Reverse Brainstorming Template
Reverse your thinking in order to find the solution to a problem.
Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies
About the Reverse Brainstorming Template
Reverse brainstorming is a creative problem-solving technique that involves thinking about a problem in reverse order. Instead of starting with the question, "How do we solve or improve this?" reverse brainstorming asks, "How could we possibly cause the problem or make it worse?"
This approach is used to stimulate new ideas and perspectives that might not emerge during traditional brainstorming sessions.
How to use the reverse brainstorming template
Reverse brainstorming is particularly useful when traditional brainstorming is not yielding effective solutions, or when a team is facing a mental block. Miro's reverse brainstorming template is easy to use and encourages thinking outside the box.
Follow these steps to get started with the template:
1. Identify the problem
In the first box, clearly define the problem or challenge you are facing. Describe it in a sentence or two and make sure it is clear to everyone involved in the brainstorming session.
2. Reverse the problem
In the box below, write down what the reverse of the problem would look like. For example, if the problem your team is trying to solve for involves "how to make a smartphone app more user-friendly," the reverse could be "how to create a complicated user interface for an app."
3. Collect ideas
Ask your team to generate ideas around ways in which the problem could get worse. There are no bad ideas here — jot down any ways that the problem could be exacerbated. This might involve considering actions that would lead to the opposite of your desired outcome.
To continue with the above example, some ideas could be:
Make the app interface confusing and hard to navigate
Introduce frequent, intrusive advertisements
Slow down the app’s performance with unnecessary features
4. Reverse the ideas to find solutions
By now, you have several reverse ideas. Discuss them and reverse them again, this time into solutions to those problems. This step involves looking at the reverse brainstorming results and thinking about how to avoid or counteract these negative scenarios.
For example:
Design a clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interface
Minimize or strategically place advertisements to avoid user frustration
Optimize the app’s performance for speed and reliability
5. Evaluate the solutions
Now is the time to evaluate which ideas are feasible. Use the final box of the template to discuss how these solutions could be implemented, and prioritize which ideas to start working on first.
When to use the reverse brainstorming template
Reverse brainstorming is a great method to use in several scenarios. For example, when teams are having trouble coming up with ideas, reverse brainstorming can jolt the team out of conventional thinking patterns and help generate new perspectives.
Reverse brainstorming is also particularly useful for risk management and mitigation. By considering how things could go wrong or how a situation could deteriorate, teams can better prepare for potential risks and devise strategies to mitigate them.
No matter the problem you are trying to solve, Miro's virtual canvas is a great tool for your brainstorm — and the reverse brainstorming template is a handy way for teams to address complex, stubborn, or challenging issues.
Get started with this template right now.
Competitive Analysis Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Decision Making
Developing a great product starts with knowing the lay of the land (meaning who you’re up against) and answering a few questions: Who are your competitors? How does your product or service compare? What makes you stand out? A competitive analysis will help find the answers, which can ultimately shape your product, value prop, marketing, and sales strategies. It’s a great exercise when a big business event is about to occur — like a new product release or strategic planning session.
Brainwriting Template
Works best for:
Education, Ideation, Brainstorming
Brainstorming is such a big part of ideation. But not everyone does their best work out loud and on the spot, yelling out thoughts and building on others’ ideas. Brainwriting is a brilliant solution for them—creative thinkers who happen to be more introverted. This approach and template invites participants to reflect quietly and write out their ideas, and then pass them to someone else who will read the idea and add to it. So you’ll get creative ideas from everyone—not just the loudest few.
Customer Problem Statement Template
Works best for:
Ideation, Design Thinking, Product Management
Put yourself in the shoes of your consumers with a customer problem statement. Figure out their problems and how your product or service can solve those problems and make their lives easier. As a bonus, you’ll better understand your customers throughout the process.
Icebreaker Template
Works best for:
Icebreakers
There’s no better way to kickoff a meeting or workshop than by building comfort and familiarity between your guests — to put them at ease and get them ready to participate and collaborate. That’s just the kind of human connection that icebreakers create, which make them great for remote gatherings or introducing new team members. There are many icebreakers to choose from, including: Describe yourself in one word. Share a photo of yourself as a baby. And if you were an animal, what would you be?
Pros and Cons List Template
Works best for:
Decision Making, Documentation, Strategic Planning
A pros and cons list is a simple but powerful decision-making tool used to help understand both sides of an argument. Pros are listed as arguments in favor of making a particular decision or action. Cons are listed arguments against it. By creating a list that details both sides of the argument, it becomes easier to visualize the potential impact of your decision. To make your pros and cons list even more objective, it can help to weight each pro and con against the others. You can then present your decision with confidence, making a strong argument for why it’s the right one.
Sailboat Template
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Meetings, Retrospectives
The Sailboat Retrospective is a low-pressure way for teams to reflect on how they handled a project. By defining your risks (the rocks), delaying issues (anchors), helping teams (wind), and the goal (land), you’ll be able to work out what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on for the next sprint. Approaching team dynamics with a sailboat metaphor helps everyone describe where they want to go together by figuring out what slows them down and what helps them reach their future goals.