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How to introduce 635 Method in your business

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Sometimes, we may feel that our company could use a change, and we want to initiate some ideation process that will improve our business situation. However, many of these processes require a lot of investment, staff or time.

That’s why we want to introduce you to the 635 Method!

Thanks to this method, you will be able to get a total of 108 ideas in only 30 minutes!

Source: Freepik

So… how does this ideation method work?

The 635 Method, also known as Brainwriting, consists of a methodology for generating ideas within a group. To carry it out, the only things we need are:

6 participants, 3 ideas & 5 minutes

Hence the source of the name. Do you have all this? Then let’s get down to work!

Once we have gathered our team of six people, we will sit in a circle, and we will give each person a worksheet on which we will find a table with several columns and rows. In it, we should include six columns (one for each participant) and three rows (one for each of the three ideas).

We will then state the problem or situation we want to address and set a timer for 5 minutes for each participant to write down 3 ideas in search of a solution to the problem/situation.

After the 5 minutes have been completed, participants should pass the worksheet to the person on their right and repeat the process. This should be repeated for six rounds, i.e. until all the worksheets have been completely filled in.

For this session, it is very important that the materials used are uniform and that the sheet does not include names or aspects that could help to identify the different contributions, as this method is very efficient for coming up with ideas without fear of them being judged and thus encouraging an active participation of all participants.

Furthermore, the dynamic allows you to explore each other’s ideas, and to add another idea or perspective from the previous ones, and this is really the key to this method! You may not have the best idea, but your contribution has helped to reach it and you have been part of the ideation process! This procedure is called “hitchhiking” and helps to develop the clarity of an idea from previous ones.

 

Source: Freepik

After finishing all the rounds, we will have around 108 ideas, and it will have taken only 30 minutes. It is possible that some ideas will be repeated or will not be feasible. Nevertheless, we will have come up with many other ideas which we can start implementing in our company, so we have a place to start our innovation process already!

This method of ideation can be carried out either face-to-face through the exchange of these worksheets, or virtually through tools such as Miro or Google Jamboard.

Regardless of the way you choose, from IDEA project, we encourage you to check out our platform and test the different materials we have developed to enhance the ideation processes in your business!

Also, if you are interested in the 635 or Brainwriting method, among these materials you will find case studies and work templates for more ideas and tips for implementation! It’s time to get hands-on!

If you want to know more about IDEA project, we encourage you to visit the official platform of the project and discover all its benefits by yourself: https://ideaproject.erasmus.site/