Persona cards
Understand different personas and motivations
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Brain pool
Create ideas and guide discussion
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Badstorming
Stretch minds and approach the topic from another angle
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Best Feature + Worst Scenario
Iterate, solve problems
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5 x Why
Find root causes and logic
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Interviews
Use participants experiences to explore problem and solution space
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Timeline
Create a focused flow of ideas
Staging Discussion means being able to make participants discuss a specific topic. This implies sharing ideas and giving feedback on what others convey. For this stage, exercises or games may include tangible mock-ups, peer-interviewing or design games made specifically for the discussion coming up. Here are some valuable examples to achieve fruitful discussion.
Unlimited
Any audience
3-5 minutes
Post-its, pens
Any phase of the process
3+ participants
Any audience
20-40 minutes
(Adjustable)
Templates, post-its, pens
Converging
(especially)
Unlimited
Any audience
3-5 minutes
Post-its, pens
Any phase of the process
1. (1 min) The participants are given a timeline, post-its and pens.
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2. (1 - 2 min) The facilitator presents the topic and the timeline, and instructs each round: in what part of the timeline to brainstorm etc.
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3. (5 min/round) The participants brainstorm (individually or in groups) and add their thoughts to the timeline.
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4. (2 min/ group) After each round, each participant/ group share their findings
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5. (2 min) After 1 round, the facilitator can mix up the participants again.
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6. The exercise is done when all the sections (before, during and after) are filled.
Steps
Example
This example is for specifying previously found problems from 3 categories around traveling: luggage, practicalities and leisure, on 3 different times around a trip: before, during and after. Each round focuses on one time frame: 3 rounds in total. There are 3 groups, each focusing on one category during a round. Groups can be guided to change category for the next round, or groups can even be changed. Each category has its own color for identifying.
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The exercise can be done more simply with one category.
Practicalities
Leisure
Luggage
Consulting
Depending on the number of categories, there can be one or multiple timelines (affects the number and size of groups).
Consider using different colored post-its for different categories.
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Divide a timeline into main sections (they determine the number of rounds: 1 round/main section). Main sections can be further divided into smaller ones (better focus and minimizing distractions; but can restrict creativity - have a good balance)
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The timing depends on the amount of categories, sections and groups. (E.g. allow up to 5 minutes for brainstorming and 2 minutes/group for sharing each round).
Evaluate whether new groups are necessary after each round.
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The timeline can be used for diverging purposes as well.
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You can use our template from the Library of Templates.
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
The Timeline is good for focusing on results found previously. therefore it works best when following brainstorming
problem-finding, categorizing to minimize clutter or ranking to find 'top-ranked' problems
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Brain Pool
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Rank/Categorize
1. The participants are divided into groups and given persona cards, and pain & gain cards.
2. 1 person is selected to be the game master for the first round.
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3. The game master draws 1 persona card and puts it on the table, so everyone can see it.
4. The game master draws 1 gain card, so everyone can read it.
5. 1-2 min The participants write their proposal for the missing words from the gain card, and present their proposals to each other.
6. 2 min The game master selects the one he/she finds the most fitting for the persona. This is written on the persona card.
7. Step 4-6 are repeated with a pain card.
8. When the persona has a detailed gain and pain section, the round is finished and a new game master is selected for the next round - next persona.
9. The game repeats until all the personas are detailed.
Steps
Consulting
1 persona is 1 round, including both pains and gains.
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Gain & pain cards need to be prepared: write sentences that are missing words.
A template for personas is in the Library of Templates.
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
1. The participants sit around a table with a pen and a set of post-it notes each.
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2. (1 min) The facilitator presents the topic that the participants need to brainstorm on.
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3. (3 - 4 min) All the participants write all the ideas/words they can, and put their notes into a big pool in the middle of the table.
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4. The participants can present their ideas if needed
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5. If wanted, the participants can be asked to do another round, where they take the notes from the pool and expand the ideas that is written on the note already.
Steps
Consulting
Reserve a lot of post-it notes!
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State the theme clearly.
Can be used several times with different adjustments on time, theme etc.
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
1. The participants sit around a table with a pen and a set of post-it notes each.
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2. (1 min) The facilitator presents the participants to a problem area.
3. (3 - 4 min) The participants are then asked to think of worst possible ways to solve this, writing down as many “bad ideas” as possible in the time given.
4. (1 - 2 min, optional) The participants can present ideas to each other.
Steps
Consulting
Be very clear on the purpose so the exercise is not perceived as silly. Create a clear problem statement and give reasoning to this approach (opening mindsets, exploring different angles to a problem...)
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
Brain pool (Badstorming can be used as a warm-up)
1. (1 min) Participants are divided into small groups.
2. (2 min) Participants rank the concepts from the previous exercise (the top concepts should equal the amount of groups wished to be formed).
3. (1 min) Each group selects a top feature and places it in the template.
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4. (3 - 5 min) Each group brainstorms the worst scenarios and finds 2 in which the concept should not work in anyway.
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5. (1 min) The templates are exchanged between groups.
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6. (12 - 15 min) Finally, each group comes up with one concept that can work in each of the worst scenarios.
Steps
Consulting
Exercise requires a previous exercise in order to have concepts and features
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You can use our template from the Library of Templates.
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
1. (1 min) The participants take place at a wall or big piece of paper, each participants being given post-it notes.
2. (1 min) A problem statement is presented and placed to a visible place.
3. (1 - 2 min) The participants write a cause for the statement (answering the question "why") on a note and stick it underneath the problem statement.
4. (12 - 20 min) The participants repeat this with the statement they wrote and place the new note underneath the former note. This is repeated 5 times in total.
6. (5 min) In the end, participants will try to find the most valid root cause for the initial problem.
Steps
Once everyone is done, similarities could be linked
It might be difficult to create a chain of 5 reasons. If this happens, accept fewer.
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
1. (1 min) The participants are divided into pairs.
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2. (1 min) The pairs are given a topic and a template with questions. (alternatively, the pairs can be asked to create relevant questions to the topic)
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3. (4 - 6 min/ person) One person from each pair interviews the other and takes notes.
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4. Depending on the workshop, the answers can be presented to the rest of the groups.
Steps
Create templates to guide the interview situation
Consider the desired output with regards to asking the participants to answer as themselves or as a given persona
None
Rules
Notice
Linking exercises
This exercise can be linked to any other activity or used as an independent activity.
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STAGE DISCUSSION
Ideation and discussion exercices
After
During
Before
After
During
Before
2+ participants
Any audience
10 minutes
per round
Templates,
pre-written cards, pens
Converging
Unlimited
Any audience
20-25 minutes
Template, pens
Any phase of the process
4+ participants
Any audience
15-30 minutes
Templates, Post-its, pens
Any phase of the process
2+ participants
Any audience
10-15 minutes
Templates, pens