will record and share a short video takeaway of what he’s learning and thinking about every day for five days. He’ll share the videos on the E3 WhatsApp channel and on his Faster Than 20 #colearning channel. He’ll then see what responses he gets after another week.

Hypothesis: If I make space for poetic reflection twice a week then I’ll feel more grounded and be more present in my work.

Elissa will  take time for poetic reflection, written in her notebook, twice a week.
Alison to send email reminder to Elissa to reflect once a week, including link to her design log.

Hypothesis: Spire is unobtrusive, easy-to-use, and provides useful, timely stress data. I'll wear a Spire during business hours (more or less) for six days (in theory, one charge and also covers the weekend trip I'm about to take), and I'll capture what I learn here.

Hypothesis: A two-day, self-organized retreat will give all of us enough time to do our own individual strategic work while also benefitting from each other’s feedback.

Pick a date (June 29-30) and location (Bay Area), and invite the other colearners to:

1. Declare their individual goals and requests of others
2. Co-design the retreat

Do the retreat!

Debrief at the end of the retreat.

Hypothesis: Re-publishing my blog posts on LinkedIn and Medium will reach more people without having to do any additional work.

1. Re-publish two blog posts on LinkedIn and Medium, with notices at the beginning and end referring to Faster Than 20
2. Measure views and engagement

Hypothesis: If we share short videos with each other five days a week for two weeks, then we will find sharing with each other easier and more compelling.

Each person will make a video on WhatsApp of their learnings once a week.

Monday: Eugene
Tuesday: Jodie
Wednesday: Alison
Thursday: Mark
Friday: Elissa

Eugene will set up an automated email reminder to you on the day you are supposed to share the video.

Hypothesis: If my peers throw paper at me whenever I say, "umm," I will eventually stop saying "umm" so much. At the beginning of our day-long meeting, ask everyone to make a paper airplane or crumple up paper, and throw it at me throughout the meeting every time I say, "umm."

Hypothesis: If I intentionally increase and track my use of leaning in and handshake practices in meditation, then I’ll experience less overwhelm / anxiety in my work situation. (I might also notice an objective shift  in work efficiency, improved sleep, diet, and exercise.) Every day during for one week, Mark will mediate. He will incorporate lean in and handshake practices. Email notification and link with Whole Life Challenge for documentation.

Hypothesis: If I intentionally increase and track my use of leaning in and handshake practices in meditation, then I’ll experience less overwhelm / anxiety in my work situation. (I might also notice an objective shift  in work efficiency, improved sleep, diet, and exercise.) Every day during for one week, Mark will meditate. He will incorporate lean in and handshake practices.

Hypothesis: If I spend one-hour a week openly documenting what I’ve learned from key people and projects, then I’ll have a good-enough first draft along with constructive feedback from other practitioners. Spend one hour a week (timeboxed) for 10 weeks trying to free-capture learning from different people and projects on Faster Than 20 wiki. People:

• Doug Engelbart
• Jeff Conklin
• Gail and Matt Taylor
• Chris Dent
• Kristin Cobble

• HyperScope
• Wikimedia
• Genentech
• Delta Dialogues

Hypothesis: If we create a narrative video about E3 with multiple voices and share it, then we’ll learn what portions of the narrative are compelling to people.

Participants will make a short video selfie (2 min max) about E3 in a storytelling format by 1/11/17.

EP and AMB to have video call and record it so that Adrienne’s voice will also be included.

The prompts that we came up with on our last call were:

• Depth of this process, different from action learning cycles because is traditional. How is this deeper and more rigorous?
• What is it about fast cycles times that are so critical in this time? (why particularly fit this time)
• Not overlooking crises of our time but way of dancing with it.
• Tap into multiple ways of knowing.

Elissa will then compile these into short video by 1/16/17.

We will share the video in multiple settings to multiple people:

• Elissa to share at her meeting with Ellen and Jen at the Compton Foundation on 1/16/17.
• Eugene will have a parallel share of his video via social media and his website and track people’s reactions.
• Jodie will share via email with Linda Wood, who has responded well to newsletters and she will share opinions with you about narrative and language.

Hypothesis: A one-day, self-organized retreat will give all of us enough time to do our own individual strategic work while also benefitting from each other’s feedback.

Pick a date (January 20, 2017) and location (Bay Area), and invite the other colearners to:

1. Declare their individual goals and requests of others
2. Co-design the retreat

Do the retreat!

Debrief at the end of the retreat.

Hypothesis: If Jodie & Elissa take Elissa’s value survey, analyze survey results together, and cull out foundational vision and values, then we will understand more about what our common values based agenda could be. Jodie will take Elissa’s Values Survey Jodie and Elissa will meet to do analysis together! (7/18 at 12:30 - 2pm),

• Overview of system
• Talk about Report
• Have another conversation...
• Create next steps, pull out learnings

Hypothesis: Rating and tracking my experiences sharing this work with others will help me understand what works and what doesn't. Documenting feeling at end of agenda for self and by folks I served.

Hypothesis: If we create shared talking points about each other’s organizations, then we’ll be able to weave in connections, speak with confidence about each other’s work, and create more opportunities when we talk with funders. We’ll meet to share what we’d like to have shared about our own orgs by the other person. When opportunity arises we will share about the other’s work with funders.

Hypothesis: If I share something handwritten to the group about the STP network strategy process once a week without context, then those who already don’t know much about the project will learn enough to care and get up to speed on context and those who already know a lot will reflect on what I share. Doodle something about the STP network strategy process for 15 minutes once a week, then share the images on cel.ly group, Creating Conditions.

Hypothesis: If I share a series of poems about our internal experimentation/innovation process at MAG, people will 1. Want to know more; 2. Have a fuller although still fuzzy understanding of the changing landscape and our experiments going forward at both the felt and intellectual levels. I will continue to reflect in creating writing form, our experiments and my reflections on them and share at least 5 pieces in text and audio (and possible visual) form on an ongoing basis and completing the sharing more than 3 days before our next in-person gathering. Everyone will be compelled to respond to at least one of the pieces at least once. I will post links in Adrienne’s cell.y group. And later more select links here for archival sake (unless we storify). Audio (pieces 1-5) Text (pieces 1-8) Completing the sharing more than 3 days before our next in-person gathering

Hypothesis: If we talk more often and in a focused way, then we will gain traction and have next steps to move forward in at least one of four areas. Elissa & Jodie will meet via phone (if not in person) at least twice exploring potential areas of joint experimentation and landing on a joint experiment (or more than 1) to carry forward with next steps identified. The rest of the group will be curious, ask questions, and have ideas beginning to percolate that may support the emerging experiments. We will share video clip within a week of each meeting and update the group on Celly.  We will update the group in our full group calls so that they get documented in our meeting notes.

Hypothesis: If meeting notes are open by default from now until the next in-person meeting, we will find that (a) they get shared one time outside of the group and everyone in E3 feels good or not harmed; (b) Convos that don’t happen because of self-censoring are minimal; (c) there is collective responsibility to tender transparency (eg. do you want to share this?). Alison will make a new meeting log, track reminders of tender transparency and responses to prompt post meeting. If people share the meeting log with another person, they will give that person specific permission to view the google document and inform the group that they have shared the notes with this person.

Hypothesis: If i create a text thread on Celly for our group and invite people to post links, pics and whatever form of sharing they want to indulge in, then we will share and form / deepen our culture of sharing and learning intimately with each other (and increase good feelings). Adrienne will make a Celly group. People will text when they have an update to share about their experiment.

Hypothesis: Sharing meditation-induced diary entries with E3 will change how I use my diary Building on my initial idea of sharing meditation-induced diary entries about feelings and thoughts related to deep culture change at MAG, I've come to clarity on the form for my experiment. It's 5 days long, starting today, with each day focused on the 5 ingredients of MAG's "special sauce" — Multiple Ways of Knowing; Inner Work; Systems/Complexity; Leadership Spectrum; and, Equity.

Hypothesis: If I share a series of 1-2 videos logs of what I am learning through our network planning and experimentation process, then it will help me to capture my learning and support me in sharing the learning beyond my organization and specifically with this group.

Hypothesis: If I leave a trail of photographs and other short nuggets about the Social Transformation Project network strategy process without much context or explanation, those who follow the trail will learn enough to: 1. care; and 2. get more rapidly up to speed on the surrounding context.

Hypothesis: If I share a series of poems about our internal experimentation/innovation process at MAG, then people will 1. Want to know more; 2. Have a fuller although not thorough understanding of the changing organizational landscape (I’m pretty sure that’s a nose but it looks like it’s where the ear should be…). 3. Be able to connect that organizational landscape to the world outside of MAG and what’s happening in it at both the felt and intellectual levels.

Hypothesis: If I create a group on Instagram for sharing emergence and experiments with each other, we will hone our sense of what we are excited about. This will depend on whether this is the right outlet. Adrienne added E3 members to Octavia Brood’s Emergent Strategy FB group and also sent private pictures on Instagram.

Hypothesis: Talking weekly for eight straight weeks will be enough to establish a habit

Building on SEEK, Eugene and Seb will continue their weekly checkins through the end of the year.

Hypothesis: Talking more frequently will lead to exponentially deeper learning (and lots of other good stuff).

Eugene and Seb will talk once a week for four weeks for an hour. They will spend roughly equal time talking about what’s on their mind. Beyond that, there will be no agenda.

After each call, they will record a 2-4 minute video of their “jazz hands moment” from their conversation, which they will share publicly.