Sense and decide
Break It on the Board
Lay out the shape of a piece of work as movable cards before anyone drafts, because AI now drafts cheaply and structure is the human work.
Borrowed from television writers' rooms, where the staff lays out a story on a board before anyone writes a script. Read the original source.
One session · An hour or more to set up · Anyone on the team can start it
Try this first
Lay the structure out as a handful of movable cards with the group before anyone writes.
Use it when
AI drafts prose cheaply, making structure the real human work, yet the team drafts before agreeing shape.
Skip it when
It suits work with real structure worth planning. A document, a project, an argument. On short pieces, mapping it formally is overhead.
How to introduce it
Before anyone drafts, work out the shape together. Movable cards or points on a board. The sequence, the key moments, how the parts connect. TV writers' rooms map an episode before a word of script exists. AI drafts cheaply now, so the structure is where the human work sits.
How to show up
Build the structure with the group, out where everyone can see it, and keep it movable so it can be rearranged as thinking develops. Do not let anyone start drafting before the shape holds.
How long it takes
Anywhere from fifteen minutes to a session, depending on the work's complexity.
What makes it hard
With a draft available instantly, the temptation is to generate first and fix later. Keeping the structure movable is the other hard part, because people lock in an early shape rather than rearranging as they learn.
What it looks like when it's working
The group agrees the structure before drafting and the work holds together because its shape was thought through. Jumping to AI drafts and wrestling with structure afterward means it is not in use.
How long until it sticks
Several pieces of work before structuring-before-drafting becomes the team's natural first move.
How you know it stuck
The team maps the shape before anyone drafts and treats structure as the real work.
The idea behind it
When a model can produce the draft, deciding the structure is the scarce work. What the thing is and how its parts fit.
Where it comes from
Television writers' rooms. AI drafts prose in seconds. Deciding the shape is now the part only people can do. Before anyone writes, the group lays the work out as movable cards on a board. Each card is one moment where something changes.
Why it matters for senior teams
It shapes direction and consequential decisions