Components

Every page and piece Switchback can print, generated straight from@vandermerwed/switchback. Each carries a grade for the evidence behind it, from A (robust) to D (an established practice with no direct study behind this exact use); see theevidence page for what the grades mean. Open any one of them for a preview of the renderer's own output, not a mockup.

Create

• Brain dumppagegrade C

  Get everything out of the head and onto the page before organising it.

• Constraint removalpagegrade C

  Break fixation by removing the thing the human is protecting.

• Forced connectionspagegrade D

  Manufacture a creative collision.

• Step awaypagegrade B

  Make the break between generating and judging a real, physical act.

• Stimulus diepiecegrade D

  Inject a random prompt to break fixation and force a new angle.

• Ten bad ideaspagegrade D

  Outrun the inner critic by demanding badness first.

Decide

• Assumption auditpagegrade D

  Surface the beliefs the plan silently rests on.

• Card sortpagegrade C

  Expose the taxonomy the human already holds by making them move pieces.

• Commitpagegrade A

  End the sitting with a decision and a physical first action.

• Forecastpagegrade C

  Write down a dated, falsifiable prediction now, so it can be scored honestly later.

• Options against criteriapagegrade B

  Compare named options against explicit criteria.

• Perspective swappagegrade B

  See a situation through another person's eyes.

• Pre-mortempagegrade C

  Make failure vivid before committing, so it can be prevented.

• Tokenspiecegrade C

  Give abstract quantities — votes, effort, risk, budget — a physical body that can be spent and moved.

• Two by twopagegrade D

  Trade two axes off against each other and place items.

• Worst casepagegrade C

  Write a dreaded outcome out concretely, so it stops weighing more than it would.

• Zonespiecegrade C

  Give cards, notes, tokens, or running state a labelled place on the page.

Learn

• Explain it simplypagegrade B

  Expose the exact place understanding breaks.

• Free recallpagegrade B

  Pull what you have learned out of memory with the source closed, then check it against the source.

• Node mappagegrade D

  Externalise structure and relationships.

• Practice auditpagegrade B

  Check whether the way you practise actually trains the skill you want.

• Question queuepagegrade B

  Batch everything the human wants from the AI into numbered blue questions.

• Self-explainpagegrade B

  Explain to yourself why each step of given material follows.

Plan

• Card sortpagegrade C

  Expose the taxonomy the human already holds by making them move pieces.

• Commitpagegrade A

  End the sitting with a decision and a physical first action.

• Forecastpagegrade C

  Write down a dated, falsifiable prediction now, so it can be scored honestly later.

• Goal factoringpagegrade D

  Take one habit apart into the goals it serves, then find other ways to meet each goal.

• Mental contrastpagegrade B

  Set a wish against the obstacle inside you, then plan for that obstacle.

• Node mappagegrade D

  Externalise structure and relationships.

• Pre-mortempagegrade C

  Make failure vivid before committing, so it can be prevented.

• Small experimentpagegrade C

  Test a feared prediction with a small, safe action in the real world, then compare what happened with what you expected.

• Timelinepagegrade D

  Force sequence and expose what must happen before what.

• Two by twopagegrade D

  Trade two axes off against each other and place items.

• Zonespiecegrade C

  Give cards, notes, tokens, or running state a labelled place on the page.

Diagnose

• Assumption auditpagegrade D

  Surface the beliefs the plan silently rests on.

• Brain dumppagegrade C

  Get everything out of the head and onto the page before organising it.

• Five whyspagegrade D

  Descend from symptom to cause.

• Frame by framepagegrade D

  Replay one real instance of a recurring problem to find the exact moment it could have gone differently.

• Goal factoringpagegrade D

  Take one habit apart into the goals it serves, then find other ways to meet each goal.

• Node mappagegrade D

  Externalise structure and relationships.

Review

• Annotatable sheetpagegrade B

  Any content on one annotatable page — the generic escape hatch.

• Practice auditpagegrade B

  Check whether the way you practise actually trains the skill you want.

• Proofpagegrade C

  Print a document, especially AI output, so every paragraph gets an active judgement in ink.

• Question queuepagegrade B

  Batch everything the human wants from the AI into numbered blue questions.

Reflect

• Brain dumppagegrade C

  Get everything out of the head and onto the page before organising it.

• Check-inpagegrade C

  The same short page at every return, so change is visible by flipping back.

• Mental contrastpagegrade B

  Set a wish against the obstacle inside you, then plan for that obstacle.

• Perspective swappagegrade B

  See a situation through another person's eyes.

• Scoresheetpiecegrade C

  Rate the same thing at the start and the end so the change is visible.

• Small experimentpagegrade C

  Test a feared prediction with a small, safe action in the real world, then compare what happened with what you expected.

• Worst casepagegrade C

  Write a dreaded outcome out concretely, so it stops weighing more than it would.

Focus

• Coverpagegrade D

  Orient the sitting and teach the colour language in one glance.

• Player aidpiecegrade C

  Keep the rules of the session in view without spending a thinking page on them.

• Return checklistpagegrade C

  Close the loop — make photograph-and-send-back deliberate.

• Timer dialpiecegrade D

  Bound the session and each phase in time, so deliberation ends in a decision.

• Zonespiecegrade C

  Give cards, notes, tokens, or running state a labelled place on the page.

Presets

A preset is a named starting configuration of a component — a SWOT is a preset of the two-by-two, for instance. Each inherits its base component's shape and evidence, plus its own attribution.

• Business Model Canvaspreset of zonesgrade C

  The Business Model Canvas by Strategyzer AG (strategyzer.com). Adapted.

• Dashboardpreset of zonesgrade C

  Switchback original (a session HUD)

• Eisenhower matrixpreset of matrix-2x2grade D

  Popularised by Stephen Covey (1989), after a remark attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Impact / effortpreset of matrix-2x2grade D

  Traditional

• Kanbanpreset of zonesgrade C

  After Toyota's kanban; boards for knowledge work are traditional

• Lean Canvaspreset of zonesgrade C

  Lean Canvas by Ash Maurya (LeanStack), adapted from the Business Model Canvas. Adapted.

• Now / next / laterpreset of zonesgrade C

  Traditional

• Playmatpreset of zonesgrade C

  Switchback original (board-game playmat metaphor)

• Power / interestpreset of matrix-2x2grade D

  After Mendelow (1981), ICIS proceedings

• Start / stop / continuepreset of zonesgrade C

  Traditional retrospective practice

• SWOTpreset of matrix-2x2grade D

  Traditional (origin disputed)