Method Category: Generate ideas

  • Brainstorming

    Brainstorming

    Purpose

    The simplest reason to hold a brainstorming meeting is to increase the volume of possible ideas, and to also bring people together into the creative process. By distributing a problem across 5 or 10 people in a brainstorming process, in theory, you should be able to obtain a wider array of different ideas much faster than any one person could on their own.

    Instructions

    Place the group around a table. Make sure everyone have some post-its and pens. Discuss what framework or rules this brainstorming process will have. It is important that the whole group agrees and understands the boundaries and rules for the task, before you start. Then take 10 minutes to let the group individually write down their ideas and thoughts. Encourage wild ideas. When everyone is done, let each person present their ideas and put their post-its on a big wall or drawing board. If someone in the group has feedback, additions or opinions, let them make a red cross on that post it. When that person have presented their ideas, take two minutes to let the rest of the group give feedback. This method could be followed up by trying to combine different ideas or thoughts. This is how you proceed with the process:

    Do

    • Think big
    • Each idea is equally important
    • Focus on new angles
    • Allow and encourage crazy ideas.

    Don’t

    • Don’t critizise.
    • Don’t think that your ideas MUST be directly connected to your brief or problem
    • Don’t be to detailed

    Example:

    A group is trying to find a solution to the problem: How can we make school kids eat better food? They sit and talk and come up with different ideas – simple, complex, normal & crazy ones. Elaborate on each other’s ideas. Think sideways and from different angels. Some ideas might lead to a good solution that will solve the problem in a good way.

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator is there to give the group instructions for the brainstorming session. It is the facilitators role to make sure that the work is conducted according to rules and framework established by the group.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something for the next brainstorming session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?
  • Braindrawing

    Braindrawing

    Purpose

    Use this method when you want to come up with new ideas or extend/develop old ideas with new thoughts.

    Instructions

    Pin or tape up about three to seven flip chart pages around the room. Have enough flip chart pens so everyone can write on these. It’s good to have a mixture or colors.

    Start with drawing a doodle on one of the papers. Let the participants start to extend the doodles. The idea is that people will add to what is already on the paper. The assignment is done when all flip charts are full (but not overloaded) with doodles.

    Ask people what shapes they see in the pictures, what it reminds them of and then how this can be brought back to create ideas to solve the problem at hand.

    Do

    • Think crazy
    • Use a lot of colors
    • Use a lot of paper to draw different doodles on

    Don’t

    • Be structured
    • Let everyone participate

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator starts up the exercise and have the responsibility to capture and sum up the ideas and solutions that come up during the task. The facilitator should encourage the participants to think crazy.

    Reflection questions

    • Why did you think we did this?
    • What learnings do you take with you from this exercise?
    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way? If not, why?
  • Say yes! And…

    Say yes! And…

    Purpose

    During brainstoming or any type of idea generation session, this is the number one rule. In fact, we feel that it’s so important it’s been given its very own method page here on Project of How.

    Instructions


    Do

    • Stay open and positive during idea generation sessions.
    • Build on others ideas by saying “Yes, and…”

    Don’t

    • Analyse or judge ideas during idea generation sessions.
    • Say the word “no” or be negative to others ideas.

    Facilitator role

    A “red card” is a useful and fun way to remind people to stay positive.

  • Empty your brain

    Empty your brain

    Quick introduction

    The Empty Brain method is about getting everything out of your head and down on paper so that you can stop thinking about it!  It’s a method you can use everyday, or when you feel it’s needed. The empty brain method can be done in a group as well as individually.

    Purpose

    This method is helpful when you need to start up an idea session, giving your brain a fresh new sheet to start from. It can also be used as a way to structure your thoughts and tasks gathered in your mind, where the output can be a to-do list or a timeline with tasks mapped to it.

    Instructions

    The empty brain method contains 2 steps.

    Step 1. You need a sheet of paper, a pen, and a moment to sit down.

    Start by writing down everything you need to get done. Continue by writing down everything you’re thinking off, i.e. not only task related thoughts. This can take a while, but can also be fairly quick, depending on how much stuff you got spinning around in your head. When you work in group, this part of the method could preferably be done all together in a discussion, sitting around with one large piece of paper. Note the input of all participants of the group on the same paper.

    When all the ideas are written down let the paper take over the responsibility for them, so that your brain no longer have to keep track of those things.

    Step 2 is about how to organize your data.

    One way of doing this is to find the 10 most important things you need to get done immediately and focus on results. Another way is to categorize and prioritize the tasks (example themes could be: business / home / friends), map them to a time schedule as a to do or you can just store them for later on.

    Now, when it’s time to work, you can use the task-prioritization and go through the tasks one by one. When finishing, write a big line through each task after completing them!  (Satisfying!)

    Depending on how you use the method – this could also be the moment to do another Empty Brain session over the new task you have ahead.

    Do

    • Make sure to write up every little thing that comes to mind, everything from “buy bread” to “book a meeting with Mrs. X”
    • Remember it’s important to let go of things once you’ve put them on paper!

    Don’t

    • Make it to complicated!
    • Hesitate!

    Facilitator role

    If driven by a facilitator, the role is to be responsible for setting up the method for how to empty the brain. E.g. choose between mind mapping/timeline/other.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for your work? In what way?
    • Could other methods for structuring the ideas once they are on paper work better for you?
  • Image brainstorming

    Image brainstorming

    Purpose

    This method encourages your imagination to create different perspectives and new angles on your idea or the problem you’re facing.

    Instructions

    Prepare with a lot of different random images. Sit together around a table and show one image for 1 minute. During that one minute, each member in the group writes whatever he or she associates with these images on post-its. The outcome should be as many crazy associations as possible. If the team gets stuck, change image. Continue this process until you feel that you have enough associations. This method could be followed up by trying to combine your associations with your already existing idea or trying to come up with new ones. Read about how to do that here.

    Do

    • Think big
    • Write the first things that come to your mind
    • Think the opposite
    • Use a lot of different random images, preferably that have nothing to do with your idea, problem or focus questions.

    Don’t

    • Stay too long at one image. If you get stuck, just change.

    Example

    A group is tasked with finding solutions to the question ‘How could citizens be encouraged to use bikes more?’ Random pictures are used to associate to the question. How could a Blueberry be related to that?

    These are examples of outcomes

    • Giving away blueberry hats together with information on health benefits from biking
    • Making blueberry lamps for bikes
    • Building a giant Blueberry-like biking dome.

    The new ideas can be related in many ways. Around shapes, memories, smells, thinking big or small, quantity. Relate both close and distant ideas.

    Facilitator role

    The facilitator is there to give the group instructions for the task. The facilitator is responsible for changing images and inspire the group members to think big and wild.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project?
  • Random words!

    Random words!

    Purpose

    This method encourages your imagination to create different perspectives and new angles on your idea or the problem you are facing.

    Instructions

    Prepare with a lot of different random words, short stories or tweets. Sit together around a table and show one word, tweet or story for 1 minute. During that one minute, each member in the group writes whatever he or she associates with the word, tweet or story on post-its. The outcome should be as many crazy associations as possible. If the team gets stuck – change word, tweet or story. Continue this process until you feel that you have enough associations. This method could be followed up by trying to combine your associations with your already existing idea or trying to come up with new ones.

    Do:

    • Think big
    • Write the first things that come to your mind
    • Think the opposite
    • Use a lot of different random words, tweets or stories, preferably that have nothing to do with you idea, problem or focus questions.

    Don’t:

    • Stay to long at one word. If you get stuck, just change.

    Example

    A group is tasked with finding solutions to the question “How could kids be encouraged to play more outside?” Random words are used to associate to the question. How could the word “pillow” be related to that?

    These are examples of outcomes:

    • You produce a giant pillow that the kids can play on outside. When they get tired they can take a nap.
    • You give kids pillows so that they can have pillow fights.
    • You put the kids indoor toys in a pillow so the have to build a “koja”.

    The new ideas can be related in many ways. Around meenings, memories, smells, think big, small, quantity. Relate both close and distant.

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator is there to give the group instructions for the task. The facilitator is responsible to change word, tweet or story when the group needs it to be changed. The facilitator’s role is to inspire the group members to think big and wild and to present/follow the do’s and dont’s.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project?
  • 120 rooms

    120 rooms

    Purpose

    When your project needs a twist or action, 120 Rooms is a perfect method. The purpose is to get the group to think about sub-targets for actions in projects or processes.

    Instructions

    Imagine you had a house with 120 rooms to fill with anything, and each room must have it’s purpose. 120 Rooms is an idea generation method using imagination and creativity to enable people to change perspectives and think crazy. But it’s not only about generating new rooms – it also deals with thinking about which actions could fill each room.

    Do:

    • Challenge your perceptions
    • Use your imagination
    • Think crazy

    Don’t:

    • Don’t leave any room empty

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator gives the instructions to the participants and make sure that they follow the rules. It is the facilitators role to make sure that the reflection will be performed.

    Reflection questions

    • Why did you think we did this?
    • What learnings do you take with you from this exercise?
    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?
  • Apples

    Apples

    Method - Apples

    Purpose

    Apples is a creative exercise used to show how important it is to see things from new perspectives as well as to create a quantity of ideas. The exercise challenges the boundaries of our already established perception and forces us to think in new ways and adopt new perspectives. This exercise could be held in groups or individually. 99% of all ideas are not unique. To find the unique 1%, new perspectives and ideas must be found.

    Use the method when you would like to start a creative session or when you are stuck in idea generation processes.

    Instructions

    This exercise could be held in groups or individually. Basically each group or individual are given the instructions to draw as many pictures of an apple as possible on the blank paper, in complete silence. They are given a time limit of 10 -15 minutes. There are several different variations of the method.

    If you want to be able to see the development of the group or the individual you could draw as many squares as possible on the paper beforehand and instruct the participants to start by drawing the first picture from the top to the bottom.

    Do:

    • Challenge your perceptions

    Don’t:

    • Don’t speak when doing the exercise

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator gives the instructions to the participants and make sure that they follow the rules. It is important that the facilitator don’t help the participants in any way.

    Follow-up questions

    • Why did you think we did this?
    • What learnings do you take with you from this exercise?
    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?