SERIOUS
NONSENSE.

Put your work on trial. Invite the people who made it. Take turns making wildly specific accusations, then decide what’s worth changing.

A good first session: 4–10 people, 45 minutes.

Four colleagues laughing together as they examine an absurdly tangled orange contraption.
01

PICK A THING.

A process, product, or assumption your group knows and can change. Its creators join in.

02

MAKE YOUR CASE.

Start with “It’s so dumb…” Exaggerate. Perform it. Give the room a real observation underneath the joke.

03

SEE WHAT YOU LEARNED.

Hear from the creators. Look beneath the accusations. Choose one next step.

An example
“Our onboarding is so dumb, you need someone to onboard you to the onboarding.”
Its creator“I’ve been giving that tour for six months.”

WHY THE
CREATORS JOIN.

Seeing the people who made it enjoy the accusations changes the room. Criticism becomes an invitation to look at the work together.

The target is the work. Anyone can pass or ask for a pause.

Read the idea behind the ritual ↗