Here’s a stupid simple exercise any team can use to generate great ideas:

1. Get 5-10 of your people in the same room

2. Present them with the problem: What will you be generating ideas for?

3. Start a 5 minutes timer. Ask everybody to write down as many ideas as they can on individual sticky notes until the timer runs out.

4. Collect everybody’s notes and stick them on a whiteboard (or a wall) so that everyone can see them.

5. Start another 5 minutes timer. Ask everybody to come to the board (or wall), and draw a + on the sticky note with their favorite idea.

Pat yourself on the back. You just did in 10 minutes what most teams take between a few hours and a few weeks to achieve.

Why this process is great:

• It separates idea generation and evaluation. This helps generate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time. The more ideas generated, the higher the chances of stumbling upon a great one.

• Everybody gets heard

• It’s quick and fun