Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower came up with the first instance of the action priority matrix. The world-famous Eisenhower Matrix, which is also known as the Priority Matrix or Urgent-Important-Matrix, is a simple, yet powerful tool for strategic management.

We have created 2 versions of the prioritization matrix template which can be used across a variety of use-cases.

Get started with the Priority Matrix template

Here at Conceptboard, we love productivity. We are always striving to work more productively, and share our tips with you.  That’s why we’re really excited to share our free Priority Matrix Template with you, as we’re sure that it’ll help you to manage your time better, and focus on your big goals.

Simply click the image below, and you’ll get taken straight to the template. After that, you can start filling it out immediately.

Use template

If you would like to learn more about productivity, you might enjoy reading about the 4 Types of Productive Workflows or How to communicate your ideas effectively.

What is the Priority Matrix?

The basic premise is that by analysing, then separating your tasks into four main quadrants filed under different areas of importance and urgency, it will allow you to plan your time better and reduce stress.

Quadrant 1: Urgent and important = Do First

The first square is for tasks and projects that are essential to your work or personal life. These are things that need to be done today or at the latest tomorrow and can’t be pushed back.

This might be replying to an important e-mail, finishing a presentation or report. Or in your private life, paying a bill or doing taxes. They’re things that will often have negative consequences, if they’re not finished on time.

Quadrant 2: Important, but not urgent = Do Later

The second quadrant is for tasks that are also important, but don’t need to be finished immediately. Therefore, you should schedule a dedicated time for them.

These tasks might include updating your website, meeting with a new supplier, or reading up on an important topic. These are usually important things for your long-term goals, but get swept aside, when something urgent comes up.

Quadrant 3: Urgent, but not important = Delegate

In the third square, you should list the things that are urgent, but not relevant and thus can be delegated. These activities might be more important to someone else than they are to you. So, make sure to ask yourself, if the task is important for you, or someone else?

These tasks could be delegated to someone else, or by enabling the requester to deal with the task themselves.

Quadrant 4: Neither urgent nor important = Eliminate

The final quadrant is for stuff that can be eliminated! These are things you shouldn’t be doing, maybe because they’re not in your scope, or because they’re time-wasting activities. By eliminating tasks that are big time wasters, your time management will become a lot easier.

How to put the Priority Matrix into practice?

Use this step-by-step guide to fill out your priority matrix:

1. To get started, jot down all the tasks and projects you want or need to get done.
2. Rate the activities based on their importance and urgency. You can rate them on a scale from 1-4 or use a scale of your choice, e.g. school grades or a 1-10 scale.
3. Now it’s time to add the items to the matrix. Try to limit each quadrant to eight items, to keep it achievable. Remember, the goal here is accomplishment!

When you add tasks to Quadrant 2, make sure you schedule a time for them, and include that time to the task in your matrix. This will keep you accountable, and help you with your time management.

Idea prioritization template

Another prioritization matrix that helps you save time and effort is the Idea Prioritization template. It’s a great tool to identify which ideas or projects are the most worthy of attention, based on their overall feasibility and importance.

Using a simple matrix where feasibility of an idea is plotted along the x-axis, and level of importance is plotted along the y-axis enables you to visualize which ideas have the greatest chance of success, and which ones should be avoided.

Use template

In addition to managing a project pipeline, an Idea Prioritization template can also be used to prioritize wish-list items within a larger project. For example, when designing a new website, you might have collected a long list of wish-list items from numerous stakeholders and departments.

Take the guesswork out of it by plotting them all on the idea prioritization matrix, so you can clearly see which ideas you should focus on in stage 1 and which ones can be looked at down the track.

A guide to using an Idea Prioritization template

• Gather your team remotely or in-person for a brainstorming session to generate new ideas. Write each action on a separate sticky note on the Idea Prioritization template. (Skip this step if you already have a long list of ideas or a project wishlist).
• Sort through the ideas and filter any that are completely out of the scope of possibility or unsuitable.
  Combine similar ideas onto one sticky note, or group ideas that could combine into one general idea. (More information on how to use digital sticky notes.)
• Ask for clarification from those who submitted the remaining ideas about what it would take to make each idea happen/come to fruition.
• As a group, start plotting the ideas onto the chart by placing the sticky notes corresponding to their feasibility and importance.
• At the top right-hand side of the chart, you will clearly be able to see which ideas you should prioritize based on their high importance and high feasibility.
• To get things started, assign tasks to various group members and arrange a follow-up meeting to keep the momentum going.

Boost your productivity with additional strategic management tools such as the to-do list template. Keep the momentum going with free business resources for ideation such as Creative Mind Mapping, Six thinking hats, and the Idea Board.

A KWL chart template is a simple visual learning tool popularized in the classroom. Now, with students of all ages learning from home, the KWL chart format can be used just as effectively online.

What does KWL stand for? The KWL acronym stands for the three columns on the chart: Know, Want to know, and Learned.

KWL charts are designed to encourage reading or guide a learning session. They are also a great way to refresh your knowledge about a certain topic or identify knowledge gaps.

Benefits of a KWL chart

KWL charts are a simple way to engage students in the learning process. Some main benefits of online KWL charts are:

• They are easy to use and understand
• Can easily identify knowledge gaps
• Put students in charge of their learning outcomes
• Perfect for group work and collaboration during distance learning
• They can be adapted to a range of topics or lessons

By taking notes during each stage of the learning process (current knowledge, questions or areas of interest, and learnings), KWL charts help teachers tailor their lessons to what the students feel like they need to know. Not only does this ensure students are not left with knowledge gaps, it also makes students feel involved with the learning process.

How to create a KWL Chart online

Select a topic to base the KWL chart on. This might be one specific lesson: How to run a Daily Standup meeting, or an entire learning unit: Agile methodology.

Use Template

1. Open the KWL chart template and start using it instantly in your classroom or workplace. The chart is divided into three columns, what I know, what I want to know, and what I learned.

2. Start at the KNOW column.

3. In the Want to Know column, create a list of questions covering what you want to know about this topic and add them as sticky notes on the board. If you get stuck, think about the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How of the topic.

4. Throughout the learning session, unit or reading activity, keep your questions from column two in the back of your mind.

5. Upon completion of the session, record the answers to your questions in the Learned column, as well as anything else you learned.

KWL chart template example

KWL charts are a great tool for students and teachers alike. We’ve created an example KWL chart template based on maths. Check it out below.

Conceptboard’s online whiteboard space makes it easy for teams to modify and collaborate on KWL diagrams online. This is great for school projects when students are learning from home or working together on group assignments after school. Plus, teachers can easily access the KWL chart and add markups and comments on the board.

We hope this article has helped you enhance your online learning sessions and make the most out of your learning experiences. Remember, learning is a continuous process, and with the right tools, you can not only make this process more efficient but also more enjoyable. Using KWL charts is not just a technique; it’s a key to deepening your knowledge and actively engaging in your learning journey.

If you need more tips, tricks, or tools for your learning, feel free to explore our resources. We’re here to ensure your learning experiences are as enriching as possible. Thank you for your time and happy learning!

Ready to give Conceptboard a try? Sign up for your free trial today.

The wrong priorities lead to bad decisions. Avoid this by using the bull’s eye diagram to prioritize tasks and focus on what’s really important.

In the lead-up to a project, it may seem like every task is of equal importance. However, the bull’s eye template design limits how many items can fit into the critical area, forcing teams to carefully separate the most critical from the less important tasks. This helps take the stress when it comes to decision-making and conflicts.

Read on to find out how to use this collaborative online template with your team.

What is a bull’s eye diagram?

A bull’s eye diagram is a strategic template designed in the shape of a bull’s eye. It helps teams work out where their real priorities lie. Each concentric circle radiating out from the center corresponds to a different level of importance. The inner-circle should hold only the absolute top-priority tasks, all the way to the outermost circle, which holds the least important tasks.

When to use a bull’s eye diagram

A frequent problem within project teams is that every feature or task can seem equally important. And various departments each have their own competing priorities. This can cause major headaches for project managers and slow down progress.

The bull’s eye diagram can help solve those problems. It takes the emotions out of decision-making and simplifies prioritization, due to the lack of space in the center. Once the center circle is full, you have no choice but to move other tasks further down the priority list.

The diagram is a useful problem-solving tool in case of project gridlock. Or even better, use it at the start of a project to determine the priority list to avoid gridlock. The most popular uses for the bull’s eye template are:

• Project management 
• Product development
• Brainstorming
• Feature prioritization
• Strategy planning

How to use a bull’s eye diagram template

Completing your own bull’s eye diagram is easy with Conceptboard’s free digital template. Get started by opening the bull’s eye diagram template below and sharing a link with your team. Then follow these five steps to complete it:

1. Define the purpose or goal of the template to avoid any confusion. Are you just focusing on this stage of the project, or are you looking at the entire project?
2. Set the timer for five minutes, and ask everyone to add their tasks as sticky notes on the board. Don’t worry about prioritizing them at this stage, simply add them all to the board.
3. Start by moving the lowest priority tasks to the outermost circle. These should be the nice-to-haves or the wish-list items. These are also the items that are dependent on other features being completed first. Discuss with teams until you reach a consensus.
4. Move onto the slightly smaller middle circle. Place the tasks that are important, but not critical, to achieving your goal. Perhaps they need to be done, but not immediately.
5. Now you should only have a few tasks list. These are the mission-critical tasks that need to be done before anything else. There is only room for a few tasks here, so you need to be very ruthless about which items are truly the most important.

Use template now

Once you’ve completed the bull’s eye template, you should have a clearer understanding of your priority list. Follow up by allocating tasks to team members and setting deadlines.

Save your bull’s eye diagram in your Conceptboard account, so you can return to it at any stage or download it as a PDF and share it with the wider team.

Prioritization templates

Bull’s eye diagramming is an easy, flexible, and intuitive tool that is often used during the planning or concept generation stage of a project. Task prioritization is such an important step within projects to ensure project timelines are met. To learn more, explore our other prioritization templates:

• Priority matrix
• To-do list template
• MoSCoW prioritization technique
• Kano template
• Product backlog

Read more about how Conceptboard helps your agile team seamlessly transition to remote.

Try Conceptboard with a 30-day free trial.

What is a Plus Minus Interesting template?

Don’t let the name confuse you. The Plus Minus Interesting (PMI) template is one of the simplest retrospective formats available. It simply asks your team to evaluate and sort their thoughts into positive, negative and interesting points. 

The PMI framework can help you:

• Brainstorm ideas
• Weigh up the pros and cons of a decision
• Reflect upon a project or product upon completion
• Identity strengths and weaknesses
• Create an open dialogue within teams 

When to use the plus minus interesting framework

The PMI strategy works best as a collaborative exercise completed with project teams. This will ensure you hear from various points of view, and make big decisions together.

The creator of the PMI framework, Dr. Edward de Bono, wanted to find a way to encourage people to think more laterally. He felt that one of the problems with traditional brainstorming is groupthink, the concept that people often focus on backing up an existing idea rather than looking for new ones. Therefore, PMI helps to expand each participant’s thinking and encourage creativity.  

Another popular use for the PMI template within businesses is as a retrospective. When completed right at the end of a project, you can capture extremely helpful and valuable feedback that can be used for continual improvement. 

It’s also a great education tool within classrooms, as this simple framework helps students learn how to critically analyze and sort out their thoughts.

How to create a plus minus interesting chart with a template

To create your own PMI chart, you will first need to gather your team. Conceptboard enables teams to create plus minus interesting framework collaboratively with their team, regardless of location. Our virtual whiteboard is an effective backdrop for all collaborative teamwork. 

Use template

1. Start by sending a link to the template board to your team
2. Once everyone has joined the board, introduce the purpose for the meeting
3. Ask everyone to start by adding their positive ideas on virtual sticky notes in the Plus column
4. Continue to the Minus column, where any negatives from the project should be added
5. And finally, in the Interesting column add anything that was a new discovery, or an interesting insight that is worth recording
6. Once the chart is full, spend 5–10 minutes reviewing all the sticky notes, asking follow-up questions and condensing similar ideas.

Your completed template can now serve as a reference point for future projects. The process should help you continually improve and grow from project to project.

Plus minus interesting example

We’ve created a sample Plus Minus Interesting retrospective, based on a brainstorming activity. Check it out below.

Use template

As you can see, the PMI framework is a great tool for critical thinking, focusing your attention, brainstorming and reflecting on past projects. After you’ve completed the chart, you will be in a better position to make a decision or implement changes based on your learnings.

Explore our other popular retrospectives in our free resource library:

• Plus-Delta retrospective
• Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective
• Start, Stop, Continue
• 4Ls retrospective

See how Conceptboard is powering the future of work by signing up for a 30-day free trial now.

Switch up your meetings and involve everyone in the discussion with Lean Coffee. This agenda-less meeting style is gaining traction within Agile teams thanks to its ability to ensure the meeting is an effective use of everyone’s time.

Plus, giving attendees the power to set their own agenda, creates a more active and engaged atmosphere.

This framework of driving meeting productivity in a leaderless, agenda-less setting is in line with the principles of lean thinking and hence the name.

So let’s take a look at how these agenda-less meetings actually work.

What is Lean Coffee?

Lean coffee is an informal meeting designed to allow participants to set the agenda as they go. Attendees choose what they want to discuss by voting on suggested topics, meaning there is no meeting leader or set-agenda.

Small groups, ideally no more than 10, gather informally to discuss topics of their choice. This format ensures that the meeting is ‘not just another meeting’, but actually a productive use of everyone’s time.

Best of all, virtual tools such as Conceptboard’s digital whiteboard allow teams to run remote meetings with ease.

When to run lean coffee?

Many teams choose the lean coffee format for virtual team brainstorms and retrospectives. This format allows everyone to voice their ideas equally and ensures the meeting is productive and effective. The last thing anyone wants these days is another pointless meeting.

You can also use lean coffee to educate new starters in your team. If you have teammates who don’t have experience with methodologies such as Agile or Scrum, a lean coffee gives them the chance to ask all their burning questions in an open, team setting. This can help cement ideas or reignite concerns existing team members may have.

Use a free Lean coffee template

Distributed teams can easily run a lean coffee meeting virtually using Conceptboard’s virtual whiteboard. We created a simple template to help you get started. Plus, with handy tools such as online sticky notes, pens, icons, a built-in timer and sharable boards, it’s never been easier to bring everyone together remotely.

Use template

If you’re new to the concept, be prepared to run the first one or two meetings as experiments. Give everyone a few weeks to get used to this unstructured format. After that, setting up a reoccurring lean coffee meeting will be useful.

Five simple steps for running a virtual session

Set a meeting time and share a link to the Conceptboard template with all participants. Then follow these five steps to run your own lean coffee:

1. Topics: All participants should add the topics they’d like to discuss as sticky notes on the board.
2. To discuss: Set the timer, and give everyone 2 minutes to vote on their three favorite topics. Use dots or thumbs-up icons to allocate votes. Move the winning ideas into the to discuss column.
3. Discussing: Set the timer for eight minutes, and start discussing the first topic.
4. Continue or move on: When the timer runs out, ask everyone to vote on whether they are finished with this topic, or would like to continue. If it’s finished, move it into the Done column, then proceed onto the next topic.
5. Wrap up: Leave a few minutes at the end of the meeting to discuss any action items, or share any learnings. Listen to any feedback and adjust accordingly for the next session.

Use Conceptboard for your virtual meetings

Lean coffee is a great format for empowering team members to ensure meetings are truly beneficial. By allowing participants to decide on the agenda collectively, it flips the traditional meeting on its head. For virtual teams, lean coffee meetings on shared boards can help break down silos, onboard new team members and ensure everyone gets the answers they need. Plus, any topics that you ran out of time to discuss can be easily carried over to the next meeting.

If you want to see what else you can accomplish on Conceptboard’s virtual whiteboard, check out our blog. We’ve got close to 100 ready-made templates for all your virtual meetings, such as the feedback capture grid, The Project Kickoff and the Meeting minutes template.

If you want to give Conceptboard a try, get started with a 30 day free trial.

Let’s take a look at how it works.

What is perceptual mapping?

To make improvements, you first need to understand what your baseline is. When it comes to intangible concepts such as perceived value, this is especially hard but equally important. This is where the brand positioning map can help. It can give you a clear understanding of where you sit in the market: i.e. your baseline.

Marketing teams can use these insights into consumer behavior to deliver targeted marketing campaigns, then compare results with the original baseline.

Perceptual maps are most commonly a four-square grid design, divided along and X and Y axes. These two axes can correspond to any two competing values- it’s up to you to decide based on your goals. For example, you might plot quality vs range or design vs performance.

How to create a perceptual (or brand positioning) map online

1. Pick two parameters

The first step is to decide on your two parameters. This will depend on what information you have available, and which industry you’re in.

If you are creating a perceptual/ brand positioning map online based on the collective knowledge and experience and assumptions of the market, you will want to choose parameters that are linked to your industry.

If you have access to a market research study or focus groups, then you will need to pull that data and pick out two parameters that can be compared.

Here are just a few examples of product categories and their common attributes from Segmentation Style guide. You’ll note that price is not mentioned, as you should try to avoid using price as one of the axes, as price and quality are highly inter-related and will skew the results.

• Shoes: Comfort, design, style, quality, functionality
• Instant coffee: flavor, country of origin, quality
• Breakfast cereal: health values, sugar, fun/boring, variety, taste
• Holidays: temperature, travel distance, value, cultural offerings, safety.
• Consultancy: expertise, availability, past results.

This list is by no means exhaustive, so you may also have your own ideas, depending on your industry. But in any case, you will need to pick two attributes and plot them on the x and y axes.

2.  List your competitors

The next step is to list all your major competitors that offer similar products to you. Aim for 10 to give your map some real depth and insight.

3. Rate your competitors

To start building out your map, begin by giving each of your competitors a rating between 1-5, with one being the lowest and five the highest, for both of your parameters. This will make it easy for you to plot them.

And finally, give yourself a rating, so you know where you fit on the map.

4. Complete your perceptual mapping template

You will now be able to see exactly where you stand compared to your competitors, and potential gaps in the market.

How to use a perceptual mapping template

A perceptual mapping template helps teams work faster and collaborate online with ease. Simply click on the image below to access Conceptboard’s collaborative, online perceptual map maker – perfect for remote or distributed teams.

Use template

Send the link to your team to collaborate together, and once it’s finished, you can easily save it in your account or download and share it as a PDF.

Example of a perceptual map:

To help you get a better understanding of what a completed perceptual map looks like, we’ve put together an example using fast-food chains. Here, we’ve plotted the outlets based on the number of locations and the variety of menu items. Check it out below. 

Use template

As you can see, a perpetual map is a great tool to understand what your customers think about you and your competitors. With this information at hand, you can make strategic decisions when it comes to advertising, branding, market expansion and even pricing. 

Keep up the momentum and explore our template library, with almost 100 templates for all your business needs. Read more

• 10 best strategy planning templates you can use right now

• Understanding your customer with 3 essential templates

See how Conceptboard is the future of collaboration with a 30 day free trial.

Templates such as the Starfish Retrospective can help you take it a step further and identify what values each team member got out of it. This is a great way to build understanding within team members and understand where each others priorities lie.

Let’s take a look at how it works.

What is a starfish retrospective?

A retrospective meeting should be an open discussion where everyone has a chance to contribute their opinions. The risk though is that without some structure, the discussion might go nowhere, or worse, only focus on the problems, instead of finding solutions.

Which is why Starfish diagram is a great way to structure an agile retrospective.

The 5 point retrospective has five key areas, based on the following criteria:

• Stop Doing – something that is not bringing value, or is a roadblock.
• Less Of – something already being done that could be reduced.
• Keep Doing – something the team is doing well and should be acknowledged.
• More Of – something already being done that could bring more value if done even more.
• Start Doing – a new idea, or something that could help improve.

By focusing on the negatives first, it allows the discussion to embrace design thinking to think creatively and places more emphasis on positive thinking, not the negatives. We’ve also rounded up 11 amazing retrospective ideas along with corresponding templates to inject some fun and variety into your project and sprint retrospectives!

Starfish retrospective for agile & scrum

Constant improvement is a foundation of Agile, and regular retrospectives at the end of every sprint are key. Scrum teams will be able to get focused results in a short time using the starfish retrospective. In large group discussions, using a collaborative visual template can help capture all ideas so they don’t get lost.

But, it doesn’t only benefit scrum teams. In fact, the starfish diagram can be used in any sort of meeting that requires an assessment or review to improve processes. It’s a simple way to collect constructive feedback, without leaving anyone feeling excluded.

Starfish retrospective template

Retrospectives are collaborative in nature, so using an online collaboration tool like Conceptboard enables co-located and remote teams to gather all essential team members with ease. 

Use template

Our online template saves you time and allows you to focus on jumping straight into the session. Perhaps most importantly, by compiling all information in an online starfish retrospective template, teams can reflect on their progress by reviewing past templates. Plus. it’s easy to expand by adding additional templates such as the priority matrix or the feedback grid to delve even deeper.

6 Steps to completing the retrospective

1. The scrum master (or meeting moderator) should load the Starfish diagram template which is already divided into five sections.
2. Give everyone five minutes to add their ideas onto sticky notes in the sections
3. Spend 10 minutes reviewing all the ideas, asking follow-up questions, and discussing.
4. If certain ideas appear multiple times on the board, they should be given extra importance.
5. Ask everyone to vote by adding a dot next to the three most important ideas that should be focused on in the next sprint.
6. Review the results and compile a list of Actions/Decisions to ensure changes are implemented.

At the end of the next sprint, once again you can gather the team and complete another Starfish retrospective. This continual feedback loop ensures you can continually iterate and improve.

Feel free to try our other project retrospective templates such as the Lessons Learned template, Sailboat retrospective or prioritization techniques such as the Moscow method.

Whether you use the grid during live testing or immediately afterwards to organize feedback, it’s a simple yet succinct way to analyse feedback. If you’re looking at alternative retrospectives techniques to add some variety to your sprint retrospectives, we’ve listed out 11 retrospective ideas and templates you can use today!

Let’s take a closer look at how to use it.

Why use a feedback capture grid?

A feedback capture grid is a great way to understand and record what people are trying to tell you.

If you are an experienced developer, you will approach problems differently from a member of the general public testing software for the first time. So by using a feedback grid, not only can it help you capture their thoughts, it can help you ask understand commonalities and visualize priorities.

You might want to use a feedback grid during a user testing phase, a playback, a workshop or an engagement.

Best of all, using a collaborative online whiteboard like Conceptboard means you can capture feedback efficiently and transparently no matter where you are in the world.

Feedback capture grid in Design Thinking

Design thinking is way of looking at problems through a different lens. It approaches problem solving from the perspective of the customer so you always focus on satisfying your users needs.

The feedback capture grid fits within this approach, providing you with an avenue to easily collect user feedback to ensure you are always delivered a product that they want and need. It allows you to understand what elements they love, what functions or sections don’t make sense, as importantly the problems or issues that face. That way, every product release will get a step closer to the customers exact needs.

We also have some more retrospective design thinking templates you might want to check out:

• Quick Retrospective Template
• The 4Ls Retrospective
• Start, Stop, Continue 

How to use a feedback capture grid template

When capturing feedback, it’s important to be constructive and as detailed as possible. Encourage testers to explain why they don’t like something, or why they are getting confused buy something. The more details you have, the better the iterations will be.

Use template

If you’re running a live workshop, ask testers to give feedback directly on the board using sticky notes. The best feedback comes from fresh thoughts.

1. Invite your team to join a board with the feedback capture grid loaded.
2. Start by filling in the Likes: note down any positive feedback received
3. Next, complete Criticisms, with any negative feedback or issues
4. In Questions, write down questions raised during the testing
5. Lastly, in Ideas, add any ideas that you heard during testing, or suggested improvements users came up with.
6. Once your grid is full, you can move into synthesizing feedback into clusters of related or common themes.
7. The final step is to brainstorm ideas on dealing with the most important issues, then create an action item list.

After each testing, you can use the feedback capture grid to ensure continual iteration and improvement.

If you want to explore some of our other related templates, try out the Customer Empathy map, the Sailboat retrospective template or the Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective template.

Because if you can identify with potential problems before commencing a project, you’ll be better equipped to prepare for them and overcome them.

Reverse brainstorming is a creative way of flipping our perspective and turning problems into opportunities. We’ve created a free and easy-to-use reverse brainstorming template that you can use with your remote team.

First, let’s take a look at how it works.

What is reverse brainstorming?

Reverse brainstorming employs our ability to see problems more easily than solutions. In this way, it leans into our natural tendency to criticise and see flaws in a plan. Then after identifying these problems the team can move onto trying to solve those problems and outlining a plan for ongoing success. 

Therefore, if your team is overwhelmed or bogged down in a project, flipping the approach can be a good way to take advantage of that negativity. Instead of shutting down the problems, you can use them as the jumping off point for some ideation. 

Similarly, it’s a great activity for entrepreneurs and creatives to approach solving complex problems that feel too big.

This is just one creative way to problem solve. To explore more of our brainstorming templates, check out these 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team such as the SCAMPER technique, round-robin brainstorming or brainwriting. 

Difference between brainstorming and reverse brainstorming

In traditional brainstorming, you begin by identifying a problem, eg: How do we sell more shoes? and the team shares their creative ideas, eg: Make them cheaper, hire a celebrity ambassador. However, the ideas you generate may not actually be relevant, practical or even possible, so the session ends up being pointless and de-motivating. Alternatively, if one dominant voice pushes their idea, others get swept to the side without much consideration.

Whereas in reverse brainstorming, you start by considering all the possible problems that you might encounter, eg: competitors release similar shoes, website crashes, leather supplier closes down. You’ll subsequently generate much more relevant and directly applicable ideas. It also shakes up old way of doing things, pushing the brain in a new direction. 

The best brainstorming tool

Brainstorm seamlessly with your remote team with Conceptboard’s collaborative online whiteboard

Learn more →

A 5 step guide

Start up inviting your team to join the board loaded with the reverse brainstorming template. Use sticky notes to complete the following five sections:

1. Define the problem or project you are focusing on.
2. Reverse the problem and list things that could make it even worse
3. Collect ideas from everyone concerning potential problems they foresee occurring during the project 
4. Reverse these ideas, to find solutions to them.
5. Identify solutions that can help solve the original ideas and move them into the final section. 

Using a reverse brainstorming template

Our collaborative reverse brainstorming template allows you to participate in a remote brainstorming session with your team even everyone is remote. Thanks to live cursors you can easily track what every participant is doing!

Simply click on the image to open it and then follow the steps listed above.

Use template

Once you’ve completed it, you can leave it saved in the board, or export the finished version as a PDF. 

What is the SCAMPER technique?

Created by author Bob Earle in the 1970s, SCAMPER is a brainstorming technique that expands your lateral thinking through seven creative prompts. SCAMPER is an acronym that stands for:

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify
• Put to another use
• Eliminate
• Reverse

These seven prompts will help boost your creativity and push your thinking in new directions when it comes to developing new products or improving current ones. Let’s take a closer look at how to use the SCAMPER method technique in a virtual setting with Conceptboard.

If you’d like to explore additional brainstorming techniques, we’ve rounded up 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team.

How to use the SCAMPER technique

The best way to follow the SCAMPER technique is by going through each subsection and asking your team a range of prompting questions. After that, they can then add their answers on sticky notes on the virtual whiteboard. The questions are designed to really think in creative ways, so don’t be worried if the answers are ridiculous, or difficult to define.

We’ve included a list of some example questions, but it’s by no means exhaustive. Let’s look at some of the questions you could ask for each letter of SCAMPER.

The best brainstorming tool

Brainstorm seamlessly with your remote team with Conceptboard’s collaborative online whiteboard

Learn more →

SCAMPER technique questions

Substitute

• What could you substitute or swap to improve the product?
• What processes or rules could you substitute?
• Can you use this product elsewhere, or as a substitute for something else?

Combine

• Is there another product or service you could combine this with to create a new offering?
• Are there any companies you could collaborate with?
• How could you combine talent and resources to create a new version of this product?

Adapt

• How could you adapt or readjust this product to serve another purpose?
• Is there a new trend you could embrace and adapt to?
• What other context could you put your product into?

Modify

• What could you add to modify this product?
• Are there elements of the marketing message, which you could modify?
• What element of this product could you change to be able to modify the pricing?

Put to Another Use

• Is this product able to be used elsewhere? Perhaps in another industry?
• Is there another user base you could sell to?
• Is there a way to put this product into the circular economy to reduce its waste?

Eliminate

• What features, parts, or rules could you eliminate?
• How could you make it smaller, faster, lighter, or less packaging?
• What would happen if you removed something from this product?

Reverse

• What if you try to do the exact opposite of what you’re trying to do now?
• What components could you reorder?
• How could you re-organize elements such as the website, shopping or sign up process?

Using the SCAMPER template

We’ve created a simple SCAMPER template that you can use for your virtual brainstorming session.

Simply click on the link below and invite your team to join the board. Firstly, add the problem or product you are working on in the centre of the diagram.

Use template

Then, move through each section, adding ideas onto sticky notes under each subheading. After that, review the ideas, vote on your favorites and create a short list of viable options.

You could then add a Priority Matrix template or an Affinity Diagram to the board to help with refining and grouping the ideas.

Best of all, all your notes and ideas are saved on the board forever, so you can refer back to them at any time.

We love exploring creative ways to brainstorm. Want more? Check out 6 more unique brainstorming methods on our blog.

The method has gained popularity in recent years as people look to improve the way teams come together to solve problems. On top of that, as the workforce shifts to remote work, this technique is easy to replicate visually on an online whiteboard. If you’d like to explore alternative brainstorming techniques, we’ve rounded up 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team. 

So let’s take a look at how to run a Round Robin brainstorming session on Conceptboard.

Advantages of Round Robin brainstorming

Like most brainstorming sessions, the major benefit of Round Robin brainstorming is harnessing multiple ideas to solve problems. However, where it differs is that its collaborative structure allows all voices to be heard. We’ve all been in regular brainstorming sessions that have gone nowhere as one person dominates the discussion. With Round Robin, not only do all participants visualise their ideas using text and sketches (instead of verbally), it also gives everyone’s ideas equal weight.

The second major benefit of Round Robin brainstorming is that within the session you already identify and solve potential roadblocks, before the idea has even left the paper. This is a great way to consider the true value of the idea before investing too much work.

With collaborative whiteboard tools such as Conceptboard, you don’t need to worry about all being in the same room. So whether your team is remote or co-located, make the switch to online whiteboards and collaborate anywhere with ease. Plus, the limitless board space means you never run out of space for your ideas.

How to do Round Robin brainstorming

We’ve created a simple template you can use for your Round Robin brainstorming. There’s space for up to five participants, but you can easily adapt it to large groups by selecting a block and Copy+Pasting. However, for very large groups, we recommend you split into smaller groups of six to keep the activity moving quickly.

Use template

Steps:

1.  Invite all participants to join Conceptboard, with a Round Robin template loaded.
2. Start by first defining the problem statement you are trying to solve. You can use the How Might We template to help you with this first step.
3. Then, give each participant time to sketch out a possible solution to the problem. The sketches don’t have to be highly artistic, but it can help to add a few notes in the box to further explain your idea.
4. After 8 minutes, everyone moves along one block in a clockwise direction. They then set about identifying possible risks or roadblocks with the idea presented above. Sketch these out in the box.
5. Once more, everyone moves along one spot. Now, the final step is to identify how you could mitigate the risks mapped out above. And then, further expand on the idea to make it even stronger.
6. By the end, the bottom row should contain a very strong and well-thought-out idea. This can be presented back to the group by the person who just completed the final box.
7. To conclude, everyone should vote to get a group consensus on the winning idea.

As you can see, Round Robin is a great way to get everyone involved in the problem-solving process. Not only that, initial ideas can be further expanded and risks identified before moving too far along the development process.

If you want to see some more techniques to improve your brainstorming sessions, check out our recent article on 5 top brainstorming techniques for teams.

The concept is simple: give each team member eight minutes to sketch out eight ideas on a Crazy Eights template. The frenzy that follows can produce some pretty wild ideas. It is called Crazy Eights for a reason!

Let’s take a closer look at what you can accomplish with the Crazy Eights technique.

Crazy 8’s in Design Thinking

Crazy 8’s is as a core component of the design sprint stage within design thinking. It challenges designers to really think creatively, pushing past their initial ‘normal’ ideas to get to some really crazy, abstract or impossible ones.

With the time set to just eight minutes, designers don’t have time to critique, refine or overthink ideas. They just need to scribble something down in that small box and then keep the ideas flowing as they move on. Similarly, the sketches don’t need to be artistic, they just need to express an idea. Therefore, it’s important to reassure everyone that they’re not being judged on their artistic abilities.

The aim is diverging until you have a wide range of solutions, then converge back until you land on the winning idea.

Use template

Crazy eights in UX design and prototyping

You can use the Crazy 8’s strategy to come up with designs for website landing pages, e-commerce sites, products or even spatial designs. Basically, anything that has a user experience (UX) element to it. The shape of the template lends itself to mobile wireframes, but feel free to turn the template 90 degrees to better suit website page layouts.

In UX design, the customer needs to be at the centre of all designs. So it can help to invite various stakeholders, or the client, into a UX design Crazy 8’s workshop. That way, you may be able to identify what they have in mind subconsciously, saving a lot of back and forth.

Use template

Crazy Eights as a brainstorming technique

Crazy Eights works well for general brainstorming as it provides structure, it’s short and sharp, and it can pull ideas out of the subconscious mind. Similarly to the brainwriting technique, you find previous ideas trigger the next one and so-on. If you’d like to explore additional brainstorming techniques, we’ve rounded up 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team.

Whether your team is co-located or remote, using a collaborative online whiteboard will make it easy for everyone to participate in real-time. Plus, we’ve taken the step for you by creating a simple and free Crazy 8’s template.

Crazy Eights template

Use this template

1. Start by inviting everyone to open a board (or insert a Crazy 8’s template for each person on one board).
2. Set a timer for 8 minutes (or 8 individual one minute blocks)
3. Ask everyone to sketch out 8 quick ideas in the boxes within the time limit using the pen tool. Remind everyone it’s about the concept, not the sketching skills, but they can also use icons, lines, text and shapes. No idea is too crazy!
4. As soon as the timer buzzes, it’s time to stop.
5. Everyone takes turns presenting and explaining their ideas.
6. Then ask everyone to vote on their favorites by assigning dots or ticks next to the top.
7. You may choose to move the winning ideas into the prototyping phase, or do another round of Crazy 8’s to refine the ideas even further.

By using an online Crazy eights template, you are able to easily iterate and collect feedback on the one board. That way, you can preserve feedback as it’s not erased at the end of the day. Plus, you can easily expand and refine the ideas over time.

Crazy 8’s is a great technique to get team members to collaborate remotely in a cost and time efficient way. Remember, it’s not about the quality of the ideas, but the quantity. You never know when inspiration will strike and spark an idea!

If you want to see more of our Design Thinking templates , feel free to check out the Customer Empathy Map, Problem statement, Idea Prioritization, Wireframe Template and Retrospective templates.

The How Might We technique employs a language trick to open up creative thinking. Firstly, by asking how might we, instead of how will we, you encourage a multitude of related ideas, rather than focusing on just finding the answer. Secondly, it allows you to “to defer judgment, which helps people to create options more freely, and opens up more possibilities,” writes the Harvard Business Review.

Everyday, teams face problems that need solving. The bigger the problem, the more creative the solution needs to be. So if your team struggles when it comes to innovating, it might be time to introduce How Might We…

Let’s take a look at how to use our collaborative How Might We template as the backbone for your brainstorming and ideation. If you’d like to explore additional brainstorming techniques, we’ve rounded up 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team.

Ideation in Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a way of flipping problems on their head and focusing on the human needs behind the problems. By asking different questions, we will get different solutions. That is why so many teams are running How Might We workshops during the ideation phase of Design Thinking.

But it’s important to complete the first two steps: building customer empathy and defining the problem, as they will ensure you are looking at the problem in the right way.

How Might We questions

At its heart, How Might We is simply another way of brainstorming. But it’s gaining popularity among business leaders thanks to its simple way of reframing problems into opportunities. Because it implies that a solution can be found, we just need to do some work to find it!

How: Suggests we do not yet have the answer, but it allows us to explore a range of concepts instead of jumping straight into the solutions.

Might: Places emphasis on the possibility that there are many ideas that could lead to a solution, permitting everyone to contribute without judgment.

We: Frames the problem as one that can only be solved through collaborative problem-solving and teamwork.

How Might We statements

In Design Thinking it’s important to frame your problem from the point of view of your users. Importantly, it should be broad enough that it doesn’t actually restrict the ideas to the status quo. But also be specific enough that you can focus on something achievable. Below is a great example from DesignKit:

Too broad: How might we redesign public toilets in India?

Too narrow: How might we create a door knob for Indian public toilets that is clean, safe, and invites users in?

Just right: How might we create a real sense of safety in public toilets?

The final statement is the best as it allows for a variety of solutions, it also frames the problem in a positive way, and emphasises a change to the status quo.

How to use a How Might We template

Use template

1. Invite your team to the collaborative board and explain the exercise.
2. Start by adding your problem statements to the board, framing them as HMW questions.
3. Give everyone five minutes to add their own further HMW questions as sticky notes on the board under each heading.
4. Once you have a board full of questions, it’s time to narrow it down.
5. Optionally, follow-on by categorising the ideas on an Affinity Diagram. You can add an Affinity Diagram map to the board from the Template sidebar.
6. Alternatively, encourage everyone to add a vote (a tick, or an icon such as a star) to their top three questions.
7. Based on which sticky notes received the most votes, you now have key questions to explore in your next virtual brainstorming session.

To keep up the momentum, explore more of our content on the remote Design Thinking process. Check out Transform your remote Design Thinking sessions with Conceptboard and the best Design Thinking activities & tools for 2023.

Feel free to leave your comments below if you have any questions or feedback. Happy collaborating!

Brainstorming is a great way to come up with creative ideas as a team. But it isn’t the most structured way to work with this board full of ideas and information, and at the end of the session teams may leave teams feeling frustrated if there are no clear takeaways. This is where an Affinity Diagram comes in (also known as an affinity chart or K-J method after its founder Kawakita Jiro).

It is a visual map that organizes ideas into categorized clusters after the initial brainstorming. This process of creating affinity diagrams is known as affinity mapping. Affinity mapping allows all ideas to be strategically analyzed- instead of just focusing on one of two standouts. As clear themes start to emerge, you can consider multiple solutions to each problem.

We’ve created a simple affinity diagram template and guide you can use for your Affinity Diagrams. Read on to see how it works.

Use template

When to use an Affinity Diagram?

Affinity Diagrams are already widely used broadly within Design Thinking frameworks for a range of purposes, so why not give it a try and supercharge your collaborative problem solving. If you’d like to explore additional brainstorming techniques, we’ve rounded up 15 brainstorming techniques and templates you can use collaboratively with your team.

Affinity Diagrams for Brainstorming

Brainstorming is the most common application for Affinity Diagrams. It’s the organized second step, once the bulk of ideas have been generated. Sorting these ideas into categories can help synthesize results and find common affinities within the ideas.

Affinity Diagrams for Project Management

An affinity diagram may be utilized by project teams in manual project planning when working in an area with incomplete knowledge. For example, When there is a large amount of uncategorized data, or when you need to stimulate idea generation and new patterns of thinking.

Affinity Diagrams for Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a method that is aimed at improving any sort of business processes from manufacturing to transactions. Among the many tools used by Six Sigma project teams, the one that consistently is used successfully by all types of teams is the Affinity Diagram.

Affinity Diagrams for UX Design

In UX Design, Affinity Diagram is used primarily by teams to quickly organize ideas about UX strategy and vision after a design-ideation meeting. It’s flow helps teams whittle down ideas until they have selected the one best idea in each category.

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Online Affinity Diagram mapping process

Affinity diagrams rely on Post-It notes to create the visual map. However, if your team is distributed, Conceptboard’s online whiteboard and digital sticky notes is the perfect tool to ensure your team can collaborate just as effectively online. Plus, once you’ve finished your map, you can export as a PDF, continue editing down the track or share with relevant stakeholders.

Introducing an online Affinity diagram into your remote brainstorming session is easy with our simple template. Watch the short video below to see it in action

We’ve broken the mapping process down into three main parts.

Step 1: Ideation

The first step of the process is the brainstorming. Define your problem, and give the team five minutes to brain dump all their ideas onto Sticky Notes in the empty large Brainstorming space. Alternatively, you can add one of our idea generation templates from the content sidebar such as:

Brainwriting

It’s a great idea generation technique that prioritizes participation and inclusivity. It’s also great for generating a large number of ideas in a short period of time. Try the brainwriting technique with our free template.

Lotus diagram

A lotus diagram is a great tool to lend structure to a brainstorming session. It focuses on using a grid structure in order to generate a wide range of ideas from a central theme.

Fishbone diagram

Also known as an Ishikawa diagram, a fishbone diagram is a cause and effect analysis tool used in a brainstorming session to drill down to the root of a problem. It’s a great addition to your collaborative problem solving toolkit.

Six thinking hats

This method focus on outside-the-box thinking for innovative problem solving. Six thinking hats is effectively used both in brainstorming as well as strategic decision making.

How Might We

How might we is an exercise used primarily in design thinking to reframe the problem as a challenge and focus on finding innovative solutions from different perspectives. Your How Might We could ideally become a launchpad for your brainstorming session.

Step 2: Diagraming

Next, it’s time to start looking at the ideas to find affinities and connections. It can help to talk through why you think ideas belong together and encourage discussion within the group. Be prepared for this step to take the longest, but eventually you will be able see a clear map emerge.

Once categories or themes have emerged, you can label the category areas and begin placing the sticky notes in the relevant categories.

The final step in the Affinity diagram is to select the final one or two ideas from each category and drag them into the lower Refinement area. Now, you should have identified exact solutions to your initial problems.

Step 3. Wrap-up

Once you have organized each group, think about the next steps and create a plan of action by assigning tasks to team members.

If you want to take it a step further, try adding the Action Priority or Priority Matrix templates to the board.

But first, let’s take a look at how it works.

What is a Risk Matrix?

A risk matrix or business risk assessment matrix is a graph that you use to plot the probability of certain risks occurring against the impact this would have on your business. In other words, how likely is it that this identified risk will actually happen, and how severely will it affect your business if it does?

The Risk Matrix tool works especially well because of its clear visual nature. By providing a simple visualization of potential risks, you can easily see which ones are high priority and which ones can be ignored – for now.

So where does a risk matrix fit into your project management toolbox? Let’s find out about the best time to conduct a risk assessment.

Using a Risk Matrix Template

A risk matrix template focuses on two key aspects:

• Severity: The impact of a risk and the negative consequences that would result.
• Probability: The probability of the risk occurring.

Using this free Conceptboard template will help you plot your risks according to these two aspects quickly and easily on the graph, by using online sticky-notes.

Use template

Firstly you need to decide on the severity rating for each identified risk. On the matrix, move along the x axis until you’ve reached the appropriate rating: Minor, Moderate, Significant or Severe.

Then, by moving along the y axis, assess at the probability of it happening. Starting from Unlikely: almost no possibility of this happening; then Possible: this has the potential to happen; lastly Highly Likely: risks that are bound to happen.  Continue in this manner for each risk you’ve identified.

After you’ve placed each risk in the template matrix according to their severity and likelihood, you will be able to clearly see which risks require the most attention, based on their color-coded rating of the box they appear in.

• Green = Low: The consequences of the risk are minor, and it is unlikely to occur. These types of risks are generally ignored.
• Yellow = Medium: Somewhat likely to occur, these risks come with slightly more serious consequences. If possible, take steps to prevent medium risks from occurring, but remember that they are not high-priority and should not significantly affect organization or project success.
• Orange = High: These are serious risks that both have significant consequences, and are likely to occur. Prioritize and respond to these risks in the near term.
• Red = Extreme: If any risks appear in the final two red squares labelled 11 or 12, these are catastrophic risks that have severe consequences and are highly likely to occur. Extreme risks are the highest priority and need to be mitigated immediately to ensure survival of the organization or project.

It’s important to address those deemed extreme and high risk by making a response plan. Meanwhile, those risks that fall into the medium and low categories can often be monitored, but depending on your teams time and resource limits, these probably don’t need to be addressed. However, it is important to keep monitoring your risks until the project is complete.

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Creating a risk matrix for your business

The first step in creating a risk management matrix is to identify all the possible risks. It’s important to gather your project team and collaborate on risk identification. In this brainstorming session, be sure to bring historical data or documents from any from prior risk assessments your organization has completed.

As a team, you should go through this list of potential risks compiled by MindTools, and nominate any that are relevant to your situation:

• Human – Illness, death, injury, or other loss of a key individual.
• Operational – Disruption to supplies and operations, loss of access to essential assets, or failures in distribution.
• Reputational – Loss of customer or employee confidence, or damage to market reputation.
• Procedural – Failures of accountability, internal systems, or controls, or from fraud.
• Project – Going over budget, taking too long on key tasks, or experiencing issues with product or service quality.
• Financial – Business failure, stock market fluctuations, interest rate changes, or non-availability of funding.
• Technical – Advances in technology, or from technical failure.
• Natural – Weather, natural disasters, or disease.
• Political – Changes in government, tax, public opinion, government policy, or foreign influence.
• Structural – Dangerous chemicals, building design, poor lighting, falling boxes, or any situation where staff, products, or technology may be harmed.

Use template

Once you’ve got a complete list of the risks your business faces, the next step is to plot them on the matrix according to their probability and severity.

Once you’ve worked out the weight of the risks you face, as a team, or with the help of a risk manager, you can plan ways to mitigate them. This may include choosing to avoid the risk, sharing it, or accepting it while reducing its impact. Popular tools such as the Kanban board can help you structure and prioritize this workflow. Kanban’s main principle is based on matching the amount of work in progress to the team’s capacity to streamline work and maximize efficiency.

When to use a Risk Assessment Matrix?

The best time to conduct a risk assessment matrix is during the project planning phase. This way all risks will be identified before any major work begins, meaning they can also be planned for and neutralized.

A Risk Matrix assessment has other important use cases too, such as when you’re improving safety or undergoing changes or renovations in the workplace. It’s also useful for preparing a plan for possible emergency situations such as natural disasters, staff sickness or injury, or even equipment or technology failure such as power outages.

If you’d like to read more about strategic management tools, check out our other articles such as Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, Pestel and SWOT analysis. Or use productivity tools such as  OKRs or SMART to help you achieve your goals today!