How-to: Ideate Effectively While Working Remotely
Working remotely has become a global necessity in the past weeks due to contingency efforts to decrease the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, off-site work has been a growing trend since the past decade, making this quarantine the perfect time to prepare for the future of work and stay ahead by transitioning towards managing a remote workforce.
When it comes to innovation, remote work opens an opportunity to explore new approaches to the collaborative processes towards creating groundbreaking work, and crucial phases such as ideation are no exception.
After some experimentation at Propelland we found that, whether you wish to conduct a workshop or carry in-house brainstorming sessions, with the right tools and methods, remote ideation can be just as fun, effective and even a bit more efficient than usual, which is why we created this guide for you to hack the process like a boss.
Ideation’s anatomy
Setting the stage
In order to get the most out of collecting and developing ideas, it is important to set the stage and create a framework for success. Keep in mind that it’s the prep work that makes the difference.
1. Set up a shared repository: You can use Google Drive or Dropbox to have all the relevant documents and outcomes in one place, make sure to share it with your team.
2. Set the scene: Create a shareable document with the context of the project; objective, job to be done, pains, gains, insights, etc. and invite people to read it ahead of the session, this will work as an inspirational frame.
3. Select your approach and organize the session:
- Choose between synchronous ideation; All participants meet at a specific time to discuss and contribute ideas, or asynchronous; Each participant views and contributes to a shared digital space (document, message thread, or another tool) whenever they choose, over a longer period of time.
- Select the dynamic you will use to achieve the goal (Reverse brainstorming, group ideation, brainwriting, lotus diagram, etc).
- Select the players who can add the most to the mix. Invite participants with different mindsets and personalities to foster rich conversations and assign roles if needed (facilitator, timekeeper, challenger, etc).
4. Involve everyone: Previous to the meeting send each participant the agenda and the document you created with the supporting material well in advance.
5. Choose and set-up a template: Make sure it matches the challenge the participants will face during the session. (Remember sharing the URL to your template with the participants and revising that everyone can access in advance).
- Be organized: create spaces for each ideation prompt.
- Designate separate spaces and prepare sticky notes beforehand for each team/participant to capture their ideas.
You can use any digital workspace for visual collaboration to do this. Miro has worked best for us, but there are other great free alternatives like Whimsical. (Here is a great list of free brainstorming tools you can use to choose the option that best suits your needs).
Pro Tip: Music generates a great atmosphere and aids the creative process, if you wish to, you can prepare a playlist for the session.
Making it happen
The game — Brainstorming
Ideas act as bricks towards innovation, the more the merrier. Work towards generating and communicating as many ideas as possible that aim to inspire new and better ones.
Pro Tip: Recording the session will help you in case you need to remember what an idea was about, or a thought that was shared but not written.
1. Host a video-conference or call for the session: You can either use Zoom ( if needed you can divide the group into teams with “Zoom breakout rooms”) or Google Hangouts to do this.
- Make sure you have good audio and video quality.
- Be mindful of what appears behind you in the background.
- Look straight into your camera, not the screen.
- Keep your microphone turned off when you are not speaking.
2. Explain the game rules: Briefly explain the dynamic and general rules
( ie: One sticky note per idea), how to use the template, and reiterate the goal and timeline at the beginning of the session. (You can do a practice run-through so that the participants feel comfortable with the brainstorming tool.)
3. Coach the team: Make sure everyone is able to see what is going on through the session and that they actively participate. Closely guide the dynamic through the chosen platform and adhere to the timeline you previously set.
The division — Affinity grouping
Clustering information helps establish a design direction based on associations. Aim for the team to categorize and organize ideas by identifying common themes among them.
1. Mix and match: Review the ideas and group them based on their affinity.
- Generate short/descriptive sentences that describe each group (Avoid one or two-word titles).
- Do it silently, silence makes this process less likely to suffer from lack of participation due to the presence of a “dominant” team member.
2. Visual frames: Order the affinity groups on frames on a “grid mode” so that all the sticky notes are visually organized and readable. (You can do this automatically with Miro).
The selection — Voting
After creating choices, innovation requires us to make choices by converging and selecting the best ideas. Look forward to selecting the ideas with the most potential for further development.
1. Explain the dynamic: Briefly state how many votes each person gets and how to do so.
- Own the vote: Set a way to differentiate each participant’s vote (Assign an emoji, color, shape, initials, etc.) and record it as a note.
2. Dialogue: At the conclusion of the meeting, summarize your findings and the next steps while the entire team is still online
Wrapping it up
1. Share the results: Send out a written summary of the outcomes to the stakeholders and participants. Remember to upload it to the project’s shared repository for future reference.
2. Feedback is food for champions: Make sure to ask the participants for their feedback on the session and ideas to iterate the process.
Finally, practice remote ideation with your team and tweak it into perfection by adapting it to your own organizational needs.
If you have further questions or would like to discuss the topic with one of our experts, please be in touch! We’re always glad to help, but most importantly; Let us know how our guide worked for you, and keep us posted on your own findings.
Happy remote ideating and keep propelling!
*This is not sponsored content. The author is not affiliated with any of the tools suggested in the article.
