Make Work Visible Prompt pack

About this prompt pack

Build editorial images that make an abstract problem visible in one glance. These eight exact prompts move from an oversized eraser to a locked-away key, matching trolleys with different wheels and two sharpeners consuming one pencil. Learn to specify the proportions, contact points and object relationships you can carry into your own metaphors.

What you'll learn

• Revision eats the work — Start with one familiar object and change one proportion. The eraser takes up most of the pencil, so revision visibly outweighs the work.
• The key is inside — Give the object a familiar purpose, then visibly block that purpose. The key is easy to see but trapped behind the lock it would open.
• Same load, different wheels — Hold the load and trolley design constant, then change the wheels on just one. The comparison makes unequal effort visible.
• Two claims, one resource — Finish with two objects acting on one shared resource. The opposing sharpeners and two piles of shavings give the conflict a visible cost.
• The narrow exit — Name the exact point where a process fails. A wide intake cannot help when the rigid objects will not fit through the exit.
• One small dependency — Trace the load from the large object to its single weak connection. Clear attachment points make the dependency readable without a label.
• The missed handoff — Describe the relationship between otherwise working parts. The gap and the fallen cube locate the failure between the two conveyors.
• Busy going nowhere — Make the route visible from start to finish. A closed track with no exit turns circulation into a metaphor for activity without delivery.