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The Role of This Tool in the Fourth Phase of the Design Thinking Method
In the Develop phase, brainwriting enables a team to generate many ideas in parallel and anonymously, ensuring that each person’s thinking is captured without being overshadowed by louder or more senior voices.
Participants individually write ideas and then build on each other’s contributions in successive rounds, producing richer, more diverse concept options. This is especially valuable during early Develop, when you want a wide idea base before clustering and shaping into coherent solution directions.
Brainwriting is most suitable for clearly framed, open‑ended challenges that benefit from diverse expertise—for example, “ways to redesign this journey,” “ideas to reduce friction at this point,” or “new service concepts for this segment.” It works particularly well in cross‑functional groups where hierarchy, personality, or culture might otherwise limit open speaking.
Its relative lack of live discussion constrains brainwriting; subtle clarifications, challenges, or synergies may be missed because participants write rather than speak. It also requires good facilitation to avoid duplication or superficial ideas, and can feel mechanical if the prompt is vague or participants are unprepared.
The Procedure for Using This Design Thinking Tool
Step 1: Present a well‑defined Develop‑phase question to the group, clarify scope and constraints, and ensure everyone understands the user and context.
Step 2: Ask each person to silently write a set number of ideas (e.g., 3–5) in a short timebox on a sheet or digital template, one idea per line or card, without discussion.
Step 3: Have participants pass their sheet to the next person, who reads the existing ideas and adds new ones or builds on them during another short timebox; repeat this for 2–3 rounds.
Step 4: Collect all completed sheets, display ideas on a wall or digital board, and cluster them into themes or emerging concept directions.
Step 5: Facilitate a group review to clarify and refine clusters, then select several promising themes to develop further into concept sketches, storyboards, or experiments.
Tips for Facilitators: The facilitator should craft a tightly focused prompt that everyone can quickly understand, and that fits on one line (e.g., “Ideas to make first‑time login effortless for new users”), and then communicate any boundary conditions (e.g., budget range, scope, non‑negotiables). They prepare brainwriting sheets or digital templates with space for a fixed number of ideas per round (e.g., three per row) and set the number of rounds and the time per round in advance. The facilitator also plans how ideas will be collected and clustered afterward and explains the exercise’s silent, non‑judgmental nature to prevent participants from slipping into discussion too early.
Next Steps in Your Design Thinking Journey
Continue your innovation journey with the following 3 Options to deepen your Design Thinking practice and amplify your impact.
