Parking Lot Matrix Template
Keep team meetings focused by managing ideas, distractions, and side discussions.
Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies
About the Ideas Parking Lot Matrix Template
The ideas parking lot matrix (also known as the “wall of ideas”) can help your team capture ideas and issues that need more research or discussion during meetings.
Big ideas, progress blockers, or unrelated tangents may not resolve themselves by the end of a meeting. This is where a parking lot framework can come in handy. The democratic approach can let everyone take ownership of the material they’ve contributed during the discussion.
Each team member can point out any concerns they might have. After the main discussion ends, they can agree to take action on what can be prioritized and report back on improvements made since your last meeting.
What is an ideas parking lot matrix?
A parking lot matrix is a facilitation tool used during workshops or longer meetings to isolate distractions or unrelated topics and decide which ideas are worth turning into actionable next steps. Putting your ideas into a parking lot matrix allows you to focus on the immediate team discussion and still recognize everyone’s thoughts and contributions to the meeting.
Parking lot matrices work especially well when you have teammates in the group who are likely to go off-topic or suggest ideas that may be vague and open to scope creep. Their ideas and observations are ‘parked’ for when the right time and context is clear, building a bank of valuable insights to prioritize or return to as needed.
Create your own Ideas Parking Lot Matrix
Making your own ideas parking lot matrix is easy. Get started by selecting the ideas parking lot matrix template, then take the following steps to make one of your own:
1. Add the template to your meeting board
Simply add the parking lot matrix template to any existing board you are using during a meeting, or keep it as a separate board where ideas can be recorded and referenced.
2. Stay on-topic during the meeting
Pick a topic and stick to it. If anyone in the group jumps to another topic or tangents on unrelated ideas, encourage them to use sticky notes to document on the parking lot. Recording their thoughts acknowledges that the idea has value, but is perhaps not as urgent as the current topic you need to address.
3. Collect clusters of questions, unrelated tangents, or unproven ideas to follow-up on
Your team can use the tab key (or ‘Command+D’ shortcut) to rapidly and concisely ideate on as many sticky notes as needed. ‘Ideas under Discussion’ will focus on the most important concepts or concerns. Everyone should feel free to add ideas under opportunities, things to keep on the radar, things to consider later, and things that shouldn’t be considered.
4. Clarify your team’s action items to follow-up on.
Turn relevant sticky notes into action items owned by a team member with a realistic timeline to report back on progress. This helps keep the meeting on schedule by focusing on future to-dos rather than solving or wrapping up every idea at once.
5. Make plans for a follow-up meeting.
A parking lot matrix is an action plan for future research, discussions, or meetings. Ideally, the framework should outline ways that your team can turn a hypothetical contribution into tangible value. Set up a follow-up meeting for the team regroup and discuss the ideas added to the parking lot based on the relevant sections.
Get started with this template right now.
Work Breakdown Structure Template
Works best for:
Project Management, Mapping, Workflows
A work breakdown is a project management tool that lays out everything you must accomplish to complete a project. It organizes these tasks into multiple levels and displays each element graphically. Creating a work breakdown is a deliverable-based approach, meaning you’ll end up with a detailed project plan of the deliverables you must create to finish the job. Create a Work Breakdown Structure when you need to deconstruct your team's work into smaller, well-defined elements to make it more manageable.
App Development Canvas Template
Works best for:
Market Research, Product Management, User Experience
Ever noticed that building a successful app requires lots of players and moving parts? If you’re a project manager, you definitely have. Lucky for you, an app development canvas will let you own and optimize the entire process. It features 18 boxes, each one focusing on a key aspect of app development, giving you a big-picture view. That way you can fine-tune processes and get ahead of potential problems along the way—resulting in a smoother path and a better, tighter product.
Random Words Template
Works best for:
Ideation, Brainstorming, Mind Mapping
Random word brainstorming is a simple, creative technique using random words to generate new ideas and creative solutions to your problems. Using random word prompts allows you to step beyond traditional boundaries and address challenges from a different direction. Random word brainstorming allows your team to unlock their creativity to solve business problems, create new inventions, improve existing ideas, or just think about problems in a new way.
Action Plan Template
Works best for:
Education, Project Management, Project Planning, Kanban
Why create an action plan? Long-term business strategies and goals are only good if you can make them a reality—by accomplishing every small task along the way. An action plan lists those tasks and lays them out in clear detail. It helps you keep everything in order, make sure nothing is missed, and get stakeholders on the same page to complete a project quickly and effectively. This template will help you write an action plan that’s SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Floor Plan Template
Works best for:
Operations, Workshops
Maybe you’re planning a big occasion or event. Or maybe you’re arranging seating structures and traffic flows that are more permanent. Either way, creating a floor plan—an overhead scaled diagram of the space—is equal parts functional and fun. This template will let you visualize how people will move about the space and know quickly if the space will do what you need, before you commit time, money, or resources. And you’ll be able to get as detailed as you want—finding the right measurements and dimensions, and adding or removing appliances and furniture.
Dot Voting Template
Works best for:
Decision Making, Meetings, Workshops
Dot voting, also known as “sticker voting,” “dotmocracy,” or “voting with dots”, allows teams to point out issues in a series of potential solutions or to prioritize tasks when presented with various options. Dot voting is different from the default “one-share” or “one-vote” rule. Instead, each person in the group is given as many votes (or “points”) as can be filled. Those votes can either all be cast for one idea, or distributed among many ideas. You can use dot voting any time your team prioritizes options or agrees on a direction to take for a high-stakes project.