00:00 – 00:10
Arrival & shared intent.
Run a quick access check, review the purpose, and remind everyone the goal is to protect the people doing the work.
Practice guide
Run a maintenance roundtable that redistributes care.
Use this facilitation flow when you need to surface invisible upkeep, rebalance loads, and set relief experiments with the people who keep operations running.
The roundtable blends a maintenance audit with a mutual aid circle. You’ll map responsibilities, name barriers, and commit to specific follow ups so no one holds the whole system alone.
Agenda timed for a 60-minute session with clear checkpoints.
Prep prompts that help participants arrive with context.
Downloadable brief, agenda, and scribe template.
Bring the people already doing upkeep into the center so you can name the load, practice saying no, and choose relief experiments before burnout lands.
care inventories
relief drills
escalation rehearsals
Preparation
Set the room before you start.
These four moves ensure the people keeping operations afloat arrive with shared intent, consent, and the context needed to redistribute work.
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Step 01
Confirm who stewards upkeep today.
Invite the folks doing on-call rotations, release management, safety reviews, and people care. Let them know this space is dedicated to their workload.
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Step 02
Collect snapshots of maintenance debt.
Gather backlog metrics, recent incidents, or stories about skipped routines. Ask each participant to bring one vivid example.
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Step 03
Set agreements for pace and care.
Open with access checks, pronoun rounds, and expectations for breaks. Name how decisions will be made and how harms will be handled.
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Step 04
Assign facilitation roles.
Choose a facilitator, rotating scribe, timekeeper, and escalation point. Share the downloads below so everyone arrives ready.
Facilitation agenda
Guide the 60-minute roundtable.
Each segment keeps the conversation grounded in lived experience while producing tangible commitments.
00:10 – 00:25
Surface pressures and invisible work.
Invite each person to name the maintenance pressure currently weighing on them. Capture quotes in the scribe template.
00:25 – 00:40
Map tasks and handoffs.
Use the agenda worksheet to list upkeep rituals, owners, and the last time they were resourced. Highlight brittle spots.
00:40 – 00:55
Assign relief experiments.
Co-design up to three experiments that rebalance labor: rotating shifts, escalation allies, or maintenance sprints.
00:55 – 01:00
Close with appreciations.
Document remaining tensions, confirm next check-in, and end with a gratitude round so caretakers leave seen.
Downloads
Grab the facilitation kit.
Use these lightweight files to brief participants, keep time, and capture commitments. Each download is plain text so you can adapt it into the tool your team already uses.
- Facilitation brief — share context, room setup, and expected outputs before the session.
- Agenda + timing — keep the 60-minute flow visible to the group.
- Scribe template — document pressures, relief experiments, and follow-ups in one place.