microideation

Microideation is a practice in creative problem solving in which participants generate a large number of small, incremental ideas within short, timeboxed sessions. Unlike traditional brainstorming, which may seek a few bold concepts, microideation emphasizes quantity of micro-ideas, rapid iteration, and low-risk concepts that can be combined or expanded later.

Process commonly involves individual ideation followed by quick sharing in a group, with timeboxing for each round (for example, 5–10 minutes). Prompts or constraints guide thinking, and ideas are captured on sticky notes or digital boards. After several rounds, ideas are clustered, discussed, and prioritized, with later steps focused on synthesis, feasibility, and potential impact.

Applications are widespread in product design, user experience, marketing, and innovation labs to populate idea pipelines for features, campaigns, or improvements. It serves as a kickoff for workshops or design sprints and helps include diverse stakeholder perspectives by lowering participation barriers and reducing fear of judgment.

Benefits include a high volume of ideas, reduced evaluation anxiety, inclusivity, and speed. Limitations include the risk of superficial ideas, potential fragmentation, and the need for careful synthesis to produce actionable concepts. Microideation is typically not a substitute for deeper ideation phases that address strategy or feasibility, but it can fuel those stages with a broad base of small, testable concepts.

Relation to other methods: Microideation complements macro or radical ideation by feeding it with numerous small ideas. It can be integrated with techniques such as affinity clustering or rapid prototyping to advance promising concepts.