Ideas, planning and service design
Create Concepts from Unmet Needs
Organise assumptions about intended users and unmet needs as hypotheses, and develop multiple concepts and matters to test.
- People
- 4–12
- Session time
- 195 minutes
- Format
- In person
English session plan
Original program status: draft. Source safety category: Low; this is not a guarantee of safety.
Preparation: High preparation. Facilitation team: 3 organising roles.
What this session can decide
Develop concept hypotheses and matters to test. Confirm actual user profiles, demand and business viability through research.
Outside its scope
- Do not assert that an assumed user profile represents an actual person.
- Do not guarantee market demand.
- Do not share confidential ideas without permission.
Primary caution: Do not assert that an assumed user profile represents an actual person.
Before starting
- Question and scope
- Organise assumptions about intended users and unmet needs as hypotheses, and develop multiple concepts and matters to test. Before the session starts, state the subject and period to be covered in one sentence.
- What is decided here
- Develop concept hypotheses and matters to test. Confirm actual user profiles, demand and business viability through research.
- Output recipient
- At the end, the Recorder retains “Evidence-gap list for each concept”. Record hypotheses and research methods to check before testing.
- Participation and information boundaries
- Let people choose to participate by speaking, writing, or passing. Keep personal information, confidential information, and assessments based on personal attributes off the record surfaces.
- Operating team
- Assign the Lead facilitator, Recorder, and Timekeeper before starting, and confirm who announces switches and stops.
- Next check
- Decide the review date for “Evidence-gap list for each concept”, who may view it and who is responsible for the next decision.
Who takes responsibility
- Lead facilitator
Keep “Create Concepts from Unmet Needs” within its purpose and stated exclusions, and announce the start and end of each stage.
From before the start until the session ends.
- Recorder
Record “Provisional user profiles and unconfirmed matters”, “Set of concepts”, “Evidence-gap list for each concept” at each stage and hand the records to their recipients at the end.
From preparation of recording surfaces before the start through storage after the session.
- Timekeeper
Notify the Lead facilitator 3 minutes before each stage ends and when switching to breaks or buffer time.
At the start of every stage and 3 minutes before its end.
Session flow
Minutes are measured from the session start. Method time, transition time, breaks and buffer are shown separately; they are not additional overlapping activities.
0–63 minutes
Make user hypotheses visible
Method: Proto-Persona · 0–60 minutes. Transition: 60–63 minutes (3 minutes).
From existing observations and enquiries, describe use situations, goals and barriers as hypotheses. Distinguish “Fact” and “Assumption” with written labels rather than relying on colour alone, and mark items that need checking.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Timekeeper
Output: Provisional user profiles and unconfirmed matters
Handoff: Turn goals and barriers into ideation questions and pass them to the next stage.
This stage may be shortened only in accordance with the stated conditions.
63–126 minutes
Expand multiple concepts
Method: Idea Cyclone · 63–123 minutes. Transition: 123–126 minutes (3 minutes).
Turn users’ goals and barriers into questions. Generate ideas individually, exchange them and develop other people’s ideas. Defer evaluation and write one concept and its use situation per card.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Timekeeper
Output: Set of concepts
Handoff: Pass each concept’s assumptions to the stage that checks presumptions and evidence gaps.
This stage is not marked as shortenable.
136–169 minutes
Check presumptions behind the concepts
Method: Evidence Gap Board · 136–166 minutes. Transition: 166–169 minutes (3 minutes).
Write the assumptions required for each concept to work, one at a time. Classify them as known, assumed or unknown; for unknowns, assign a checking method and responsible person.
Responsible: Lead facilitator; Recorder; Timekeeper
Output: Evidence-gap list for each concept
Handoff: Pass the concepts and evidence-gap list to the person responsible for prototyping or research.
This stage is not marked as shortenable.
What is retained and who receives it
Provisional user profiles and unconfirmed matters
Owner: Recorder
Show the concept’s intended users and presumptions that need testing.
Set of concepts
Owner: Recorder
Make different solution directions comparable.
Evidence-gap list for each concept
Owner: Recorder
Record hypotheses and research methods to check before testing.
Materials and setup
Material names, quantities, groups and handling instructions retain the fixed draft's original helper-derived guidance. Where a format is marked “Source material specification”, the entire bound English source material entry takes precedence over the old helper-derived format guidance. This format-only correction does not resolve other instruction or safety concerns. English names are not substituted into a Japanese-keyed lookup.
Everyday tools
- Sticky notes
Quantity: About 10 per person
Format: Sticky notes around 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into four pieces.
Do not buy specialised slips. Write “Content to address” at the top of each paper slip. If participants write on them, use one item per slip and handwrite the necessary headings before the session starts.
- Dark writing tools
Quantity: 1 per person
Format: Dark broad-tip pens or whiteboard markers
Check that the ink flows and place the pens where participants can reach them. Avoid pale-coloured pens.
- Voting marks
Quantity: 3 marks per person
Format: Pen marks. Use round stickers only if anonymity or movement is needed.
Use pen marks by default. Divide round stickers by participant count only if repositioning or anonymous collection is needed.
- Pens
Quantity: 1 per person
Format: Dark broad-tip pens or whiteboard markers
Check that the ink flows and place the pens where participants can reach them. Avoid pale-coloured pens.
- Judgement-item sticky notes
Quantity: 4 per person
Format: Sticky notes around 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into four pieces.
Do not buy specialised notes. Write “Judgement item” at the top of each paper slip. If participants write on them, use one item per slip and handwrite the necessary headings before the session starts.
Sheets to prepare by hand
- User-profile sheet
Quantity: 1 sheet per group of 3–5
Format: Source material specification: Persona sheets: one A4 sheet per group of 3–5, with fields for name, goals, barriers and quotations
Source-bound format display correction; the other fixed helper-derived guidance is unchanged.
Create fields headed “Name”, “Goals”, “Barriers” and “Quotation” on one sheet. Write each heading in words rather than relying on colour alone.
- Idea cards
Quantity: 6 per person
Format: Sticky notes around 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into four pieces.
Do not buy specialised cards. Write “Idea” at the top of each paper slip. If participants write on them, use one item per slip and handwrite the necessary headings before the session starts. Write only one idea per slip.
- Table for expanding ideas through three perspectives
Quantity: 1 sheet per group plus 1 for whole-group consolidation
Format: Source material specification: A3 three-wave sheets: one per group and one for whole-group consolidation
Source-bound format display correction; the other fixed helper-derived guidance is unchanged.
Divide the working surface into 3 fields: “Generate more ideas”, “Reverse assumptions” and “Combine distant ideas”. Write each heading in words rather than relying on colour alone.
- Headings for switching ideation perspectives
Quantity: 3 per group
Format: Sticky notes around 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into four pieces.
Write “Generate more ideas”, “Reverse assumptions” and “Combine distant ideas” on separate sheets, preparing the required number of each type. Distinguish types by their written headings even if the paper is the same colour. Prepare equal numbers of the three types: generating more ideas, reversing assumptions and combining distant ideas.
- Table for checking evidence gaps
Quantity: 1 sheet per group plus 1 for whole-group consolidation
Format: Source material specification: A3 evidence-gap boards: one per group and one for whole-group consolidation
Source-bound format display correction; the other fixed helper-derived guidance is unchanged.
For each claim to check, create fields headed “What is known”, “Missing evidence”, “Where to check” and “Deadline”.
- Evidence-type cards
Quantity: 4 per group
Format: Sticky notes around 75 × 75 mm, or A4 copy paper cut into four pieces.
Do not buy specialised cards. Write “Evidence type” at the top of each paper slip. If participants write on them, use one item per slip and handwrite the necessary headings before the session starts.
Setup for each method
Proto-Persona
- Island tables for groups of 3–5: one table per group, with participants distributed evenly
- One wall area at least 150 cm wide, where all profiles can be displayed together
Idea Cyclone
- Groups of 3–6 with sizes differing by no more than 1
- One working table per group for the three-wave sheet
- One whole-group surface for voted ideas, with a priority area
Evidence Gap Board
- One surface per group with existing evidence and missing evidence side by side, without a dividing line
- Space outside each group’s surface for items not needed this time, equal to 30% of that surface
- One wall surface for ordering gaps by the nearest decision deadline
When to switch or stop
Fallbacks
- There are 4 or more types of assumed user profile.
Narrow the work to one shared use situation and retain differences as supplementary conditions.
Method guide: Proto-Persona
Stop conditions
- Discriminatory attributes or unsupported characteristics are added to provisional user profiles.
- Delete the relevant descriptions and return to observed facts and use situations.
- Third-party confidential information or unpublished concepts are shared.
- Stop recording and check the authority to share them.
Sources, rights and limits
This site has composed this programme’s purpose, method sequence, delivery instructions, roles, outputs and switching conditions. See each individual method page for that method’s sources and licences.
Original source records and their required notices are retained below. Their presence does not mean a new legal or cultural-safety clearance. Original citation titles are kept in their source language.
Sources and required notices for the 3 methods used
Proto-Persona
- Darpan Sunwar; Spencer Stolworthy: Proto-Persona — CC BY 4.0 adaptation; changes made
- CC BY 4.0
- Source: Darpan Sunwar; Spencer Stolworthy: Proto-Persona | https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/proto-persona/ | CC BY 4.0 adaptation; changes made
- Source: CC BY 4.0 | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Attribution: Darpan Sunwar; Spencer Stolworthy | Authors and contributors credited in the source material
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | Japanese adaptation and this site’s original illustrations
- Changes and adaptation: Adapted with changes as Japanese facilitation scores
- Cultural caution: open-method screening complete: Closed, ritual or sacred cultural practices are not used as sources; opting out, sensitive information and power differences are addressed in each method’s limits and branches.
- Limits of this record: Individual contributors are credited. Text covered by CC BY 4.0 was adapted with changes into Japanese facilitation scores. Exception notices, the site logo and third-party embedded material were excluded.
Idea Cyclone
- Moises Romero: Idea Cyclone — CC BY 4.0 adaptation; changes made
- CC BY 4.0
- Source: Moises Romero: Idea Cyclone | https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/idea-cyclone/ | CC BY 4.0 adaptation; changes made
- Source: CC BY 4.0 | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Attribution: Moises Romero | Authors and contributors credited in the source material
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | Japanese adaptation and this site’s original illustrations
- Changes and adaptation: Adapted with changes as Japanese facilitation scores
- Cultural caution: open-method screening complete: Closed, ritual or sacred cultural practices are not used as sources; opting out, sensitive information and power differences are addressed in each method’s limits and branches.
- Limits of this record: Individual contributors are credited. Text covered by CC BY 4.0 was adapted with changes into Japanese facilitation scores. Exception notices, the site logo and third-party embedded material were excluded.
Evidence Gap Board
- 対話の譜面編集部: 根拠の穴板 — Original description and diagrams
- Source: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team: Evidence Gap Board | Original description and diagrams
- Attribution: Taiwa no Fumen Editorial Team | This site’s text and illustrations
- Cultural caution: open-method screening complete: Closed, ritual or sacred cultural practices are not used as sources; opting out, sensitive information and power differences are addressed in each method’s limits and branches.
- Limits of this record: The editorial team independently created the text, procedures and diagrams. It claims no exclusive rights over general dialogue operations or ideas themselves.
Japanese resources and historical source records
Original Japanese plan and its print view · Japanese operation pack or starter materials
An English print edition is not provided here. The linked plans, print views and operation materials are Japanese resources.
Historical recorded publication holds
The following original hold statements are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. They are not a statement of current acceptance, nor does this historical label resolve a source-specific restriction.
- English translation and rendered-page independent acceptance pending
- Method dependency source/text SHA binding and current source-specific rights verification pending
- Publication not cleared
Historical fixed-source and English-draft provenance
Japanese program SHA-256: 349221f274cfc7434329d7ae571bacc4621741e1901c9c9894bf7beee64a6060
Fixed source context SHA-256: ad2459f4bc083941d05c2ed3cbabe582a65cde5a2dcfb694a4b54c6575622e2e
English draft SHA-256: a08ce845ccd23110ff5222dca5e6dfd5e585fa66204dd92901d43b8ec35772b1
- evidence-gap-board: source
cbe2a27c52d07b23fd8ae8ddf3b3d92114d87e47517fe8e4ab42065d2d9d84c2; English draft5a1833dab9ac30e20a7c777de6b1bab2b129d7eabe826a747703a4f451b15977 - opl-idea-cyclone: source
76f54290f22994fa16714bb2f706c039fff35c9a2a4e8610c9e8b09153bf24ef; English draftebd920f248aaab2abf450b7f36fc5d1e8f76a6facf286d9a3b0b4f533e51aff5 - opl-proto-persona: source
39ce3799df1f4449055dbf36de6e009e425f8086418c401142e601b098eed872; English draftb20334164e3fb1a94ac5bddb4fcf49cf279e7df3242bd221ba28febad1c063b2
These hashes identify the checked inputs; they do not grant independent acceptance or publication clearance.