Workshop Exercises: Ideate

Bad-to-Brilliant

Create silly, impractical, and unethical ideas to turn them around for good

Illustration of Bad-to-Brilliant
Run a Bad-to-Brilliant play

Alternative plays: Flip it Over, Forced Fit

Follow-up plays: PIE Scoring, RICE Scoring

See also: Flip it Over, Forced Fit

Prep time
5 minutes

Run time
30-60 minutes

Group size
3-8

Why: Foster a relaxed, inclusive environment that boosts creativity and confidence

When: Effective in situations where traditional brainstorming has become stagnant

This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.

A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.

Reserve your deck!

Free participants from the usual constraints of practicality and ethics, allowing for unrestrained creative thought by initially encouraging ‘bad’ or unconventional ideas. The process of brainstorming deliberately bad ideas help bring out participants’ creative abilities. It challenges them to think in unconventional ways, which can lead to unique and innovative insights.

Transforming ‘bad’ ideas into viable, ethical solutions, requires participants to think critically and innovatively. By flipping impractical or unethical ideas into positive solutions, participants become more aware of ethical considerations in design and behavioral psychology.

The exercise is designed to create a relaxed environment where participants feel comfortable sharing ideas without fear of judgment. This setting is crucial for lowering inhibitions and encouraging free-flowing creativity. By shifting the focus to generating the ‘bad’ ideas, all participants, including those who are typically reserved, will find it easier to contribute. This inclusivity boosts individual confidence and reinforces the value of every team member’s input. By entertaining the most absurd ideas, participants are compelled to challenge their usual assumptions and biases, paving the way for more profound and insightful discussions that can lead to groundbreaking ideas. As a facilitator, you should provoke participants into thinking of ideas that are not just bad but outrageously so. This extreme level of creativity can lead to discovering unique perspectives and solutions that might not be apparent in a conventional brainstorming setting. By exploring what would never work, participants can more clearly see what might work splendidly. Sometimes, pushing ideas to their most extreme form can reveal surprisingly appropriate and innovative solutions, potentially leading to unique business models or strategies.

Instructions for running this play

Before the exercise. Prepare a clearly defined design challenge or problem statement for the group to work on.

  1. Set the stage. Encourage participants to brainstorm the most outlandish, impractical ideas without concern for practicality or ethics.
  2. Establish the challenge. Clearly present the design challenge to guide the brainstorming.
  3. List bad ideas. Conduct a 15 minute Silent Storm session for participants to list their wildest ideas related to the challenge on separate sticky notes.
  4. Share. Participants share their ‘bad’ ideas, fostering a humorous and open environment.
  5. Flip. Challenge participants to transform these ideas into practical, ethical solutions. Write each flipped idea on individual sticky notes and post them on a large surface.
  6. Identify best flips. Use Dot Voting to select the most practical and ethical ideas.
  7. Refine. In groups, refine the top 3 ideas, enhancing them collaboratively.
  8. Presentation and feedback. Present the original ‘bad’ ideas and their transformed versions, followed by a feedback session.

This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.

A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.

Reserve your deck!

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Ice Breakers

Relieve initial group awkwardness and establish a safe space

Educate

Broaden knowledge or insight regarding the behavior or situation to inform decisions.

Demonstrate

Show practical examples or models of the desired behavior for clear guidance.

Alert

Highlight current actions and their reasons, bringing unconscious habits to awareness.

Train

Develop necessary skills and competencies to enable effective action.

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