Ideation: the techniques that actually surface ideas
Florent Dabernat
April 30, 2026
2 min read
In this article
A citizen collective preparing a local services exchange platform needs to generate, sort and select genuinely actionable concepts. That's precisely the role of a well-run ideation workshop.
Five complementary techniques
Brainwriting 6-3-5, Crazy 8, Worst Idea Ever, SCAMPER and mindmapping are complementary techniques. They help produce quantity and variety before trying to converge on a single solution, a step too often skipped in the name of pragmatism.
Worst Idea Ever, in particular, often surprises with its effectiveness: by deliberately asking for the worst possible ideas, it defuses the fear of judgment and unlocks, almost as a side effect, original ideas that would never have surfaced by going straight for "the right" answer.
Sorting and selecting without conflict
The impact/effort matrix, dot voting and the NUF grid (New, Useful, Feasible) make prioritization transparent. Publishing these criteria upfront, even before starting to generate ideas, strengthens team buy-in at decision time, since everyone already knows the basis on which selection will happen.
On a 45-minute workshop around the theme "make reading more accessible," 32 raw ideas were grouped into 6 themes, then narrowed down to 3 chosen concepts, with annotated sketches and a paper prototype ready the next day.
The rules of divergence and convergence
During the divergence phase, judgment is suspended and timeboxing is strictly respected: no idea is dismissed at this stage, however unlikely it seems. Convergence, on the other hand, must be explicitly announced and structured to bring the discussion back to the initial objectives, or the group risks staying stuck in generation mode indefinitely.
In practice, a mini Crazy 8 workshop can run like this: eight ideas in eight minutes per participant, sorting and grouping into themes, selecting three ideas via the impact/effort matrix, then formalizing them into annotated sketches ready to be tested.
Frequently asked questions
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Why does Crazy 8 impose such a short time constraint?
- Because the time constraint prevents self-censorship and perfectionism: eight ideas in eight minutes forces people past the obvious to explore more original directions.
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Is the impact/effort matrix enough to decide on its own?
- It gives an objective starting framework, but is often complemented by a collective dot vote to bring in a team-buy-in dimension the matrix alone doesn't capture.
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How many participants does an effective ideation workshop need?
- Between four and eight people generally offers the best balance between diversity of viewpoints and ease of facilitation; beyond that, the workshop needs a more elaborate structure.