Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall
by Ned Ruete
posted on GRP-FACL, http://www.albany.edu/cpr/gf
14 January 2005
Jack Ryan's Grandmother's Rule:
If you don't write it down, it didn't happen.
Here are my top ten rules:
1. Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall
2. Work on one issue at a time. Let the group choose and word the issue. Write it Down
and Hang It on the Wall
3. Agree on how to work on that issue. Tap the group wisdom for how to work before
offering your own process. Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall
4. When someone offers an idea, Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall. If they offer it
repeatedly, point to where it is written down and hanging on the wall.
5. If someone attacks a person for a "dumb" idea, ask them where the idea is written
down and hung on the wall. Move to it. Move the discussion to the idea, away from the
person who offered it. If additions, qualifications, clarifications, or pros and cons are
offered, Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall
6. When the group is discussing, voting on, or coming to consensus around a solution,
Write it Down and Hang It on the Wall
7. When the group moves away from the agreed-to issue, go to where you wrote it down
and hung it on the wall, call their attention to it, and give them the choice to change the
issue, go back to the one they agreed to, show how this one affects the one they
agreed to, or put a time limit on the digression. Whatever they decide, Write it Down
and Hang It on the Wall
8. When the group moves away from the agreed-to process, go to where you wrote it
down and hung it on the wall, call their attention to it, and give them the choice to
change the process, go back to the one they agreed to, show how this one affects the
one they agreed to, or put a time limit on the digression. Whatever they decide, Write it
Down and Hang It on the Wall
9. When someone says, "We ought to ______," find out who will. Write it Down and
Hang It on the Wall
10.Before breaking up, find out when the group will get back together. Write it Down and
Hang It on the Wall