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Idea Eight
Table of contents
What is Idea Eight?
Idea Eight is a card from the Workshop Tactics deck by Pip Decks.
Sometimes, to be truly creative, our brains need structure and rules. By restricting space and time, but letting everyone know that anything goes, this tactic forces ideas out, fast. It’s far less painful than it sounds.
Create a Mind Map beforehand to make running this tactic much easier. This also works well with Prototype Persona. Follow up this tactic by prioritising your ideas with Impact Effort Map.
When to use Idea Eight
- Stagnation in product development
- Need for rapid ideation in a brainstorming session
- Overcoming creative blocks in team settings
- Exploring multiple solutions for a complex problem
- Generating innovative ideas for a new market entry
- Reinvigorating a team’s creative process
- Addressing a lack of diverse ideas in strategic planning
How to use Idea Eight
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Ask everyone to fold their paper three times/divide their digital workspace to make a grid of eight rectangles.
Tip: it can be helpful to write the pains and needs from Prototype Persona in each box to help prompt ideas.
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Make sure everyone understands the problem that you are solving. This can be in the form of a How Might We... question.
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Have a timer ready and explain that everyone has one minute per wacky idea (one idea per box) for a solution. Ideas can be written or drawn.
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Start the timer and encourage the group to move to the next idea as each minute passes. The pace might feel uncomfortable, but that’s the point!
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At the end of the eight minutes, ask each person to talk through their ideas. Encourage the group to steal each other’s ideas for the next step.
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Do the exercise again, or ask the group to put their top two or three ideas into the T-Bar Format.
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Ask each participant to present their final ideas to the group.
