Product feature ideation
Who uses it: Product manager or designer kicking off a roadmap planning cycle
Central question: How might we improve user retention in the first 30 days?
Idea zone: everyone adds stickies without filtering for 8 minutes
Cluster 1: Onboarding improvements
Cluster 2: Engagement hooks (streaks, rewards)
Cluster 3: Social or collaboration features
Dot vote → top cluster → define next experiment
Why this works: Starting with a 'How might we' question frames the brainstorm as a solvable challenge rather than an open complaint session, which consistently produces more actionable ideas.
Marketing campaign concepts
Who uses it: Marketing team or creative agency exploring campaign directions
Central brief: launch a B2B SaaS to developers
Idea zone: channels, messages, formats, hooks
Cluster 1: Education-first (tutorials, docs, open source)
Cluster 2: Community-led (forums, Discord, events)
Cluster 3: Challenger narrative (vs. incumbent)
Top 2 concepts → creative brief
Why this works: Separating channel ideas from message ideas prevents the common mistake of pitching a channel without a message — the clustering step forces the team to combine both into coherent concepts.
Problem-solving session
Who uses it: Team lead or facilitator unblocking a stuck team
Problem: onboarding takes 3 weeks instead of 1
Root causes brainstorm: 5 minutes, no filtering
Cause clusters: process gaps | tool friction | unclear ownership
Solutions brainstorm: 1 sticky per cause cluster
Feasibility filter: effort vs. impact
Action items: owner + deadline per item
Why this works: Brainstorming causes before solutions prevents the classic mistake of jumping straight to fixes for symptoms rather than root causes — the two-phase structure is the most important part of this template.
Retrospective brainstorm
Who uses it: Scrum master or team running a sprint or project retrospective
Column 1: What went well
Column 2: What could be improved
Column 3: What to try next sprint
Silent stickies: 5 minutes individual writing
Group discussion: read out and cluster
Commitments: 1–2 concrete actions, assigned owners
Why this works: Silent individual writing before group discussion prevents the loudest voice in the room from anchoring everyone's feedback — you get a broader, more honest set of observations.
Naming brainstorm
Who uses it: Founder or product team naming a product, feature, or company
Central question: What should we call the new reporting feature?
Round 1: descriptive names (what it does)
Round 2: metaphor names (what it feels like)
Round 3: invented words or portmanteaus
Filter: easy to say, spell, remember, and own
Shortlist: 3–5 names to test with users
Why this works: Running multiple naming rounds with different constraints — descriptive, metaphor, invented — produces a wider range of options than a single open session where everyone anchors on the first suggestion.
Design sprint problem framing
Who uses it: UX lead or design thinking facilitator starting a design sprint
HMW notes: 10 minutes, one idea per sticky
Affinity map: cluster HMW notes by theme
Theme vote: which problem area to focus on
Selected HMW: refined single problem statement
Long-term goal: where do we want to be in 2 years?
Sprint questions: what must be true for the goal to be reached?
Why this works: Generating many HMW (How Might We) statements before choosing one is the single technique that most improves design sprint outcomes — it prevents the team from solving the first problem that comes to mind.
