Anti-Goals Workshop

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Identify low-value or draining team tasks and define binding rules and practical steps to stop doing them.

Use it when: Use during team retrospectives, quarterly planning, or operational reviews when calendars are overloaded and recurring work drains capacity.

Skip it when: Skip when the team lacks authority to alter their calendar, meeting cadence, or workflow policies.

Group arrangement: Individual drafting, subgroups of 2 to 4 for refinement, then whole-room consolidation.

Timing: UWT suggested duration of 45 minutes. The source describes a 4-step sequence without explicit phase timings. Allocating 18 minutes to the final step allows whole-group selection, owner assignment, and debriefing across groups up to 24 people.

Materials and tools

• Sticky notes (one pad per person)
• Felt-tip markers (one per person)
• Wall space, whiteboard, or poster paper divided into three columns: Disliked Tasks, Anti-Goal Rules, Implementation Actions
• Digital whiteboard or collaborative document for remote participants

Before participants arrive

1. Draw three wide columns on the board labeled: 'We don't like...' (Tasks), 'We won't...' (Anti-Goals), and 'How we achieve it' (Actions).
2. Ensure all participants have writing materials or access to the shared digital board.

Say this to open

Today we are looking at recurring tasks and habits that drain our time and deliver little impact. Instead of adding new items to our plates, we will set anti-goals: clear rules about what we will stop doing. You may write down tasks you personally find frustrating, or choose to focus on well-known shared team routines. Start each note with the phrase: 'We don't like...'

How to run it

1. Brainstorm disliked tasks 7 minutes

   Participants write sticky notes starting with 'We don't like...'. For example: 'We don't like everyone sitting through weekly status meetings.' Participants may write individual friction points or note familiar shared team burdens. After 4 minutes, post notes in the first column. For groups of 4 to 6, review and cluster duplicates on the main wall as one group. For groups of 7 to 24, form subgroups of 2 to 4 people to cluster their section of notes.

2. Draft anti-goal rules 10 minutes

   Working in subgroups of 2 to 4 people (or as a single group if 4 to 6 total), participants pick 1 to 2 top tasks from their cluster. For each task, write a rule starting with 'We won't...' or 'We're not going to...'. Subgroups target the root operational rule rather than venting symptoms. For example: 'We won't attend recurring status meetings as an entire team. We will send one rotating representative.' Subgroups write their anti-goals on fresh sticky notes and post them in the middle column.

3. Define practical implementation 10 minutes

   Subgroups stay together and develop the specific operational action required to enforce each anti-goal. They answer: 'What exact change makes this real?' For example: 'Remove the full-team calendar invite and assign a weekly rotation spreadsheet.' Subgroups post these actions in the third column next to the corresponding anti-goal.

4. Consolidate, select, and debrief 18 minutes

   Review the board as a full group. Invite each subgroup to present their top anti-goal and implementation action (up to 6 total reports, capped at 60 seconds each). The room votes or agrees on the top 2 to 5 anti-goals to adopt immediately, setting aside the rest for later review. Designate an owner and set a two-week check-in date for each chosen anti-goal. Use the final 5 minutes to discuss 1 or 2 debrief questions with the whole room.

Debrief questions

• Which anti-goal will immediately free up the most practical time if we adopt it this week?
• Where might an external partner push back on one of our new boundaries, and how will we handle that?
• What is our mechanism to review whether we are actually following these rules in two weeks?

Finished output: A prioritized, documented list of 2 to 5 agreed team anti-goals paired with concrete operational rules to eliminate low-value work.

Remote

Set up a shared digital canvas with three columns corresponding to the steps. Participants use silent typing for Step 1. In Steps 2 and 3, send participants into breakout rooms of 2 to 4 people to formulate anti-goals and actions. Reassemble in the main room for final consolidation, dot voting or consensus selection, and debrief.

Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with an in-room buddy or place remote participants in a dedicated online subgroup. All sticky notes must be mirrored or entered directly into a shared digital canvas so remote and in-room members view the same three columns.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may write their own friction points or simply select existing common team tasks from past projects to place on the board.
• Participants may choose to pass on writing new tasks and instead join a subgroup to help craft solutions for existing sticky notes.

If the session gets stuck

Participants list venting complaints about other teams rather than things within their control.

Remind the room that anti-goals apply strictly to our team's own time, calendars, and behaviors. Reframe external complaints into internal choices about how the team responds.

Anti-goals are framed too broadly, such as 'We won't do boring work.'

Ask the subgroup to name the specific recurring task or meeting that prompted the note, then rewrite the rule to address that specific event.

Terms used here

• Anti-Goal: An explicit rule defining what a person or team deliberately chooses not to do, used to protect time and prevent unwanted recurring work.