Gather your remote team and get them into the same sticky note board using whatever tool you prefer. (My example here was done in Mural<\/a>.) Pose a good question and ask them to write one idea per sticky note. They can place ideas anywhere on the board. To make later steps easier, ask them all to use the same color note; yellow, for instance. Anything but red, green, or blue. (A nice feature of Mural is that it’s easy to turn a bunch of notes all the same color in one click, even after they’ve been created.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a group, spend some time clustering the notes and removing or consolidating duplicates. At this stage, you\u2019re just looking for things that are alike. You\u2019re not evaluating anything. You can do this any way you like; if you have a high-energy group, ask them to silently cluster the notes all at the same time, and watch them fly around the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your group is larger, or if you have some folks who are unfamiliar with the tool you\u2019re using, silent clusters can be a little alarming and you might want to take a slower pass as a whole group, or assign sections of the board to breakout groups and then come together to finalize the clusters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure the clusters are clear and that all the notes in each cluster belong in that group. Naming each cluster as you go is helpful, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure your guiding question is clear, and change it if you need to. The question must help participants decide whether ideas are in or out of scope. For example, in the fictitious brainstorm shown in my screenshots, the original question was, “What are the toughest problems with remote facilitation?” At this stage, though, I would need to amend the question to add, “… and which problems do we want to prioritize solving for our team?” There needs to be some reason for people to decide whether to keep or discard each idea, so make sure your question is pertinent. This second question makes the end goal clear: We are selecting priorities for action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now work through one cluster at a time. Set this up by saying something like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do a quick first pass on the ideas in each cluster. I\u2019ll read out a note, and you tell me if it\u2019s definitely IN, definitely OUT, or needs more discussion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then further explain the labels: <\/p>\n\n\n\n In:<\/strong> An idea the\ngroup definitely wants to accept or adopt. It\u2019s a no-brainer, a table-stakes\nitem, something you\u2019re already working on, or just plain required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out:<\/strong> An idea that doesn\u2019t require any further consideration. It\u2019s out of scope, technically impossible, too expensive (time or money), duplicates another idea already under consideration, or was meant as a joke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More discussion:<\/strong>\nAnything else, including things that some people think are \u201cin\u201d and others\nthink are \u201cout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Work through each cluster note by note. If the group agrees\nunanimously that an idea is IN, turn the note green. If they agree unanimously\nthat it\u2019s OUT, turn it red. Otherwise, turn it blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you read each note, people may only say \u201cIn,\u201d \u201cGreen,\u201d \u201cOut,\u201d \u201cRed,\u201d \u201cDiscuss,\u201d or \u201cBlue.\u201d Again, if opinions on a given note are divided, it\u2019s blue. Even if one person thinks something different from everyone else, turn it blue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Work through all the clusters. When you\u2019re done, all the notes should be either red, green, or blue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Asynchronous or silent option: <\/strong>If this is too time-consuming or tedious-sounding for your group, you can use another method. Open up the board to voting, and ask each person to vote only on those ideas they think should be IN. If there’s a note that someone thinks should be discussed, they can turn it blue. If a note is OUT, leave it alone. Take a sweep through at the end. Any notes that have the same number of votes as people become green. Any notes that have no votes become red. Notes that are blue stay blue, and notes that have some votes but not the total possible number of votes also become blue. This can be done in between meetings to free up meeting time for discussion.<\/p> Note that some sticky note boards don’t have a vote option, and some have the option but don’t let you limit how many votes a person can put on a single idea. You have to invoke the honor system, but people usually play fair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The group can now ignore the red notes; they don\u2019t matter.\nThe green ones can float to the top or side (or leave them where they are) \u2014\nthey will move forward into the next phase, but you don\u2019t need to talk about\nthem now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For each blue note:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Call the group\u2019s attention to the note so they are all looking at the same thing. Ask, \u201cWhat do we need to talk about here?\u201d Facilitate the conversation, helping them work through the issues. At the end, the note should either be turned red or turned green. It\u2019s perfectly okay to revise the note before changing the color, but it needs to be red or green at the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re done, everything on the board should either be red or green (or a cluster name). Copy the green notes into a new workspace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with the duplicated green notes, you can re-cluster (if needed — I usually don’t), dot vote, place the notes on a hi-low grid or a risk wall or something similar, or use the method(s) of your choice to decide which ideas to implement or adopt. Every idea has been considered, but no time has been wasted on ideas that don\u2019t merit (or don\u2019t need) discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re working with real sticky notes in a co-located meeting, you can still use this method. Grab markers in green, red, and blue. Add a big green checkmark to the \u201cin\u201d sticky notes. Make a big red \u201cx\u201d on the \u201cout\u201d sticky notes. Write a blue question mark on the \u201cdiscuss\u201d notes. Just make your marks in the edges of the notes, not over the words, so that people can read the original notes later. To change a blue note to a green or red one, cross out the question mark and add the appropriate green or red marking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Using a sticky note tool for brainstorming in remote meetings is a wonderful method to gather a lot of different ideas quickly. But once those ideas are up on the shared board, the task of sorting through them and choosing … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Brainstormed-Ideas-Full-640x417.png\")
<\/a>Step 2: Get the ideas organized. No judgment!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-Clustered-640x346.png\")
<\/a>Step 3: In, Out, or Discuss?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/3-Red-Green-Blue-640x346.png\")
<\/a>Step 4: Deal with the Blues.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/4-Work-with-Blue-640x454.png\")
<\/a>Step 5: Work with the Greens.<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5-Work-with-Green-597x640.png\")
<\/a>Pros:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Cons:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
In-Room Adaptation<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n