Guidance
Why
Crazy eights help your team to:
- create lots of new ideas quickly
- give everyone a chance to share ideas
- understand that their first idea isn’t always the best and work past it
Who
People with a range of different perspectives and knowledge which usually includes:
- a facilitator
- all team members
- key stakeholders
- anyone outside the team who could add a different view or who you want to engage
When
You can use this method when:
- research has provided enough confidence to start creating ideas
- you’re starting work on a new discovery, product, service or feature
- you or your team needs to look at a problem from a new perspective
Things you need
- The problem you want to solve on the wall so that people can see it for the whole activity
- Information that will help, for example, outcomes, commercial value, user research
- A table with enough space for people to draw
- A3 or A4 paper
- Sharpies/pens
- Timer and someone do the timing
Tips on running the session
Make sure everyone understands:
- the problem you’re trying to solve and how it fits into the bigger picture
- that there’s no such thing as a bad idea - it's about volume at this stage
- the quality of drawing is not important - it's about getting your ideas across, not being an artist
- what you will do with the ideas after the session
Steps
- Agree the challenge or problem for the ideas you want to solve.
- Write the problem on a sheet of paper or whiteboard and place it where everyone can see it.
- Give everyone a single blank sheet of A3 or A4 paper.
- Fold it in half 3 times - to make 8 equally sized panels.
- Set a phone timer for 8 minutes (1 minute per panel).
- Let everyone know that when the timer starts they need to quickly sketch 1 idea per panel individually - the quality of drawing is not important.
- Call out the time every minute and ask everyone to move onto the next sketch. It’s okay if some people have started the next one early.
- Ask everyone to hold up their ideas (or stick them on the wall) and talk through them.
- To prioritise the most viable and valuable ideas, use the Dot voting method.