Yes, and… Brainstorm

When to use it

Use this tool to build on each of your team's ideas using the phrase "Yes, and (moreover)..."

What’s the purpose

This template helps you to dig deeper to flesh out your ideas by asking the idea owner and the rest of the team to elaborate on an idea until you’ve extracted all of their creative thoughts.

How to do it

Paste the How Might We question that you are focusing on in step one.
Have each individual choose a row in step two and add an idea in the first block.
Once each person has added an idea, choose someone else’s row and try to build on their idea beginning with ‘Yes, and…’
Keep going until all of your inspiration runs out.
Finally, use the emoticons in step three to vote on your favourite ideas.

Helpful tips

Keep the group size to no more than 6 people. Larger groups can make communication difficult.
Give each person a limited time (1-2 minutes) to expand on the idea.
Stay focused on the challenge to ensure the ideas are centred around the needs you are solving for.

Using this method in your day-to-day work

Sometimes a regular brainstorm can feel really challenging. This template takes away some of the pressure of having to think of many ideas on your own. Instead, each person gets to think of one or two and then build on the thoughts of others. When you need to come up with new ideas or think of solutions to a problem, get a couple of colleagues together and try out this method. You'll be surprised how much inspiration flows through collective thinking!