Problem SolvingIntermediate

Staple Yourself to Something

Staple Yourself to Something is a process-mapping game in which a group picks one object, such as an order, a support ticket or an idea, and follows it step by step from start to finish, drawing what happens to it as a visual story. Staying with a single object keeps the map concrete and the scope contained. The game is published in Gamestorming and credited there to James Macanufo; the name borrows the process-improvement idea of 'stapling yourself to an order'.

Duration

1h–2h

Group size

2–10 people

Materials

Whiteboard or a long stretch of wall paper, markers, sticky notes

Origin

Gamestorming (James Macanufo)

Facilitation script

1
Introduce the object, draw it, and agree the start point, the end point and whether you are mapping today's process or the desired one.
10 min
2
Brainstorm the main steps and reduce them to about seven.
15 min
3
Agree what information to capture at each step, such as people, actions and time.
5 min
4
Walk the object through the steps and draw the story. Note branches and loops at the side and keep moving.
35 min
5
Review the full picture and mark delays, hand-offs and unclear steps.
15 min
6
Agree which findings to act on and who takes them forward.
10 min

Tips

Use the object as your steering tool: anything that does not move it forward gets noted and set aside.
If the object has a deadline in real life, state it at the start and refer back to it, which gives the story pace.
Watch for people slipping between how things are and how they would like them to be, and bring them back to the state you agreed to map.
If a process owner is present, draw on their knowledge but have the people who do the work tell the story, since their version is often news to the owner.

Common pitfalls

Mixing the current and the desired process in one drawing; the map then describes something that exists nowhere and cannot be used for analysis or design
Following every branch and exception as it comes up; the session runs out of time before the object reaches the end
Choosing an object that is too abstract, such as 'information'; nobody can say where it is at a given moment and the story turns vague
Letting the process owner narrate the whole flow, which records the intended process and hides the workarounds people actually use
Writing lists of text at each step without drawing; the result is harder to remember and to explain to others

Variations

Run it twice with the same object, first for the current process and then for the desired one, and compare the two drawings. For a broad process, split into subgroups that each follow a different object, such as a standard order and a rush order, and look at where the paths differ. Online, use a shared whiteboard with one frame per step and a simple icon for the object that is moved along as the story is told. For more precision, attach measured times to each step afterwards.

Where it fits

Understanding an existing process end to endFinding hand-offs, delays and reworkDocumenting a process nobody has written downOnboarding new team members to how work flowsDesigning a desired future process

When to use it

A process takes too long and nobody can say where the time goes
Each person knows their own part of the work, but no one can describe the whole flow
The official process documentation is missing or so complicated that nobody uses it
A team is about to change a process and first needs a shared picture of how it runs now
New colleagues need to understand how a request travels through the organisation

When not to use it

The focus is the customer's experience and feelings; a User Journey Map captures that, while this game follows the work item
You need front-stage and back-stage layers of a service in detail; use a Service Blueprint
The people who do the work are not in the room; the map will show the official version, so postpone or go and observe the work first
The process has many equally important variants and no typical case; agree on one representative object first or map variants in separate sessions
You need measured cycle times for a business case; this gives a shared story and estimates, so follow up with data collection

Related methods

StrategyService Blueprint

Problem SolvingUser Journey Map

IdeationDraw Toast

IdeationAffinity Map

Frequently asked questions

What is Staple Yourself to Something?▾

It is a process-mapping game from Gamestorming in which a group follows one object through a process from a defined start to a defined end and draws what happens at each step. The result is a visual story of the process. Teams use it to find improvements or to explain the process to others.

What kind of object should you follow?▾

Something concrete that moves through the process and that everyone recognises: an order, a trouble ticket, an invoice, a job application, an idea. Pick a typical case, not the rare exception, and decide on it before the session.

How many steps should the map have?▾

For a high-level story, about seven main steps is a good target. More detail can be added later for the steps that turn out to be problematic. Starting with too many steps makes it hard to reach the end in one session.

How long does it take and how many people can play?▾

The source gives one to two hours for two to ten players. The group should include people from each part of the process, so that no step is described second-hand.

What do you do with the finished map?▾

Use it to point out where the object waits, changes hands or loops back, and choose a few of those points to improve. The drawing is also useful for onboarding and for explaining the process to people outside the team.

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Method descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Gamestorming (James Macanufo).