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The best way to get ideas out is quickly — and Post-it® Products are the right tools to help you do just that. If you’ve got a problem to solve or a big issue that needs breaking down, gather a team and sprint toward the finish line by letting the ideas come fast and furious. Making sure that every voice on the team is heard will more productively lead to that big “aha!” moment.
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1. Gather your team and remove the barriers to expression
When it comes to ideas, capturing all of them before they disappear into the ether is important — and writing them down by hand is the most powerful way to make sure they don’t escape. Gather your team in a room with an open wall, and pass out some pens and different colored pads of Post-it® Super Sticky Notes 3 in. x 3 in. They’re a great tool for this sprint process — their small size helps keep ideas brief and to the point, the colors make them pop, and, thanks to being super sticky, they can be moved around the wall and rearranged as needed.
Chat briefly about the problem or issue you’re trying to solve, and then encourage everyone to jot down any thoughts or ideas that come up as fast as they can and stick them to the wall. Timing this exercise can be helpful — 8 to 10 minutes is great. If you’re collaborating in an open environment without access to a wall, use a Post-it® Tabletop Easel Pad — it’s easy to set up on a table when you need a vertical surface for collaborating.
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2. Group related ideas and thoughts
With your team, start grouping ideas and thoughts that are similar or that seem related into clusters on the wall — simply rearrange your Post-it® Super Sticky Notes 3 in. x 3 in. to keep up with the group collaboration. Quickly identify which ideas are contenders, which are pretenders, and which could serve as support until a central idea comes into focus.
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3. Discuss and distill
Now have everyone in the room stick Post-it® Arrow Flags on their three favorite ideas. The flags make it easy to highlight which ideas people love, and you can also color-code them to team members to track votes.
Step back and take a look at which ideas received the most votes, remove the rest, and discuss. Congrats — you have an idea! But what could make it better? What if you served an entirely different audience? How would your idea change if you had only $1000 to put towards it? Challenge your idea with questions and pivot if necessary to arrive at something truly stunning.
Thinking fast within a group is really a great way to capture a lot of ideas in a short period of time and arrive at a central idea that everyone can rally behind. Speed is key — with Post-it® Products, ideas can be captured almost as fast as they’re thought of, giving you and your team the best opportunity to make your mark on the world. Follow these steps, and you’ll be collaborating toward solutions at lightning speed:
- Gather your team and remove the barriers to expression
- Group related ideas and thoughts
- Discuss and distill
