Worst Idea is a group technique for idea generation. It asks participants to come up with really bad and silly ideas that would never work, or are even illegal. The technique is advantageous as it takes the pressure off participants to come up with brilliant ideas and prevents the suppression of ideas that they may be unsure of or embarrassed about.
Using the ‘Worst Idea’ Technique
Step 1: The facilitator asks participants to come up with the worst ideas that they can think of to address a focal problem. All ideas are recorded on a sheet of paper or whiteboard.
Step 2: When a sufficient number of bad ideas have been recorded, the facilitator selects some and asks the group to transform them into good ideas. This may be achieved by asking them to consider the opposite of the bad idea.
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