This page is designed to print on two sides of a single sheet of paper.
Transition Starter Sheet
Phases 0–2: From idea to first project
worldintransition.net/act/roadmap/
0 Establish the container
Prevent the problems that destroy young movements before they start.
Checklist
- Gather 4–12 initiators from different backgrounds, households, professions
- Write a one-page charter: the local problem you are addressing, your operating commitments, what you will not do
- Assign temporary roles (facilitator, record keeper, safety contact) with short terms and named backups
- Create a conflict-of-interest register
- Adopt a decision rule (consent for daily decisions, higher threshold for constitutional ones)
- Set up an independent complaint route
- Check legal requirements: insurance, safeguarding, food safety, licensing, disability access
- Write a shutdown clause so shared assets cannot become private property
Ready for Phase 1 when: A newcomer can understand how decisions are made, how to leave, how to complain, who sees their data, and what happens to shared assets.
1 Listen, map, choose
Start from what the community actually needs, not what you assume.
Checklist
- Survey community needs and assets — go to people, including those who never attend meetings
- Map existing assets: skills, spaces, tools, organizations, surplus capacity
- Publish a short needs-and-assets snapshot (anonymous, correctable)
- Evaluate candidates: who benefits, risks, required competence, labor, likelihood of success
- Choose one project that can show a visible result within six months
Ready for Phase 2 when: The chosen project addresses a real need identified by the community, not one assumed by the initiators.
2 First pilot project
Prove the group can deliver real benefit, learn, and operate transparently.
Checklist
- Write a one-page operating sheet: how to access the service, who operates it, what is expected, how to report harm
- Start small. Record demand and failure, not just success
- Review at 30, 60, and 90 days: continue, change, pause, transfer, or stop
- Stabilize before expanding: train backups, resolve legal issues, prove it survives the founder's absence
Example first projects
Ready to grow when: The project has survived one leadership change, one significant problem, and one honest public review — and people outside the founding group are participating.
Ten operating commitments
Every Transition project should be able to affirm these:
- Voluntary participation and meaningful exit.
- Universal human worth. Access is not conditioned on productivity or identity.
- Nonviolence.
- Distributed, recallable authority. No permanent ruling class.
- Subsidiarity. Decisions by those most affected.
- Evidence and revision. Failures reported. Rules can change.
- Privacy. Minimum data. No surveillance.
- Accessibility and anti-discrimination.
- Ecological responsibility.
- Compatibility without capture. Use existing systems without being controlled by them.
Warning signs
- The founder's interpretation overrides written rules
- Urgency bypasses consent or safety
- Criticism is treated as betrayal
- Informal labor falls repeatedly on the least powerful
- Services are offered without competence or safeguards