Create a “How Might We…?” question and brainstorm ideas for the Team Design Project.
Team Design Studio Work
Your team goal for this week is to create a “How Might We…?” question and brainstorm ideas. This involves having an open mind, having fun, and following a few rules.
To reach your team’s goal of creating a “How Might We…?” question and brainstorm ideas, you will work in your Team Design Studio to:
Generate a “How Might We” question to spark a brainstorm.
Do solo ideation to generate ideas.
Build off the ideas of others to generate more idea.
Find the corresponding slides for Explore the Possibilities: Week 1 – How Might We…? in your Team’s Design Studio. Collaborate with your team using the distributed working model agreed upon by your team:
Level 3 Teams: Complete the Team Design Studio Module 3 prompts as a team during your weekly team meeting.
Note: There are specific slides labeled for Level 3 Teams in this week of the Team Design Studio. You do not need to complete the Level 4 Team slides for this week.
Level 4 Teams: Each team member will follow the Team Design Studio Module 3 prompts. If another team member has already worked on a prompt, review their work and build upon it. Continue to the next prompt until your team reaches the weekly goal. Working in this manner does not mean that the first person to contribute does all of the work. You’re taking steps as a team to reach your weekly goal, like a relay race, where you “pass the baton” from one person to the next to reach the finish line.
Note: There are specific slides labeled for Level 4 Teams in this week of the Team Design Studio. You do not need to complete the Level 3 Team slides for this week.
You are beginning the Explore the Possibilities path for your team design project. This path will take 3 weeks to complete. You’ll work with your team in your Team Design Studio to complete the weekly design project goals. You’ll also have individual assignments due each week: discussion prompts due the first two weeks of this path and a reflection paper due in the third week of this path.
Radical ideation. Brainstorming. Being generative. All these terms mean the same thing: come up with a lot of new ideas to solve a problem. You’ll do this to address your team’s project scope. In other words, explore the possibilities by opening up your project space through a simple question: How might we…?
In design thinking, brainstorming is collaborative and has rules to make a brainstorm session more generative. It’s not often easy to come up with a brilliant idea through sheer concentration. Working with others, building off their ideas, and generating as many ideas as possible increases your chances of coming up with something intriguing and possibly innovative. Eventually you’ll learn what to do with wild, ambitious ideas. For this module, you’ll learn the brainstorm rules, create brainstorm questions, and try out different brainstorming techniques to generate ideas to address your team’s project scope.
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Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this module, you will be able to:
Explore an open-ended problem from different perspectives.
Create “How Might We…?” statements to explore the project solution space.
Use radical ideation techniques to generate ideas for an open-ended problem.
Collaborate with a team to use radical ideation techniques to build on the ideas of others to generate ideas for an open-ended problem.
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TEAM GOAL // Create How Might We…? questions for brainstorming
Level 3 Teams: Complete the Team Design Studio Explore the possibilities: Week 1 prompts as a team during your weekly team meeting.
Level 4 Teams: Each team member will follow the Team Design Studio Explore the possibilities: Week 1 prompts. If another team member has already worked on a prompt, review their work and build on it. Continue to the next prompt until your team reaches the weekly goal. Working in this manner does not mean that the first person to contribute does all of the work. You’re taking steps as a team to reach your weekly goal, like a relay race, where you “pass the baton” from one person to the next to reach the finish line.
To help get you into a generative space for your design project, you’ll go on an Inspiration Walk. This is a 15 minute self-guided audio activity. For the best experience, it’s recommended to do this in an outdoor space. The materials you’ll need for this are:
a mobile device connected to the internet to stream audio
headphones
a notebook
a pen
During the activity, you’ll be asked to “pick a challenge to work on.” Use your team’s project scope as the challenge to work on. After you’ve completed the activity, consider what you learned and how you might use these generative methods in your life (school, work, or otherwise).
https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/the-inspiration-walk
Module Materials
Remember the 6 Thinking Hats? The green hat is used for being generative and creative. Try that hat on this week. To get started exploring the possibilities for your project, you’ll create a “How Might We…?” question to explore your project scope through radical ideation, otherwise known as brainstorming.
The type of brainstorming used in design thinking is most likely different than what might come to mind when you think of brainstorming. It involves a quick way to capture ideas, an open mind, some rules, and, to make it extra fun, energetic music (i.e. put on your favorite tunes when working in your Team Design Studio this week!).
To get ready for your brainstorm, read the materials below and refer back to the brainstorming rules as you’re working in your Team Design Studio this week.
Brainstorming Rules:
Defer judgement
Encourage wild ideas
Build on the ideas of others
Stay focused on the topic
One conversation at a time
Be visual
Go for quantity
