№ 104 | Thinking with Card, Visualicious Recipes, Zwicky Box, “Justing vs Butting”, AI Prompt Deck, and Gathering Design Strategies

Even MORE playful things to think with and think about. But first… a special announcement: 🎉 🗓️I’m beyond thrilled to be presenting at the upcoming Sketch Your Mind Conference (October 13-17). It’s online. It’s free. And, it has an amazing lineup, including a lot of folks I’ve

№ 103 | ‘At What Cost?’, The Tarot Cards of Tech, Two Visuals to Improve Your Next Talk, The Mind’s Pendulum, Habits of a Systems Thinker Cards, Afrofuturism and the “future past”, and Four Ways Humans Relate to Technology

Another dose of playful things to think with. Perhaps a little less playful… And a wee bit more somber and cerebral… But, all good things to think about! ‘At What Cost?’ Here’s your perennial reminder to think about the unintended consequences of the things we design, build, and use.

№ 102 | Adventures in Systems Zine, CodeCharta, Why Diagrams Fail, The Feed Game, “The Art of Asking Smarter Questions,” The Importance of Shared Labels, and AI and UX Research

Another roundup of ‘playful things to think with’, or think about. Or think about when you’re thinking. Or… You get the idea! Oh, and one last plug for the 💥EPIC💥 sized 100th issue of the Thinking Things newsletter. You know, just in case you missed it. I did spend

№ 101 | The CX FUNdamentals Toolkit, The Dabbawala Algorithm, High Agency In 30 Minutes, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK), and Nick Sousanis Illustrates the Joy of Learning

And… I’m back again, with a regular-sized dose of 5 playful things to think with. [And just in case you missed it, the previous mega-sized special 100th issue of Thinking Things featured dozens of things grouped into 11 themes. You should definitely check it out!] The CX FUNdamentals Toolkit

№ 100 | ✨Special Edition:✨ A Look Back at 99 Issues of Thinking Things

Welcome to a rare clip show edition of the Thinking Things newsletter. You can read my rambling preamble, or skip down to this special super-charged selection of thinking things! One reason I maintain this newsletter is to… * Share examples of * Spark interest in * Inspire the creation of …playful things to

№ 99 | A Solarpunk Zine, The Great Gambit, Coastline Paradox, Customer Needs Safaris, Type 1 Diabetes Companion Cards, and “The Broken Rhetoric of AI”

Welcome to another edition of the Thinking Things newsletter, your regular roundup of playful things to think with and think about. 🗓️One quick note, before we get into this 99th edition of the newsletter. I’m planning something epic (or at least wee bit larger than usual), for the 100th

№ 98 | Types of Deadlines, Awesomeness from Oliver Caviglioli, The Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, Fractional Work, EuterPen, PRIMES, and ThreatGEN® Red vs. Blue

Here we go—another dose of playful things to think with and think about! Types of Deadlines When I saw this, I knew instantly this was going into the newsletter! Here we have a visual explanation—a visual way to think about—various types of deadlines [LI] . And while the

№ 97 | Workshops and Wizards Cards, Human Agency Scale, System Health Over Time, 10 Notable Data Visualizations, Your Brain as a Closet, Two Org Frameworks from John Cutler, ‘A Busy, Busy Day at the Airport’, and SideQuest Decks!

Your regular dose of playful things to think with, and think about! Workshops and Wizards cards (UPDATE) A few issues ago, I shared an early prototype of the Wizards & Workshops cards from James Smart, a small set of fantasy themed ‘kudos’ cards participants can give to each other during

№ 96 | Cards for Uncertainty, The Curiosity Curve, Communicating to Reduce Resistance, Envisioning Cards, Scrutinizing “Best Practices”, Nick Sousanis on Due Process, and Reservoir Sampling

Welcome to issue № 96 of the Thinking Things newsletter, your regular roundup of playful ‘things to think with’ and think about… Cards for Uncertainty I want to kick things off with a question to think with, asked by Zbigniew Janczukowicz at the last Cardstock meetup, a question that left us

№ 95 | Conquest (a VUCA Game), PLOT4AI Card Deck, MANY Ways to Launch a Startup, Union-Co-ops Zine, Power Skills, Barrier Island, and A Computational Public Space

Conquest (A Game to Explain VUCA) 😍 Mmm. A board game to learn about VUCA [LI]. More to the point: A board game designed for players to experience Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Ever wanted to explain VUCA to managers without boring them into a coma? We The Catalyst made a

№ 94 | Archipelago of Possibilities, Strategically Vague Questions, Pattern ABC Cards, Letter to a Young Systems Thinker, The Heroine’s Journey, and A Theme Park in Miro

Here’s your regular dose of playful things to think with, and think about! Archipelago of Possibilities This single photo was enough to derail me from whatever I was doing, and get my mind whirring at the creative possibilities. Look at the canvas map! Where do the cards come from?

№ 93 | Illustrating Complex Systems, Moving Motivators Cards, Working with Team Values, The Eudaimonia Machine, Role-Playing an LLM, Froebel’s Gifts, Senseless Interfaces, and Ojisan Trading Cards

It’s another issue of the Thinking Things newsletter 🎉 .This time, with a few more than usual playful ‘things to think with’ and think about… Enjoy! 30 Illustrated Frameworks for Complex Problems I tend to shy away from sharing “roundup” sites, and focus more on singular tools, things, methods, games,

Finds

№ 92 | Ask This Book A Question, Jackdaw Folders, The Wizards & Workshops Deck, NOISE Analysis + SOLVED Cards, “How Economics Fails to Account for the Climate Crisis”, and TWO 🤯 ‘What If…?’ Questions

Look who’s back—with more playful things to think with! Ask This Book A Question Ask This Book A Question is described as “an interactive game [emphasis mine] that empowers you to understand yourself in a new way, inviting you on a playful journey of self-discovery.” I love publications

Finds

№ 91 | Short Films as ‘Playful Things to Think With’, The Workshop Map, Meeting Solar System, A Field Guide to Hype, The Time is Now Toolkit, and Two Short Posts on Cognition

Another issue. More playful ‘things to think with’ and think about! Short Films as ‘Playful Things to Think With’ I’m going to ‘cheat’ a bit, and share something I just published: Short Films as ‘Playful Things to Think With’. Before the Oscar season gets too far off in the

Finds

№ 90 | A Thinking Things ✨Special Edition:✨Hexagon Card Decks!

Welcome to a special edition of the Thinking Things newsletter. Instead of my usual, brisk, roundup of 5-6 ‘playful things to think with’, this issue is devoted to a very specific topic … 🥁 learning cards that use a hexagon shape. 🤪 Context: Hexagons are widely used in games. Popular board games such

Finds

№ 89 | Defense Against Dishonest Charts, Make It Toolkit, Scale Up! The Business Game, Decision Trees for UI Components, ShadowBox Training, and Shadow Dynamics

Hello, and welcome to another roundup of playful ‘things to think with’ and think about! Let’s dive in… Defense Against Dishonest Charts Over the years, I’ve collected various examples of bad charts (most often from certain news outlets and political groups). This is a topic explored in-depth in

Finds

№ 88 | Flipspark, City Making 101, Adventure Playgrounds, 🌀 How To Speak Squiggly! 🌀, AfroRithms From The Future, The Great Cognitive Depression, and The Periodic Table of Questions and Connection

More playful things to think with. Though, this issue is a wee-bit longer, given that two of my “finds” this time are articles to think about, and not strictly ‘things’ to think with. 🧠Also… a request! I’m prepping for the 15th anniversary reprint of the Mental Notes card deck;

Finds

№ 87 | 2025 Visual Tracker, Survive the Tyrant! RPG, The Question Matrix, Distance Levels, Professions as Thinking Tools, and Diversity Rocks Conversation Cards

🫡Another issue. More playful things to think with. But, I wanted to briefly pause and share a bit about WHY I do this. Why is finding, curating, sharing, and making ‘playful things to think with’ so… missional for me? I wrote a short post answering this question: “Why I Believe

Finds

№ 86 | Assess and Manage Risk, URL Parts, TLDraw Computer, Dark Patterns Detective Game, and Joy Cards (+ Assorted New Years stuff!)

Happy New Year! 🎉 I am back with plenty more ‘playful things to think with’ and the occasional stray commentary. Assess and Manage Risk Here are two visuals related to risk, both from Olina Glindev (aka “The Visual Agile Coach”). The first, is a simple illustration explaining how to assess risk

Finds

№ 85 | Wardley Mapping, “Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?”, Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Toolbox, Art Therapy Card Deck, The 100-Year Lab, and Seeds of Renewal

This will be the last newsletter until next year. I normally publish Thinking Things every two weeks, which means the next issue would fall on December 29th, except—I’m going to take off some time off over the holidays🎄. Next issue will go out (checking the calendar) Jan 12th.

Finds

№ 84 | The StoryTelling Leader, Content Patterns, Defining Transdisciplinary Research, the Serious Games Idea Deck, the Map of Board Games, and Andrew Garfield and Elmo on Grief

The StoryTelling Leader I recently started following David Hutchens on LinkedIn. As it turns out… I already I own two of his books (Circle of the 9 Muses and Outlearning the Wolves) and his card deck (below) 🤪. Anyway, when it comes to narratives—specifically leadership stories—he knows his stuff!

Finds

№ 83 | Stop Project 2025 Comics, Future for All: A vision for 2048, eyeConnect Cards, The Rule Book, and the Effects of Geography on Voting

This edition of the newsletter comes a couple days later than usual, but for a wonderful reason—I spent 5 days last week playing board games with my friends at BGG Con. 🎲 🤩 Next issue will resume the normal Sunday schedule! 🥸Reminder: If you're participating in the Create A

Finds

№ 82 | Pebble Talk, The Mood Meter, 3 Styles of Play, A Convection Simulation, an Electoral College Simulation, and What If America Had 6 Political Parties?

📍In case you missed it… Throughout November, I’m hosting another Creative Challenge: Create A Real Life Character Sheet. About 15 people have signed up so far, and there’s space for a few more folks—you should join us! Pebble Talk Here’s a way to avoid awkward small

Creative Challenge #3: Create A Real Life Character Sheet

Welcome, new readers. From time to time, I organize “Creative Challenges,” that fit with the whole “playful things to think with” theme. Previously, there was a One Card Serious Game Challenge, followed by the Make a Zine Challenge. I hadn’t planned on doing another Creative Challenge until next year