Warm-up · The pre-read

See the same problem
five different ways.

No single point of view can capture a complex problem. EPIC gives you five.

A five-minute refresher before we meet on 4 July: the EPIC flow, the five lenses, and the five methods — in plain words. No jargon, no homework.

Start the pre-read
00

Where we are

Four small nudges, each clearing one obstacle, so we arrive on the day ready to do, not just listen.

21 Jun

The teaser

Why this sessionDone
29 Jun

EPIC pre-read

EPIC, lenses & methodsYou're here
1 Jul

Insights → issues

Spotting what mattersComing
3 Jul

Primary vs secondary

Drivers vs consequencesComing
4 Jul

The workshop

2 hours, hands-onD-Day
01

Why bother with all this?

Real problems at work — falling engagement, a stalled change, a team that keeps firefighting — aren't puzzles with one neat answer. They're tangles of people, processes and pressures, all pulling on each other. Look through one lens and you'll fix a symptom while the cause carries on. EPIC's move is simple: look through five different lenses first, see what each one reveals, and only then decide where to act.

02

EPIC, in four moves

A loop you walk, not a checklist you tick. On the day, we go hands-on with the first two.

E

Explore

Look at the messy situation through the five lenses. Note what you notice (insights), then what worries you (issues). Resist jumping to fixes.

P

Produce

Sort the real drivers from the side-effects, score each lens, and choose the method that fits. Shape the plan.

I

Intervene

Act — but stay light on your feet. The situation moves, so keep looking and keep adjusting as you go.

C

Check

Did things improve across all five lenses? Reflect, learn, loop back. EPIC never really ends.

On 4 July we'll work hands-on through Explore and Produce on real cases — that's the heart of the session.

03

The five lenses

Each lens makes you notice something the others miss. Tap one to look through it — the simple questions are the ones we'll actually use in the room.

Is the machine built to hit its goal — efficiently?
Helps you notice: goals, processes, structure, efficiency.
  • What is this system actually trying to achieve?
  • Are we getting the results we expected — and if not, what's stopping us?
  • Where do things slow down, break, or get wasted?
04

The five methods

Once a lens shows you the trouble, there's a method built to act on it. You don't run all five — you start where it hurts most.

For the Mechanical lens

Vanguard Method

Redesign how work actually flows around the customer, and strip out the waste.

Use when the goal is clear but the system is inefficient or missing it.
For the Interrelationships lens

System Dynamics

Map the feedback loops and delays to find the one leverage point that shifts the whole.

Use when behaviour is driven by how the parts interact over time.
For the Organismic lens

Viable System Model

Diagnose whether the organisation can adapt and balance control with local autonomy.

Use when the issue is structure, resilience, or staying viable.
For the Purposeful lens

Soft Systems Methodology

Surface the different worldviews and build enough shared understanding to move forward together.

Use when people genuinely see the problem differently.
For the Societal / Env. lens

Critical Systems Heuristics

Ask whose interests are served, who's excluded, and where the boundary has been drawn.

Use when fairness, inclusion or sustainability is at stake.
Rule of thumb → Score each lens 0–4 for how troubled it is. Start with the method that fits your highest score, and bring others in as the situation shifts.
1 Jul

Insight, then issue

A 2-minute nudge for 1 July. The first move inside a lens is to separate two things we usually blur together.

Insight

What you simply notice through the lens — a neutral observation, no judgement yet.

Issue

The concern that observation raises — why it might matter for the system.

Gather insights first, in plain language. Only then turn each into an issue. Jumping straight to issues is how we miss things.

Example · the Mechanical lens

Insight: two teams use different onboarding checklists.
Issue: new hires get an inconsistent first week — which may explain why early performance is so uneven.

On the day, your group lists insights first, then derives issues — exactly this move.

3 Jul

Drivers vs consequences

A 2-minute nudge for 3 July. Once you have a pile of issues, not all of them are equal.

Primary · a driver

If left unresolved, it keeps causing other problems. Fix it and several others ease.

Secondary · a consequence

Mostly a result of something else on the list — a symptom, not the source.

Quick test
  • If I fixed this, would several other issues ease? → it's likely a driver.
  • Is this mostly caused by another issue we've listed? → it's likely a consequence.

Then we score each lens 0–4 for how troubled it is. The highest scores point to where to act first.

05

What happens on the day

Two hours, hands-on. We'll work through case studies in small groups — each group taking one lens — then pool what we find, score it, and choose a method together. You'll leave having done EPIC, not just heard about it.

The case studies are shared on the day. Come curious.

2 hrs
hands-on workshop
Groups
small-team breakouts
E + P
the EPIC stages we run
06

Your toolkit

The take-home pack. It unlocks here right after the session, so everything lives in one place.

Unlocks 4 Jul

Which method, when

The lens → method cheat-sheet to keep on your desk.

Unlocks 4 Jul

Slides & recording

Everything from the workshop, in one link.

Unlocks 4 Jul

Go deeper

Curated reading on each method and model.

07

Your Group 3 crew

Presenters

  • Neha
  • Ari
  • Manikandan
  • Abhilasha
  • Arun

Supporting crew

  • Gunjan
  • Ashish
  • Vinita