Finished Polished Honestly unfinished

1. QuestionCan a label on a shelf tell a visitor what is finished, half-finished and abandoned, without anyone having to explain it?
2. First attemptThree coloured dots stuck beside each item: green, amber, grey.
3. ConstraintColour alone fails for colour-blind visitors, and a black-and-white photocopy erases it completely.
4. CriticismA reviewer points out that dots invite guessing. Amber could mean almost done or quietly stalled.
5. RevisionReplace the dots with three plain words printed on the label: Made, Making, Shelved. Add one line under each: what is still missing.
6. Next testHand five blank labels to a stranger. Ask them to say an item's status out loud, and note which word they misread.

1. QuestionWhat if a recipe card kept space for what went wrong, so the next cook inherits the mistakes and not only the successes?
2. First attemptA standard recipe card with a small box at the bottom labelled 'Oops'.
3. ConstraintThe card has to work with flour on your hands. Optional boxes get skipped when cooking is messy.
4. Criticism'Oops' reads as a joke, so real fixes such as 'too much salt at step three' are written as jokes, or not at all.
5. RevisionRename the box 'Next time' and pre-print three prompts: too much, too little, too long.
6. Next testIn this scenario the card has been cooked from twice. The next check: cook it once reading the Next time notes and once ignoring them, then write one paragraph on what actually changed.

1. QuestionWould a map drawn by people who walk to the stop show things the official map leaves out, like the shady side of the street or a broken kerb?
2. First attemptA blank base map and a pencil handed to a few regular walkers.
3. ConstraintEveryone draws differently. Without shared symbols, nobody else can read the result.
4. CriticismIt could turn into a complaint wall instead of a map, and it leaves out everyone who never walks.
5. RevisionDraft a six-symbol key before asking anyone to draw: shade, step, puddle, steep, bench, well-lit at night.
6. Next testAsk two people to draw the same route using only the key. Compare what each of them marked.

1. QuestionCan a one-page glossary written by the reader, while reading, teach more than the glossary at the back of the textbook?
2. First attemptCopy the textbook's own glossary definitions onto a single card.
3. ConstraintCopying is not understanding. The card ended up identical to the book's and taught nothing new.
4. CriticismDefinitions in your own words might simply be wrong, and nobody is checking them.
5. RevisionWrite each term in your own words, then add a tiny 'check' line: where the textbook agrees or disagrees, with a page number.
6. Next testWait a week. Cover the definitions and try to explain five terms out loud. Mark the ones that needed the card.

1. QuestionWould logging every repair make a person less likely to buy a replacement?
2. First attemptA notebook page per garment listing each repair and what it cost.
3. ConstraintIn this scenario the logging took longer than the repairs, and it was dropped after the first few entries.
4. CriticismThe log measured effort, not savings. There was no baseline for what a replacement would have cost.
5. RevisionShrink it to one tag sewn into each garment with a tally mark per repair. This version was never built.
6. Next testIf revived: compare one month with tags against one month without, counting purchases only.

Why it was shelved: the question survived, but the method did not.

1. QuestionCan a meeting run from a single sheet and end with one named owner and one next step?
2. First attemptA template with three sections in order: agenda, notes, actions.
3. ConstraintPeople filled in the notes and left the actions blank. Nothing forced a decision.
4. CriticismThe order made notes the main event and actions an afterthought.
5. RevisionFlip the sheet. Put 'Decision and owner' at the top, filled in first as a draft the group edits.
6. Next testRun two meetings on the same topic, one with the old sheet and one flipped. Afterwards ask each attendee to state the decision and owner from memory.

1. QuestionCan a postcard carry a short written score for listening to a street, so a stranger can take the same walk by ear?
2. First attemptCards with a sketched route and a few 'listen for...' lines.
3. ConstraintStreets change by the hour. The same route sounds different at noon and at night.
4. CriticismWithout a recording, no one can tell whether a line describes what the writer heard or what they imagined.
5. RevisionAdd a time of day and a 'heard / imagined' tick beside each line.
6. Next testIf revived: give one card to two walkers at different hours and compare their ticks.

Why it was shelved: the card could not carry sound, only a claim about sound.

1. QuestionWhat if a reading list paired every recommended book with the strongest disagreement with it?
2. First attemptTwo columns, 'For' and 'Against', each holding a title.
3. ConstraintA serious opponent is hard to find for each book. Weak opponents are easy to find and quietly misleading.
4. CriticismPairing implies two sides, but many topics have several.
5. RevisionReplace 'Against' with 'Tension': one question the book leaves unresolved, and where to look next.
6. Next testMake one pairing by hand for a book you know well. Ask a friend which question they would chase first.