“We’re new to the idea of collective intelligence and want to understand more.”

• Start by reading ‘What is collective intelligence?’
• Introduce your group to a quick exercise to bring the concept of collective intelligence to life (try out the Blind man and the elephant exercise and 1-2-4 exercise).

“We want some inspiration.”

• Look at the chapter showcasing case studies of different groups already using collective intelligence.
• Check out more resources of collective intelligence projects and tools.

“We’ve got some important meetings and workshops coming up, how can use collective intelligence to make them better?”

• Read and discuss the collective intelligence design principles. How might applying these change the way you currently do things?
• Try out some of the workshop activities under quick ways to boost collective intelligence.
• Read the overcoming biases guide, on page 99 in the activities PDF to be aware of potential pitfalls.
• Review the activities PDF on page 116 for the ORID framework, page 120 for generative decision making, page 123 for open space and page 125 for group dialogue guides, and experiment with these formats.

“We want an overview of what collective intelligence design involves.”

• Read the chapter on collective intelligence design.
• Look through the key design questions, and the prompt cards for each stage of collective intelligence design in the activities PDF.

“We want to design a collective intelligence project.”

• Agree your main purpose for wanting to design a collective intelligence project and find the correct navigation page in the activities PDF: page 8 for understand problems; page 12 for seek solutions; page 16 for decide and act; and page 20 for learn and adapt.
• Print out the collective intelligence design canvas template (A3 or A2) found on page 7 of the activities PDF. You can also find specific design questions relevant to your purpose on the following pages.
• Use the navigation pages for each purpose to see which activities are suggested, and pick those that you think will be most useful for your group and project. You should use them to explore the design questions in greater depth.
• Print out any prompt cards or worksheets you need.
• Work through the design questions set out at each stage with your group. Identify someone to be the group facilitator.
• Populate your canvas as your group answers the design questions. Allow time for reflection and iteration.
• Use activities such as prototyping to bring your project to life and identify any aspects that are missing or need to be changed.

“We want to make suggestions on how you could add to or improve this playbook.”

• Drop us a line at [email protected]
• Comment or suggest directly on the playbook using the Google Doc version