How to Gather Ideas

1. QuickTip – Nominal Group Technique

   Nominal group technique (NGT) is a structured method for group brainstorming that encourages contributions from everyone.  It is especially useful when some group members are much more vocal than others or when some think better in silence.

   (October 2023)

2. QuickTip – How to Gather Requirements

   Create good requirements that define what your project will deliver from the user’s point of view.

   (October 2023)

3. QuickTip – Brainstorming

   Brainstorming is a method for generating many creative ideas in a short period of time, making it a divergence activity. Participants call out their ideas as they think of them, so that each person has an opportunity to build on the ideas of others. Read this Quick Tip for tips and variations that you may not already know.

   (October 2023)

4. Quick Tip – Affinity Clustering

   An affinity diagram is an information organizing tool.   It promotes creative synthesis by asking a team to identify and group similar items from a large list of possibilities.   The resulting structured information can then be used in further convergence activities such as ranking and rating.

   (June 2022)

How to Facilitate Groups

1. QuickTip – Advanced Parking Lot

   Many of us know how to use a parking lot during a meeting, but this enhancement encourages participants to do more than “park” an idea.  It gets them thinking about what follow up is appropriate.

   (October 2023)

2. QuickTip – Visioning

   Visioning is a highly participatory approach to developing a shared description of a desired future state.   Use this technique when the group must identify and get alignment on a goal.

   (October 2023)

3. QuickTip – Issues and Answers

   Issues and Answers is a group problem-solving technique. It is a good way help a large group tackle a long list of issues in a reasonably short amount of time.  Use this technique when the group is working on issues that can be partly evaluated in small groups but still benefit from the participation of everyone.

   (October 2023)

4. QuickTip – 15% Solutions

   This facilitation technique helps a group shift their focus away from feeling powerless, fearful, or stagnant. It jump starts possibility thinking and gives individuals permission to take action on their own without waiting for others.

   (October 2023)

5. QuickTip – 1-2-4-All

   Use the 1-2-4-All technique to engage a medium to large group in generating questions, ideas, or solutions.  It encourages everyone to contribute ideas, and then quickly evaluates and sifts those ideas so the most relevant one surface for the entire group to consider.

   (October 2023)

6. Quick Tip – Tossed Salad

   The Tossed Salad facilitation technique combines elements of brainstorming and small group work.  It helps a large group draw out everyone’s best ideas, refine them, and select a few for further action.

   (June 2022)

7. Quick Tip – Talk Circuit

   Talk Circuit is a pairs activity that elicits ideas from everyone and gets those ideas in front of the entire group. 

   (June 2022)

8. Quick Tip – Discussion Partners

   Use the Discussion Partners technique to start a discussion on almost any question or issue.

   (June 2022)

How to Solve Problems

1. QuickTip – SBAR Report

   Ever have trouble getting someone to present a concise analysis of an important situation, especially clear recommendations? Next time ask for a one page SBAR report.  The SBAR technique is a concrete, easy-to-remember framework for getting the information you need to make a good decision.

   (October 2023)

2. QuickTip – Pareto Analysis

   Pareto analysis is used to help decide which of many causes to focus on in order to change a situation most effectively.  Use this technique when you don’t have enough time or resources to fix everything and want to focus on the things that will have the biggest effect.

   (October 2023)

3. QuickTip – Multivoting

   Multivoting is a way to quantify the positions and preferences of a group by allowing each member to decide how much the choices are worth to them. Multivoting gives the group information about where individual members stand and the strength of their positions. The votes are used as a springboard for identifying consensus, surfacing disagreements, and identifying the size of gaps.

   (October 2023)

4. QuickTip – Gap Analysis

   Gap analysis is a steering technique. It is like reading a map to determine where you are, where you want to be, and routes to get there. Gap analysis determines the current state, the desired state, and steps to get from one to the other. Applied periodically, it is a useful way to ensure forward progress through the fuzzy front end of a new initiative or project.

   (October 2023)

5. QuickTip – Five Whys

   “Five Whys” is a very simple but powerful questioning process that helps a team peel away layers of symptoms to get closer the real root cause of a situation. Understanding these root causes is key to making long term improvements to a situation rather than treating symptoms.

   (October 2023)

6. QuickTip – Decision Grid

   A decision grid helps a group select the best option from several defined choices. The options are rated and compared on important criteria.   Although a score can emerge from this, the chief value is in the discussion and prioritization that it encourages.  This tip describes a simple rating system that is sufficient for many decisions.

   (October 2023)

7. Quick Tip – Cause and Effect Analysis

   Cause and effect analysis creates a visual diagram of what causes an observed effect or situation.  The diagram is usually called a fishbone diagram (after its shape) or an Ishikawa diagram (after its inventor). This technique is a structured way to think about why something is happening, allowing you to focus your limited resources on the most effective way to change the situation. 

   (June 2022)

8. Quick Tip – Fist to Five Decision Making

   Fist to Five is a fun, effective facilitation technique that helps a group either make a decision and move on, or identify where there is disagreement that must be resolved.

   (June 2022)

9. Quick Tip – PICK Chart

   Select which actions are most important to take using a PICK (Possible – Implement – Challenge – Kill) chart

   (November 2021)

10. Quick Tip – SWOT Analysis

    SWOT analysis is a popular tool for situational analysis.  SWOT is an acronym for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.”  It looks at both internal and external factors.  Use a SWOT analysis when you want a structured way to help a group think through the current environment they face and how that should affect planning for the future.

    (November 2021)

How to Transfer Knowledge

1. QuickTip – Learning Styles

   Do you ever coach, mentor, or teach others? Most leaders do, but sometimes their message doesn’t “stick” because their teaching method doesn’t fit the style of their learner. You can fix this with a bit of insight about how people learn in different ways.

   (October 2023)

2. Quick Tip – Just in Time Training

   Traditional long-form training has a miserable success rate at changing real job performance.  “Just-in-time” training works much better.  A just-in-time training series is a set of short training modules (30 minutes or less) and coaching on related topics. Each module is focused on teaching one specific skill or technique and is taught just before the participants start a project or work activity that needs the skill.

   (October 2023)

Other QuickTips

1. QuickTip – How to Run a Meeting

   This handy poster is a quick checklist for what to do before, during, and after a meeting.

   (October 2023)

2. QuickTip – How to Select Agile or Predictive Approach for a Project

   Sometimes you have to decide which approach is best suited for managing a new project.  These guidelines may help.

   (October 2023)