Lotus Diagram Template
Visualize themes and explore alternative paths with a Lotus Diagram Template. Innovate when brainstorming and sharing ideas.
Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies
About the Lotus Diagram Template
The lotus diagram template is a creative-thinking technique, also known as the "lotus blossom technique.” Proposed by Michael Michalko, it helps you expand your thinking beyond your usual paths. The lotus blossom technique focuses the power of brainstorming on areas of interest by using a visual representation of an idea. It's similar to mind mapping (but more structured) and pushes you in ways you don’t find in classic mind mapping.
What is a lotus diagram?
A lotus diagram is a brainstorming and organization tool. It helps define key concepts or parts of a broader picture. The center of the diagram represents the main idea, with eight surrounding boxes representing additional concepts.
Brainstorming can be a frustrating experience. Sometimes, your team comes in with a thousand ideas they’re ready to share. Other times, the well runs dry. A lotus diagram can empower you to run smoother, more effective brainstorming sessions. Use this lotus diagram template to visualize themes and explore alternative paths.
How to use a lotus diagram template
Start with a central idea or theme, and then expand outwards with solution areas or related themes in an iterative manner. The technique encourages you to have a fully fleshed-out idea space before considering the idea completed.
Benefits of a lotus diagram template
Many teams benefit from using a lotus diagram template, mainly because it gives a twist to a regular brainstorming session. Here are a few advantages of using the lotus diagram:
1. Have better brainstorming sessions
Lotus diagrams encourage lateral thinking. If people get stuck, you can return to the diagram to generate ideas that might be tangentially related to your main topic.
2. Promote logical thinking
In using a lotus diagram, you’re constantly filing topics according to their relationship to the main topic. That makes it a helpful tool for keeping your meetings focused and on task.
3. Foster creativity
A lotus diagram encourages you to ask critical, incisive questions about the main topic, generating new ideas for discussion.
4. Break down complex ideas
Lotus diagrams can be useful for discussing complex topics with many moving parts. By uncovering related ideas, you can better understand the main idea at the center of the diagram.
Getting started with Miro's lotus diagram template
When you use Miro to create the lotus diagram, you can:
Have endless space for your collaboration. Brainstorm ideas with your distributed teammates as if you were all in one room, and engage everyone in one visual workspace to ideate and discuss all topics together.
Customize and fill out the lotus diagram template as you go along. Change colors and add sticky notes and arrows to experiment with different ideas.
Upload documents and images to make your collaboration and ideation session more visual and vivid.
Save your completed lotus diagram in .JPEG or .PDF to always have it ready to view.
What is the purpose of a lotus diagram?
A lotus diagram is a brainstorming and organization tool. It is an effective thinking tool that helps you logically organize information to solve complex problems and manage tasks.
When should lotus diagrams be used?
A lotus diagram can be used in various ways within an organization. It is best used in a brainstorming process to help break down broad topics into smaller components to offer easy analysis and prioritization within a task.
Get started with this template right now.
DMAIC Analysis Template
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Design Thinking, Operations
Processes might not seem like the funnest thing to dive into and examine, but wow can it pay off—a more efficient process can lead to serious cost savings and a better product. That’s what DMAIC analysis does. Developed as part of the Six Sigma initiative, DMAIC is a data-driven quality strategy for streamlining processes and resolving issues. The technique is broken into five fundamental steps that are followed in order: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
Brand Strategy Template
Works best for:
Marketing
Develop a brand strategy for new and existing brands with this fully guided Brand Strategy Template. Find new ways to build your brand and set your business up for success.
Cynefin Framework Template
Works best for:
Leadership, Decision Making, Prioritization
Companies face a range of complex problems. At times, these problems leave the decision makers unsure where to even begin or what questions to ask. The Cynefin Framework, developed by Dave Snowden at IBM in 1999, can help you navigate those problems and find the appropriate response. Many organizations use this powerful, flexible framework to aid them during product development, marketing plans, and organizational strategy, or when faced with a crisis. This template is also ideal for training new hires on how to react to such an event.
Research Template
Works best for:
Education, Desk Research, Product Management
Teams often need to document findings from usability testing sessions and customer interviews into a systematic, flexible user research template. Collecting everyone’s observations into a centralized location makes it easier to share insights company-wide and suggest new features based on user needs. Research templates can be used to record quantitative or qualitative data.. When it’s your job to ask questions, take notes, learn more about your user, and test iteratively, a Research Template can help you validate your assumptions, find similarities across different users, and articulate their mental models, needs, and goals.
Sitemap Template
Works best for:
Mapping, Software Development, Diagrams
Building a website is a complex task. Numerous stakeholders come together to create pages, write content, design elements, and build a website architecture that serves a target audience. A sitemap is an effective tool for simplifying the website design process. It allows you to take stock of the content and design elements you plan to include on your site. By visualizing your site, you can structure and build each component in a way that makes sense for your audience.
UML State Machine Diagram Template
Works best for:
Software Development, Mapping, Diagrams
Visualize the workflow of a process and how objects perform actions based on different stimuli. State machine diagrams are valuable for understanding how an object responds to events at the different stages of its life cycle. They are also helpful for visualizing event sequences in a system.