Hi
I have been intrigued and bewildered by the SOS process and current on-hold situation.
Being that this project has been ongoing for 4-5 months I am quite certain that the process is too cumbersome for long term use as a method to determine the annual goals of Arbitrum.
Below is the BlankBoard method I used at my former company to determine our annual goals. It is quite light weight and led to the growth you to aspire for.
Origins and Impact
When I reflect on how my company achieved 100x value growth over 12 years, one methodology stands out: blank boarding. My team invented this approach while running an industrial water treatment company. The results were transformative—not just in financial terms, but in creating a culture of genuine collective intelligence.
The method proved consistently effective at surfacing important issues that typically remain hidden in organizations. Compensation, perceived unfairness, and process breakdowns came into the open where they could be addressed directly. Over time, our organization developed its own language for improvement, including what we called “A to A’” thinking—recognizing that a process that once worked (A) needed to evolve to a new version (A’) through micro-experiments. This created a self-reinforcing culture of problem-solving.
Years later, I witnessed the ultimate proof when new employees in Quebec and Ohio independently connected to solve identical customer problems without management involvement.
The Basic Process
Blank boarding follows a simple structure:
- Each person brings five ideas
- Random groups of five people discuss and select their top three ideas
- All groups present to everyone
- Ideas are collated, duplicates identified, and priorities voted on
- Change management team implements top priorities
- The cycle repeats
The Implementation Challenge
Despite its effectiveness, blank boarding faces adoption barriers:
- Conference costs ($70K+ for 30 people, rising to $200K+ as we grew to 100 people)
- Time commitment (two full days)
- Processing complexity (sorting hundreds of ideas)
A Modern Implementation Approach
SimScore was developed to make blank boarding accessible without these barriers. Here’s a practical implementation path:
- Idea Collection: Use tldraw or similar tools for initial idea capture
- Processing: SimScore automatically identifies similarities and establishes priorities in minutes
- Action Planning: AI-assisted change project list generation based on priorities
- Implementation: Structured change management workflow to track execution
This approach preserves what makes blank boarding effective while eliminating the main barriers to adoption.
Getting Started
The simplest way to begin is by implementing components that fit your current context:
Core Components:
- Democratic idea collection
- Unbiased processing with SimScore
- Clear change management accountability
An organization can start with these basics and expand to include the full methodology as they experience positive results.
Looking Forward
The goal isn’t to perfectly replicate my company’s journey, but to make the core principles of collective intelligence accessible to any organization regardless of size or resources.
After all, methods only deliver results when they’re actually used.
About the Author:
With 30 years of leadership experience, the author served as CEO of an industrial water treatment company that achieved remarkable 100x value growth over 12 years. Under his leadership, the company bootstrapped and self-financed through organic growth before a successful private equity exit. His blank boarding methodology was instrumental in this success, identifying strategic priorities and driving organizational alignment. He is now the founder of SimScore, creating technology to make his proven methodologies accessible to organizations of all sizes.