An IdeaScale Whiteboard facilitator guide for Parking Lot Matrix Brainstorm
This IdeaScale Whiteboard will be our collaborative space for categorizing and prioritizing discussion items. We'll use its features to organize topics or ideas into the Parking Lot Matrix categories, as depicted in the image.
Brainstorming Objectives:
- To categorize and prioritize discussion topics, ideas, or tasks based on their urgency, importance, and feasibility.
- To manage the flow of a meeting or project by effectively handling tangential topics or ideas.
- To use the whiteboard to visually organize and track items for immediate discussion, future consideration, or exclusion.
Timing: 60 minutes
Brainstorming Instructions - 30 minutes
Introduction (15 minutes)
- Welcome participants and explain the purpose of the Parking Lot Matrix.
- Explain the categories of the matrix, as shown in the image:
- Discussion Topics: Add items that require immediate team discussion. These are high-priority topics or decisions that need attention right away.
- Opportunities: Place promising ideas or new possibilities here. These ideas will have high improvement value with a low barrier to implementation.
- Radar: Place valuable longer-term ideas here. These ideas will have high improvement value but might be difficult to implement.
- Later: Use this box for ideas or tasks to revisit in the future. These ideas may be easy to implement but also carry less improvement value.
- Do Not Consider: Place any irrelevant, low-value, or out-of-scope items here. These are topics that don't align with current goals and won't be prioritized.
- Explain how to use the digital sticky notes and whiteboard sections to capture and categorize items into the Parking Lot Matrix.
Brainstorming Instructions (30 minutes)
- Activity 1: Initial Item Collection and Discussion Topics (15 minutes)
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- Begin by collecting items (topics, ideas, tasks) from the participants. This could be related to a project, a meeting agenda, or a general brainstorming session.
- Guide the group to identify which items require immediate discussion. These are the high-priority items that need to be addressed right away.
- Place these items on digital sticky notes and add them to the "Discussion Topics" section of the whiteboard.
- Activity 2: Categorizing Remaining Items (15 minutes)
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- For the remaining items, facilitate a discussion to categorize them into the other sections of the matrix.
- Guide the group to consider the following factors for each item:
- Opportunities: High improvement value, low barrier to implementation
- Radar: High improvement value, difficult to implement
- Later: Easy to implement, lower improvement value
- Do Not Consider: Irrelevant, low-value, out of scope
- Place the items on digital sticky notes and add them to the appropriate section of the whiteboard.
Adjourn (15 minutes)
- Review the items in each section of the Parking Lot Matrix.
- Prioritize the "Discussion Topics" for immediate action or discussion.
- Discuss the plan for addressing items in the other categories (Opportunities, Radar, Later).
- Acknowledge the items in the "Do Not Consider" section and confirm they will not be pursued further.
- Capture the final Parking Lot Matrix on the whiteboard and distribute it to participants.
- Thank participants for their contributions.
Tips for Facilitators
- Clearly define the criteria for each category in the Parking Lot Matrix.
- Encourage participants to be objective and efficient in categorizing items.
- Use the digital whiteboard to visually organize the items and facilitate discussion.
- Keep the discussion focused and ensure that all items are placed in a suitable category.
- Ensure the final Parking Lot Matrix is clear and actionable.