Techniques For Generating Ideas In Design Thinking

Stuck in a rut? Does coming up with a good idea feel like picking something to watch on Netflix? (every choice is mediocre, you end up arguing/scrolling for 2 hours) I have a few ‘good ideas’ to help. Here are 4 brainstorming techniques for UX problems. 💡 🧠 The HMW Reframing Method Start with a challenge—users aren't completing sign-up. Now, reframe it as a How Might We question—how might we make sign-up irresistibly easy? This simple switch kickstarts solution-oriented thinking.  Pro tip: Generate multiple HMWs for each problem to explore different angles. 🧠 The Intersection matrix Create a grid with user needs on one axis and random objects or concepts on the other. For example, "Quick checkout" meets "Rollercoaster." How could the thrill and speed of a rollercoaster inform your checkout process? It's weird, agreed. But you never know, you might end up with unexpected brilliance. 🧠 Reverse brainstorming Flip the script. Instead of asking "How do we improve user engagement?", ask "How could we completely destroy and annihilate user engagement?" List all the terrible ideas, then reverse them. It's a fun way to identify pain points and generate solutions you might have overlooked. 🧠 The 5 Whys You know this classic. Basically, become a toddler. Start with a problem statement and ask "Why?" five times. Each answer becomes the basis for the next "Why?" This helps you dig deeper and uncover root causes. For example: - Users aren't using the new feature. Why? - They don't know it exists. Why? - We haven't promoted it effectively. Why? - Our notification system is broken. Why? - It wasn't properly tested before launch. Why? - We rushed the development process. Boom. Now you know where to focus your problem-solving efforts. It also helps to begin ideation with the ‘hair on fire’ problem. Here’s how. https://bit.ly/4dHyjWl Let’s do opposites. What’s a brainstorming exercise you hate, and why do you think it doesn’t work? Looking to find some interesting answers in the comments! 🥸

Creativity isn't a gift you're born with. It's a process you can learn. Here are 4 tactics to inspire imaginative thinking used by the US government's intelligence analysts. 1. 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 The most basic creativity technique that we all know. → Pose one clear focal question → Write ideas individually first → Display without criticism → Cluster themes naturally → Select the most promising paths 2. 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 Your biggest blindspots? External forces you're ignoring: → Map the generic problem → List social, tech, economic forces → Identify your influence points → Assess potential impacts → Find the hidden dominoes 3. 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 Think like your adversary. It changes everything: → Find people who understand your competitor → Ask "What would I do in their shoes?" → Map out their likely moves → Write their strategy playbook → Use it to stress-test your plans 4. 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 Stop predicting one future. Map multiple possibilities: → Interview domain experts → Brainstorm critical forces → Select uncertain variables → Create scenario matrices → Write narrative stories What other techniques do you use? ♻️ Find this valuable? Repost to help others. Follow me for posts on leadership, learning, and excellence. 📌 Want free PDFs of this and my top cheat sheets? You can find them here: https://lnkd.in/g2t-cU8P Hi 👋 I'm Vince, CEO of Sparkwise. I help orgs massively scale excellence by automating live group learning that sparks critical thinking, practice and action.

Need a better way to brainstorm? Shut Up and Write. This is a technique I developed a decade ago, based on my experience over roughly 100 executive workshops with Hyper Island. Though I'm hardly the only one to have figured it out. Jake Knapp calls it "working alone, together" in his book, Sprint. (h/t to Jonathan Courtney, who I first heard this phrasing from.) A while back, I shared the approach with Edward Boches — who later included it when he co-authored the 5th Edition (2016 version, I think) of the classic how-to-do-great-advertising-ideas book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This. (I increasingly wonder if today's younger readers have any idea what that title is referencing... but I digress...) The page below is from that book. His write-up leans into "ad ideas," of course, but it works brilliantly for ANY kind of ideation and brainstorming — and I've found that it inspires 10x more ideas, better ideas, and more diverse thinking than "just letting people throw ideas out there." THE WAY I USUALLY RUN IT: - Tell folks what they're working on - Set a timer for five minutes and have them write down as many ideas as possible on their own, in a notebook. (This is the Shut Up & Write part) - One at a time, have people share what they wrote down — and I encourage other participants to "yes and" along the way. An "okay" idea often becomes a "kick ass" idea when it sparks something in someone else. - Document these ideas on stickies as they're shared - Keep going until everyone has been heard. (This phase is all about idea generation. Curating down to the best ideas and action planning them is another thing.) If you try it (or have tried it), please share your experience! --- I write and share about Working Fast, Working Fun, and Working Creatively. I'm geeky about the future of collaboration. Please comment, like, follow, and share — because apparently more people do so when I ask. 😊 #Brainstorming #Collaboration #FacilitatorPro