A very wicked new tool for process designers

A birth announcement that might interest you.  I have been a small part of a project over the past couple of years (along with a few other Art of Hosting stalwarts) to help co-create a pattern language for group process.  Over the years we have been working away at discerning, writing and publishing this pattern language.  The idea is to capture a limited number of patterns that, if practiced in a group context, bring life to gatherings.  After years of work, I think we really have something.

The project has now resulted in it’s first product: a deck of cards that are wickedly fun to play with.  Last week, Caitlin Frost, Teresa Posakony, Tenneson Woolf and I used these cards in working with a hosting team to design and hold the core of an Art of Hosting learning event.  It was fantastic, and opened us up in so many ways to possibilities and potentials.  As a co-creative design tool, these cards are wicked.

So attached is the birth announcement with information about where you can order the deck.  I’ll always have them with me so next time we meet, ask me if you can play with them!

The Group Works card deck, the first product of the Group Pattern Language Project, is now out! You canorder copies of the deck,  download a free PDF copy and  learn about our upcoming mobile/phone app version of the deck on our website,  groupworksdeck.org .

Image by Susan Stewart

The deck is designed to support your process as a group convenor, planner, facilitator, or participant. The developers spent several years pooling our knowledge of the best group events we have ever witnessed.

We looked at meetings, conferences, retreats, town halls, and other sessions that give organizations life, solve a longstanding dilemma, get stuck relationships flowing, result in clear decisions with wide support, and make a lasting difference. We also looked at routine, well-run meetings that simply bring people together and get lots of stuff done.

The deck consists of 91 full-colour cards (plus a few blanks to add your own patterns), a five-panel explanatory category/legend card, and an accompanying booklet explaining the purpose and history of the project and suggesting uses for the cards in group process work.

Each 3.5” x 5.5” card is laid out as follows:

These cards are yours, of course, to use in whatever ways make sense and work for you:   in the workplace, in design and preparation of facilitated events, as a learning and teaching tool, for reflecting on how an event went, or just for fun.   The website and booklet explain some of the ways they have been used by facilitators and students so far, to give you some ideas to get started with, and we invite users to share their experiences and stories with us.

Image by Ethan Honeywell

For more information on the deck, please visit our website:  http://groupworksdeck.org