Learn The 10 x 10 Method for Lightning-Fast Brainstorming
Empower Your Team to Generate Dozens of Ideas in Minutes, not Hours.
One of my most efficient brainstorming collaborations is the lightning-fast ideation exercise known as 10 x 10.
The goal of 10 x 10 is to generate a prioritized list of solutions and ideas for an opportunity question - How Might We….
You'll have a short time to write down ideas and prioritize them. (Don't worry about the quality of the ideas, just the quantity.)
The beauty of this exercise is that there's no room for self-judgment or over-analysis, just a space to freely brainstorm possible ideas (aim for a minimum of 15).
How to Facilitate the 10 x 10: Step-by-Step
Step 1: Generate Ideas (5 minutes)
Distribute a block of sticky notes and a Sharpie to each team member.
Instruct each member to write as many ideas as possible for the HMW challenge, with one idea per sticky note and legible handwriting.
Emphasize that ideas should be anonymous, encouraging participants not to worry about the quality of ideas.
Set a timer for 5 minutes and allow everyone to write ideas silently.
Offer encouragement to those who appear stuck, reminding them of the focus on quantity over quality.
Prompt: Let's generate at least 15 rapid-fire ideas in a five-minute timeframe - remember that is 15 individual sticky notes.
Optionally, play background music to ease discomfort during the silent brainstorming session.
Step 2: Curate! (1 minute)
Ask each member to select their top 10 ideas from their stack of sticky notes.
Instruct members to discard all non-chosen ideas.
Have each member place their chosen ideas randomly on a common surface (wall, whiteboard, etc.), mixing them up.
Prompt: Let's place your ideas on the board and remove any duplicate ideas** Don't categorize them
Avoid grouping or arranging the sticky notes; let them remain randomly placed.
Step 3: Vote! (3 minutes)
Remove any duplicate ideas from the surface without discussion.
Provide each team member with a strip of 10 voting dots.
Instruct participants to silently vote on the ideas they find most promising, considering the HMW challenge.
Remind them that they can allocate multiple dots to one idea, including their own, without seeking further explanation.
Emphasize the importance of using all 10 dots within the 3-minute timeframe.
Prompt: Let’s vote. We have 10 voting dots and 3 minutes. There are no voting rules; you can vote on your own ideas, and you can place multiple dots on one idea
Step 4: Arrange! (1 minute)
Discard sticky notes with zero votes.
Arrange the remaining sticky notes vertically based on the number of votes, with the most votes at the top.
If there are more than 10 ideas, remove the least voted ones from the bottom.
You now see 10 (or fewer) solutions displayed that your team believes have a strong potential to address the opportunity question posed at the outset of the exercise.
Your Next Step:
At this stage, you have visualized 10 or fewer solutions deemed promising by the team. It's time to decide which of these solutions the team will commit to testing. (Choose three or a maximum of four, not more)