11. THREE GOOD, THREE BAD
* Many idea sessions are derailed by negative material and attitude. It only takes one moaner and the whole thing can veer off in an unwanted direction.
* If you believe this is a possibility, then the Three Good Three Bad technique is excellent for combating it.
* Instead of allowing negative comment to creep in to proceedings, the technique deliberately seeks out the bad stuff, deals with it early, and offsets it with good stuff. This is sometimes called the car park - a place where all the negativity is parked.
* All attendees are asked to write down 3 bad things about the product/project/brief, and then 3 good. This draws the sting of all negative comment. They are not forced to generate three of each, but three is the maximum.
* The results are reviewed and summarized by the facilitator. Usually there is a significant overlap, and there is much to be learned about the degree of consensus, or an absolute focus on just one deficiency. It also shows how much the attendees really know about the subject.
* The exercise should always be done first, and should never last more than one hour, or 20% of the meeting time.
* All the good features are then used as inspiration to go on to provide an excellent solution.
EXERCISE: Think hard to work out if there appears to be an insurmountable problem with the brief, an unsatisfactory history to the project, a nasty constraint, or simply a prevailing culture of defeatism or cynicism. Use the technique to flush these issues out early and turn them into positive action.