All 144 operations
Grouped by what they help you do. Or answer a few questions to find one for your situation.
Break the pattern I’m in
- InterruptStop the habit at an arbitrary point, never a convenient one; look at what was about to happen before you resume.
Change what it is
- InvertName the hidden assumption, then build its opposite; stop once the opposite stands up on its own.
- TranslateCarry it into the new medium without adapting it; keep every loss, and stop when the whole has crossed.
- ExaggerateOne feature, too big; still itself.
- SubstituteSwap the occupant by a stated rule; keep its place, role and links.
- ResizeChange the size of the whole by one factor; keep every proportion.
Get it back to a workable state
- Clear And RefillBlank what you have used least, keep its place, and refill it fresh.
- RecallMake an absent thing again from memory alone, never checking the original
Give me a useful restriction
- ConstrainBan one whole category of choices; work inside what's left.
- SteerShape the options so a free choice lands where you intend; the moment the steering shows, it has failed.
- Suspend The RulesMark an edge in and an edge out, and suspend the ordinary rules only between them; they return at the edge out.
- Don't Repeat YetWhat you just did is off-limits, and comes back only after enough different moves.
- FunnelOne way in, one at a time; what does not fit stays out.
- RelaxKeep the ban; set a price for each break; pay it every time; never change it.
- Allow A MarginSet a band; leave whatever falls inside it; correct only what falls outside.
- Set A RatioFix one ratio; derive every measure from it; measure nothing by eye.
Give me another way in
- ScoreWrite only what must hold, never the result; if two runs come out the same, rewrite.
- PlantIntroduce it early and say nothing about it; leave it alone until a later event makes it matter.
- RoamHold one thing; let the rest wander.
- Feed In OdditiesOnce an hour put something through the intake that does not belong; stop after five unknowns handled without widening or closing.
- Leave OpenKeep both accounts at full weight; choose neither before the stated point.
Give me more to work with
- ExhaustRecord every instance, the dull ones too; stop only when none are left.
- AccumulateKeep adding; never select.
- SaturateFlood one channel past capacity — and keep flooding.
Help me bring it to a close
- End While It WorksSet the end while it still works and keep to it; never wait for it to fail.
- Close Back To The StartA part is finished only when everything it caused work for is finished; stop when the first thing you touched closes by that rule.
- RatchetEvery round spends something that cannot return.
Help me decide what comes first
- Split The OrderWrite the making order and the experience order separately; stop when neither can be read off the other.
- SequenceDecide the order yourself; an inherited order (alphabetical, as it came) is a refusal. Stop when every position has a reason.
- Prepare EverythingPrepare everything before starting; search for nothing after.
- AnchorFix one point; place every other part by its relation to it, and to nothing else.
- RankOrder by importance, no ties; show the order in size or place.
Help me name what matters
- Say What It Isn'tSay only what it is not; the first positive term ends it.
- Find The KeystoneTest each part by taking it out, at least in rehearsal; stop at the one whose removal brings the rest down.
- GeneraliseState the pattern as a rule an instance could break; stop when you can name the case that would break it.
- NameFind the exact word, not the near one; stop when you can say what the name leaves out.
- ClassifySort until the sorting rule appears.
Help me see it from another angle
- ForegroundWork only on the incidental; no return to the official subject until the time you set is up.
- Work The GapFind the space between two things and work in it; stop before anything fills it.
- Make StrangeWork only from what is in front of you, as if you had never met it; stop when memory creeps back in.
- LocateChoose where it stands and be ready to defend the choice; nothing starts until "here" is decided.
- ReframeMove only the edge and leave the content alone; stop when every change you see traces back to the edge.
- RelocateMove it untouched and let the new surroundings do all the changing; any change to the thing itself voids it.
- SampleBuild the new thing around the found piece.
- PinSweep an edge across once; keep what it caught at each instant; never go back over a strip.
- Shade AcrossLay the categories along one range; place everything by position, between labels as often as on them.
- PretendAct under one stated premise that is not true, for a set time, without ever testing it
Help the parts agree
- TriangulateCome at it three ways that share no source; keep only what all three agree on.
- AlignGive independently made parts one shared reference and align them to it; stop when they read as one.
- MergeCombine until no seam shows and neither part can be got back.
Help the parts work together
- Write The RulesWrite rules a stranger could run without asking you anything; stop editing when nobody needs to ask.
- Build On The MarksThe trace decides where the next act goes.
- Run On LeftoversRun a second process only on what the first leaves behind, so the first can keep going; when the first stalls, you have found the rate.
- InterlockEvery group shares a member with every other; stop when a decision in one has reached all without a plenary.
- Watch For ClashesName the one property that must never break; let everyone change things at once; step in only where two changes would break it together.
- PullMake nothing ahead; replace only what is taken; stop when nobody takes.
Let it respond to what happens
- Feed BackRoute the output back into the system and leave the loop closed until the system has acted on it.
- Set Up The Next StageSet the conditions for the next stage and step away; if it still needs you, change the conditions, not the stage.
- Raise The CostEach use raises the cost of the next; stop at the first skip and count the uses.
- AmendOne rule governs how the rules change.
- ReopenUnsettle one decision; change it; let it set again.
- BreedPass on the thing and its rule; each maker changes the rule a little; stop after five passes.
- MorphChange one step at a time toward the chosen form; every step must work.
Let me find out what holds up
- RehearseDo the whole real act where failure costs nothing; keep none of the output, and stop before it starts to count.
- DiagnoseReason from the symptoms to the cause and leave the symptom untreated; stop only when the cause is named.
- Find The ThresholdVary one amount until it changes kind; cross the point from both sides and mark exactly where it is.
- CalibrateCheck the work against the stated intention at fixed points, never against today's taste; correct only the drift.
- Work What StayedPush, release, keep what stayed bent.
- ScoutSmall probe first; grow only if it holds.
- Test In GroupsTest in overlapping groups until every pair has been split once; the culprit sits in every failing group and no passing one.
- Cross-CheckFour overlapping checks, each part in a unique combination; change the thing; the failing pattern names the part; fix only that.
- ExploitObey every word; defeat the point; then fix the words.
- ScaffoldAdd a support only for the making; take it out before the end; the work stands or falls.
- HalveCut in two; keep the half that holds it; cut again; stop at one.
- Follow ThroughTake the position at its word; add nothing; follow it until it breaks.
Make it something I can try again
- IterateRun the cycle again on its own output; don't stop at one.
- Load And RestAlternate load and rest on a fixed schedule; never skip the rest because things are going well.
- RitualiseFix the form and the schedule, stated well enough to teach; repeat it exactly, every time.
- ReplicateCopy exactly; change nothing.
- MimicMake it pass as something else.
- MirrorSet the axis first; give every part its partner on the other side.
- AlternateSwitch between two on a fixed pattern; neither is the end.
Move the decision or responsibility
- DeferHand the decision over and obey the answer; no taking it back, even when you dislike it.
- ExchangePass it between parties in both directions; stop when each side holds something that came from the other.
- Hand OverGive away the authority itself; after the handover, no advice, check-ins or quiet corrections.
- ExecuteContinue what another began and keep every decision they made; no starting over.
- WeatherSet it up; let the material make the marks.
- LeaseGrant it with an end date; it lapses unless renewed.
- Seed And LeavePut in one thing that does not belong; walk away; never tend it.
Protect what still needs to work
- Run It LongSustain it until the length itself changes what it is.
- ArchiveExclude something; keep what outlives the rest and treat everything else as gone.
- OccupyTake the position and stay, without explaining why; the first justification turns it into a request.
- Build In LayersFirst layer works alone; each next layer improves it and is not required; stop when the next would go unnoticed.
- StitchRecord one part at a time without pausing the rest; note what crosses from recorded to unrecorded; one pass, then assemble.
- Check Before AddingBefore adding anything, lay out one order in which everything, the addition included, can finish; if none exists, refuse; the first refusal is the operation working.
- Keep A Way HomeKeep one plain route that always finishes; range anywhere you can still get back to it.
- HoldFix one thing; change all the rest.
- Keep BackKeep one part untouched; work the rest; read the two together at the end.
- ReserveKeep some capacity unused and in order; give it no purpose in advance.
Pull the parts apart
- Cut ThroughCut once, along the plane that reveals most.
- IsolateHold everything else constant and change one thing; a second change voids the result.
- Dissolve And RebuildBreak it down until no part survives intact, then rebuild from the residue alone.
- PartitionDraw the line and give each side a different rule; if both sides keep the same rule, the line is decoration.
- Freeze The JointFix the one joint exactly; change everything either side freely; where a change needs the joint to move is the edge.
- Leave One OutEach round, leave out a different part by chance; bring everything back at the end.
Push me beyond what I’d normally do
- Let DriftLet them drift; don't correct, don't force.
- DefectArgue the other side at full strength, never as parody; stop only when you have made its best case.
- Favour The RareBan whatever leads the tally, double whatever trails; stop when nothing leads by more than two.
- Leave No WinnerClose the ring so nothing is unbeaten; then work on the one you would have discarded first.
Put different things into contact
- GraftJoin them so they cannot be taken apart; stop when pulling would break something rather than separate it.
- JuxtaposePlace them side by side with no caption; stop before you explain the pairing.
- Join Through A ThirdPut no force on the pair; work only on the third element, and stop when it holds them without you.
- Read The InterferenceOverlay the two systems and read only the interference; blame neither.
- EntangleSeparate, and useless alone.
- Share And Keep ApartMany on one surface, each recoverable.
- Lay OverLay each layer over the last; keep each whole; read the stack.
- FoldFold one part onto another; press once; open; touch nothing.
- CoupleTie the two; change one; let the other move only through the tie.
- ContainPut one whole inside another; keep both edges; the inner one comes out whole.
Shake up the order it is in
- ScrambleBreak the order and keep every part; stop when nothing is where it was and nothing is missing.
- Drop Needless OrderFor each pair of steps ask whether the second needs the first’s output; cut every order it does not; stop when a shuffle gives the same result.
Show me what I’m missing
- TraceFollow the changes back link by link, on evidence only; stop where the evidence runs out, not where the story would.
- AttendWatch with no goal and collect nothing; the first note or insight you take ends it.
- RevealRearrange what is already there and add nothing; once it is revealed, leave it uncovered.
- Mark TimeOne mark per fixed interval; a missed interval stays missed, and no mark is ever made late.
- ElicitSupply only the shape of the prompt, never the content; everything that appears must come from them.
Spread it across more people or parts
- DelegateKeep only the frame and hand every decision inside it to the group; never override what comes back.
- Back Each Other UpOne job each, one other’s job badly; pull a part and see what the rest cannot carry.
- HedgeStart several, let the world pick.
- DisperseCut into more pieces than needed so any two-thirds work; pull a third at random; if it breaks, spread it and try again.
- CoverMake the fewest groups in which every pair meets at least once; stop when the last pair has met.
Take something away
- StripRemove one thing at a time; stop when the next removal would break it.
- DegradeReduce step by step until it stops working; the failure point is the finding.
- SacrificeDestroy something you truly value, with no stand-in; if it cost you nothing, it was not this.
- CompressFind the smallest version that still carries everything.
- DepriveRemove the whole channel, not some of it; keep it gone until the other senses have reorganised.
- Let FadeIt fades unless you come back to it.
- ShedDrop what the surroundings already do; point at where it went.
- Mark What WentTake it out; keep its place empty and marked; let nothing fill it.
- Cut The BeatenDrop only what another beats on every count; keep the rest, with their trade-offs.
Take something out of view for now
- Forget For NowSet aside what you know and don't use it, however loud it gets; take it back only when the exercise ends.
- ConcealWithhold it where everyone can see it is withheld; the cover never comes off.
- Hide Until DoneCover each part as it is made; uncover at the end; change nothing after.
- DelaySeal it with a date; nobody looks before it.