# Choose a first focus — workshop kit Agree one useful outcome, decide what belongs now and leave with a focus plan your team can review. Suggested meeting time: 60 minutes. Adjust to your group; this is not a delivery estimate. Participants: The person responsible for the outcome, contributors who know the work and someone who can check its value. Useful output: One focus plan: outcome, owner, chosen scope, open questions and a review trigger. ## Preparation - [ ] Bring a short list of candidate outcomes and the evidence behind them. - [ ] Ask the right contributors to join; agree who can decide the scope. - [ ] Bring existing commitments, known constraints and the sources people will need. - [ ] Choose a shared note and a person to keep the decisions. ## Agenda ### 1. Name the outcome — 10 minutes Ask what should be different when the focus has done its job. Choose an outcome within someone’s responsibility and name that person. State how the group could check its delivery value. Keep: A clear outcome, the responsible person and a proposed completion check. ### 2. Choose what moves it forward — 15 minutes Compare the candidate work against that outcome. Discuss value, uncertainty and the cost of starting another thing. Choose a small useful set and say why other work waits. Use prioritization only if the order needs discussion. Keep: Chosen work, deferred work and the reason for the trade-off. ### 3. Check the scope and room for it — 10 minutes Ask what the first useful result needs and what can wait. Check current commitments and available attention. Use Scope Slicer or Focus Sandbox only if a boundary or capacity assumption needs a closer look. Keep: The first useful scope, explicit exclusions and capacity assumptions to confirm. ### 4. Find what could stop the next step — 10 minutes Name missing facts, dependent work and likely failure points. Agree a person and next action for each important uncertainty. Use a dependency map or pre-mortem only if it helps resolve a specific question. Keep: The few important questions or risks, their next actions and agreed owners. ### 5. Agree the plan and review — 15 minutes Read the plan together. Confirm the contributors and who can check the value. Set a review trigger and a time limit if useful. In The Loop, the Product Owner brings reviews together and decides when to close the focus. Keep: An agreed focus plan and a review trigger; questions that still prevent starting stay visible. ## Your decision notes - Outcome and responsible person: [Fill in] - Delivery value and how to check it: [Fill in] - Chosen work and reason: [Fill in] - Deferred work and reason: [Fill in] - First useful scope and exclusions: [Fill in] - Capacity assumptions to confirm: [Fill in] - Important uncertainty / next action / agreed owner: [Fill in] - Contributors and reviewers: [Fill in] - Review trigger and optional time limit: [Fill in] - Unresolved facts or required permission before starting: [Fill in] ## Templates - [Clear work brief](/work-templates/clear-work-brief) - [First focus plan](/work-templates/first-focus-plan) - [Pre mortem actions](/work-templates/pre-mortem-actions) - [Decision record](/work-templates/decision-record) ## Optional exercises - [Prioritization workshop](/prioritization-workshop): People disagree about the next useful work. Compare views and retain the decision. Data handling: A shared guest room, with a 24-hour lifetime. Use fictional or approved information and share the room link with care. - [Scope Slicer](/scope-slicer): The first useful scope is too broad. Sketch a user journey and choose a smaller slice. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Check the tool’s reset and export controls on a shared device. - [Focus Sandbox](/focus-sandbox): Existing commitments leave unclear room for the work. Explore a week and its assumptions. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. Its plan is an illustration, not a delivery forecast. - [Dependency Playground](/dependency-playground): A next step depends on other work. Explore the links and discuss the affected assumptions. Data handling: The edited draft is saved in this browser. A what-if result is a model, not verified project evidence. ## Follow through 1. Put the agreed plan beside the real work, using your existing board and documents or a Tellenze workspace you can access. 2. Confirm unresolved facts before acting on them. Obtain any permission the work needs. 3. Review actual delivery value with the right people. Keep unfinished work’s real state and history. 4. After the focus, use the learning kit to choose a working change for the next relevant focus. ## Continue reading - [A complete fictional workflow](/examples/release-notes) - [The Loop: getting started](/the-loop/getting-started) - [All workshop kits](/workshop-kits) This is a portable agenda. It does not create workspace work, invite anyone, install native templates or run an agent. Fill it in with your facts and agreed decisions. Keep private material in a place approved by your team. Opening a linked tool follows that tool’s data handling.