Puzzled? Crowd source your problem!
tapir |ˈtāpər| noun a nocturnal hoofed mammal with a stout body, sturdy limbs, and a short flexible proboscis, native to the forests of tropical America and Malaysia. Like the long-nosed Tapir, this is a sturdy and reliable problem-busting technique. It is good for digging deep into nasty situations for tasty morsels of opportunity. It takes more than 1 to use this technique, thus the plural: TAPIRS.
We tried this at a Silicon Valley Agile Leadership Meeting in the context of an agile clinic with 40 people with great success. Every group came out with practical steps to move beyond problems toward desired outcomes. At the time I called this ECADON but I like the TAPIRS acronym better and the phases are the same. I synthesized this group problem solving technique from Ux design studio concepts, Theory of Constraints, Scenario Planning and other sources.
The technique involves 6 distinct phases:
1.Try
2.Ask
3.Probe
4.Imagine
5.Reveal Obstacles
6.Steps
Details:
1. Tell the story of a problem situation – Let person experiencing the challenging situation tell their story, uninterrupted. (Listen, Hear, Story, Problem, Exposition, Explain)
2. Ask questions until all are clear on situation – just enough to clarify that the story was understood (Understand, Inquire, Investigate, Mirror)
3. Probe into dynamics of the situation and how it came to be. – Dig deep; Root out causes; Challenge assumptions. (Dig, Explore, Investigate, Trace, Track, Root, Challenge) — understand the system dynamics, constraints and vicious or virtuous cycles
4. Imagine ideal outcomes – What do you want to happen? What’s the best relevant future for those involved? (Fantasize, Scenario, Future, Outcomes, Predict, Propose)
5. Reveal obstacles to that outcome – What’s in the way of that future happening? (Obstacles, Rocks, Impediments, Obstructions, Barriers, Constraints)
6. Step toward removing obstacles to that outcome – Which of those obstacles can be moved? How? What undesirable consequences might occur from these actions? How will you handle those? Choose a few concrete actions to take to move the situation. (Choose and Remove, Act, Sweep, Manipulate, Play, Clear, Knock them down, Overcome)
Workshop Instructions:
Introduce the Process Put TAPIRS description on Posters large enough to be viewed from each group. Use multiple Easel Pads as needed. Explain/Read the TAPIRS process Ask if they understand and take questions Collecting Problems ask crowd to write their problems on stickies and post them on the board ask crowd to group similar problems, seeking clarification from each other when confused ask crowd to dot vote their favorites. Each person gets 3 votes. They can vote all for one if they like Forming the Groups when a cluster has more votes than other clusters then someone who voted for that cluster grabs the cluster, summarizes it aloud, says: Follow me anyone who wants to address this issue and heads toward a corner of the room. Do this for as many problem clusters and interested people as you have in the room. Split into groups of <10 and run them at the same time. when round 1 is done, people can return to the board, vote again and form new groups assign one person per group to facilitate the process and time the phases assign another person per group to take notes visible to all Run the TAPIRS Process Start session working through each step with 30 minute sessions until you learn the technique; spend even amounts on each letter/segment/stage/phase. If you have 30 minutes then divide by 30/6 = 5 minutes each phase be sensitive and confidential: These are real people sharing real challenges. Don’t video/photograph and/or post the notes without permission Don’t cross phases. For instance, when in Ask phase, get clarification, don’t analyze or ask why. Only if you are confident you have fulfilled a stage should you move onto the next one if you have extra time for that phase Do not suggest ‘solutions’ until ‘Step’ phase Do not blame any one person or even any one thing. It’s the system, silly Report Discoveries to All When done, each group provides a 2 minute report to the larger group with a problem summary, a single obstacle and a single step Another Round? Start a second round if you have time to address remaining popular issues. Re-vote if you like, some preferences may have changed.
