Min Specs • WorkshopBank
Min Specs helps a group strip a policy, process, or project down to the few rules that are absolutely essential for success.
How to run it
- When compliance or regulatory requirements are non-negotiable and the group has no authority to simplify them. Running Min Specs on rules you cannot change leads to frustration rather than freedom.
- When the challenge needs creative idea generation rather than prioritisation and elimination. Min Specs is a decision-making tool, not an ideation tool.
- When trust is so low that people will interpret "fewer rules" as "no accountability." Address the trust deficit first.
- Min Specs is a structured group exercise that strips away everything nonessential to reveal only the absolute "must dos" and "must not dos" needed to achieve a purpose.
- The group starts by generating a long list of all the rules, requirements, and behaviours they think matter (the Maximum Specifications).
- Then they work through that list with a single, ruthless question: "If we broke or ignored this rule, could we still achieve our purpose?" Anything that gets a "yes" gets crossed off.
- Also Known As Minimum Specifications When to Use It When a team or pr
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Prompts to use +
The group starts by generating a long list of all the rules, requirements, and behaviours they think matter (the Maximum Specifications).
Then they work through that list with a single, ruthless question: "If we broke or ignored this rule, could we still achieve our purpose?" Anything that gets a "yes" gets crossed off.
Also Known As Minimum Specifications When to Use It When a team or pr
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Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Min Specs • WorkshopBank. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: The group starts by generating a long list of all the rules, requirements, and behaviours they think matter (the Maximum Specifications).; Then they work through that list with a single, ruthless question: "If we broke or ignored this rule, could we still achieve our purpose?" Anything that gets a "yes" gets crossed off.; Also Known As Minimum Specifications When to Use It When a team or pr. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from WorkshopBank; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including WorkshopBank.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.