# Worst Idea First — Facilitator Run Sheet

> Folder: `worst-idea-first` · Category: creativity · 3–4 per group · 20 min · offline + online · optional print · assessment-type
> License: CC BY 4.0

Reverse brainstorming: instead of "how do we make this succeed", the group spends five minutes engineering failure — "how do we make this absolutely flop" — then flips every item. The worst ideas are easier to say, funnier to hear, and flip into the sharpest actions.

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## Objectives

By the end of the activity, participants will have:

1. Said the awkward things — <mark>inside a game that rewards saying them</mark>.
2. Watched criticism transform into actionable items with one flip of the frame.
3. Practiced the psychological-safety move: naming risks before they happen, not after.

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## Setup

**Space:** tables or breakout rooms, one group of 3–4 each. A shared wall or whiteboard for the flip.

**Materials:** none — sticky notes if the room loves them; the flip works as well spoken. An optional poker deck (target, sabotage, the worst, flip, timing) is in this folder for rooms that want paper in hand.

**Grouping rule:** groups of 3–4, mixed departments. The worst ideas come from people who see different failure modes.

**Pick a target — say it out loud:** one real project, product or event the group actually cares about. "This year's customer conference." "The new onboarding flow." Real targets make the flip land.

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## Minute-by-minute script

| Time | Phase | Facilitator does | Participants do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Frame + target | Name the target. "Question one: how do we make it fail? Badly. Five minutes." | Form groups |
| 3–8 | Worst ideas (5 min) | Float. Push for quantity: "dumber, cheaper to say, faster" | Generate failure plans |
| 8–10 | Pick the worst | "Each group: your single most catastrophic idea. Say it proudly." | Vote, laugh, present |
| 10–16 | The flip (6 min) | "Now flip each item: how do we prevent exactly this?" | Flip worst → actions |
| 16–20 | Bridge | "Each group reads its two sharpest flipped actions — they go to the owner list." | Read out, transition |

Then run the debrief — see `worst-idea-first-debrief.md`.

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## Known failure modes & rescues

1. **The worst ideas are boring.** "Nobody shows up." Rescue: demand specifics — "nobody shows up *because of what we did*? Design that." Sabotage is a creative brief.
2. **A group flips too early.** They skip the fun and start writing preventions at minute four. Rescue: hold the flip — "stay in the disaster a moment longer."
3. **Someone's worst idea is a real complaint.** The laughter dies; it was a genuine grievance in disguise. Rescue: honor it — "that's the most valuable card in the room. Flip it first, and let's talk after."

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## Variations

- **Pre-mortem version:** the target is a real project plan; the worst ideas become the project's risk register, verbatim.
- **Silent version:** worst ideas written on cards, shuffled, read aloud by another group — anonymity for rooms still building safety.
- **Online:** breakout rooms for the worst round, shared doc for the flip. The shuffle version works well with anonymous forms.

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## Props in this folder

- `worst-idea-first-guide.md` — this run sheet
- `worst-idea-first-debrief.md` — 8 debrief questions, 3 failure modes
- `worst-idea-first-assessment.json` — pre/post measure preset
- `worst-idea-first-prop-cards.pdf` — optional poker deck: target, sabotage, the worst, flip, timing cards
- `worst-idea-first-paper-form.pdf` — the A4 answer sheet: the measure as a print-and-fill form
- `worst-idea-first-workbook.pdf` — participant workbook: the idea in plain words, guided items, notes and action pages
- `worst-idea-first-slide-deck.pdf` — the slide deck for teaching or projecting
- `worst-idea-first-slide-deck.html` — the same deck for any browser, speaker notes on N
- `worst-idea-first-license.md` — what you may do with all of this, in plain language
- `worst-idea-first-activity-poster.pdf` — The whole activity on one wall (A3): meta, run of show, debrief questions, watch-outs.
- `worst-idea-first-start-here.md` — one page, thirty seconds, then print and go
- `SKILL.md` — machine-readable manifest for AI agents
- `worst-idea-first-run-sheet.pdf` — the print edition: this run sheet + the debrief sheet, bound as one A4 PDF
- `*-Letter.pdf` — US Letter editions of the print documents in this folder

## Agent version

Every file in this folder has a stable public URL — an AI agent can fetch the guide, the debrief and the answer sheet with three curl commands (see `SKILL.md`). The exercise itself runs on a real target and one flipped question — nothing else.