BERG - How we work: Product invention workshops
The format is loooose. It’s improvised jazz, with whiteboards. But there are some commonalities.
Day 1 is typically “download.” We’ll present/discuss initial thoughts, and we like everyone in the room to do some homework and present for at least 5 minutes too. Most of the day is discussion and whiteboards. If it’s ideation rather than strategy, we’ll collect as many ideas as possible. The rule is: if you say it, you have to write it on a post-it. The other rule is: you have to use fat pens. If people don’t write enough on the walls, sometimes we refuse to let them sit down.
Day 2 is about mapping the territory. If we’ve been gathering ideas, on day 2 we’ll run exercises to cluster these ideas, and sketch candidate products around them. By the end of the day, we should have a shortlist of concepts to take forward. If this is primarily a strategy workshop, we’ll be collecting principles and ways of framing the discussion as we go.
Day 3 takes each of the concepts in turn, prioritises it, and builds it into a product microbrief. We’re aiming to create 3 to 6.
