Sometimes people refuse to explore new possibilities. They don’t realize all the opportunities they are losing.
When you tell a problem to somebody, that person is thinking of possible answers while you didn’t finish the idea.
We create in our heads an idea of a solution and sometimes we obsessed with that first idea and don’t try to get new ones.
The crazy 8’s is one of the hundred of methodologies we could use to explore new possibilities. It is nice because it is simple and powerful, but also it’s tricky because if you apply it incorrectly it WILL BE A WASTE OF TIME.
Better to understand
Sometimes people use methodologies, and tools because they see that professionals use them in their process, but they don’t get too much value from them. So, don’t use them if they have no meaning to you.
Sometimes people use the tools because they read that it works for others. But sincerely if you don’t understand the benefit of something it could be a waste of time. Understand the tool first.
If you apply a process or use a tool not necessary will get a piece of art. It depends on the artist and the team.
I think that happens because sometimes we can not understand why we are doing “something” and what to expect from it. The basic here is to understand where we are in the process and where are we going.
In this drawing, we can see a typical double diamond design process with some customizations. For example, the sizes of the triangles are modified according to the time usually spend in each instance, according to my point of view.
The tools we got inside the process can be useful or not according to the project and the position of each one can be ordered differently.
What NOT to do
As we say at the beginning, usually people refuse to explore more and more and keep the first ideas that he came up with.
In the case of Crazy 8’s, our main goal is to explore new possibilities.
The objective of the crazy 8’s is that in a short period of time create 8 new possibilities or ideas to solve the problem.
So, it is not different screens of the same idea. Or the same idea with a little variation.
It must be 8 completely different and brand new fresh ideas to resolve one problem.
What to do?
The first thing you got to know is what is the problem. As basic as it sounds but the first issue is the complete understanding of the problem.
The other thing we must do is to understand that this exercise is a possibility.
So take a piece of paper and prepare, you can do it with a timer or not. The correct exercise required a timer. I suggest trying different ways. You can make more than one Crazy 8’s of course, and compare your results.
You can find more information in this article of NNGroup called “Facilitating an Effective Design Studio Workshop“.
As we see in this example, there are different ideas. It is not the same idea repeated with some variations or different screens of the same idea.
They are different, but they are part of a mental process, so also we are going to find some relations between them of course, but don’t get confused, it is not a user flow, it is not a wireframe, etc.
All they are just possible solutions for ideas for the same problem, so keep the focus on the problem.
Feel free to imagine and propose whatever you imagine following the conditions and requirements of the problem.
Propose, propose, and propose. Enjoy. Play. Repeat it.
I know it’s hard when we don’t come up with more ideas, but there are the good ones. Look for them.
Don’t get in love with the ideas, dare you to find more. It can surprise you.
Conclusions
- A crazy 8’s is an exploration tool, use it.
- You really need to understand the problem.
- It is not different screens of the same idea.
- It is not variations of the same idea.
- There are completely unique ideas.
- This is an opportunity, take it.