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Crazy 8s: collaborative brainstorming

Collaboration & Performance

Workshop Goals

  • Practice creative thinking and rapid brainstorming by challenging yourself to think outside the box
  • Generate a wide variety of solutions
  • Build on each other's ideas and contribute to a collaborative solution

Description

Crazy 8s is a rapid sketching experience for brainstorming creative, out-of-the-box ideas. In rounds, participants are challenged to develop new ideas in rapid succession, allowing no time to second guess their thoughts. In subsequent rounds, participants build on the ideas of each other to end up with a collaborative, creative solution worth prototyping or pursuing as a real project. Fast, fun, and challenging, it is also flexible - do as few or as many rounds as time allows. 

Quick FAQs

TIME

30 mins

TEAM SIZE

3+ people

FORMAT

Virtual, Lucid or paper

EXPERIENCE CATEGORY

Collaboration & Performance

What you'll need

Materials

 

For this workshop, you'll need:

  • Interactive Lucid board OR
  • A few sheets of paper and a pencil
  • A timer

Templates

 

If you prefer to use paper and pen/pencil, no template is required

If using Lucid, duplicate this template for you and your team. Allow each person to use their own board, or use the breakout function. You must first make your own copy of the template by hovering over the document or board name and selecting “duplicate".

 

Facilitator Notes

 

There are no facilitator notes required for this experience. Instructions can be found below as well as on the Lucid board itself.

Step-by-Step

You'll need to have a pre-defined problem or challenge to tackle for this experience. This can be anything that needs a creative solution - from a new product to a concept idea or marketing campaign. You might consider asking your team for input in advance. 

Let participants know they can choose between Lucid or pen and paper - it is more challenging to draw in Lucid, but also more collaborative overall. 

Crazy 8s is FUN! Get your team excited to challenge themselves creatively and make sure everyone knows no artistic ability is necessary. It's about the quantity of ideas, not quality. Be encouraging of unviable, unconventional, out-of-the-box ideas by letting them know this experience is meant to tap into ideas you might otherwise never consider pursuing. 

How to run the experience:

  • Each round lasts 8 minutes. Let participants know they'll have 8 minutes to sketch out 8 ideas. Announce the end of each minute and tell participants to move on to the next idea, - no matter how incomplete their current idea is.
  • After the round, invite participants to share their top 2 or 3 ideas. They could also identify where they may have come up with similar ideas.
  • Once everyone has shared, have participants vote to identify the top 3 ideas out of everything shared. 
  • Move on to another round, inviting participants to now refine or build on the winning 3 ideas from the last round. They can borrow elements from the previous round, ideas from other participants, and/or come up with completely new aspects!
  • Run as many rounds as you'd like or have time for. See if you can reach a final round where there is one clear idea worth pursuing, and everyone has 3 minutes to draft their vision for the final idea.
  • Make sure you have a timer handy. Each round runs for 8 minutes; after every minute, tell participants to move on to the next idea.
  • If using the lucid template, you might want to make the rounds a little longer as drawing with a mouse can be more challenging. Consider allowing 1, 5, or 2 minutes per square instead of just 1.
  • If allowing participants to draw on paper, have them hold up their sheets to the camera after each round to show their sketches. It makes a great team photo, as well!
  • If using paper, they can either draw lines to create 8 sections or fold the paper in half lengthwise, then in half, and then half again vertically to create creases.
  • Don't allow too much discussion or debate during the voting phases. We want to encourage creativity, so don't get stuck in the viability or criticising ideas. Unviable options will naturally be removed.
  • Encourage participants to build on the ideas of others - it's hard to generate so many new ideas in a short time! Borrow elements from others or from previous rounds when moving forward. 

By the end, you should have 2 or 3 final ideas that the entire group has converged on. You may have even been able to come out with one clear winner. As the next step, these chosen ideas could then be worked up into more refined designs, prototypes, go to stakeholders/research, or be further interrogated by the group – depending on what your workshop is trying to achieve.

Not quite right?

If these sessions don't cover the topic you're looking for, seem too light-touch, or you want to take a deeper dive, we recommend taking another look at our Facilitated Team Development offerings instead. Unsure exactly what's right for your team? Contact L&D for a consultation and we'll help you find the right training for your needs!