T

he HyperConvergence is the phase of the creative process when the ideas produced in the divergence phase are evaluated, selected, developed, enriched, finalized, defended, submitted for a final decision and, in the end, putted into action.

Mark Raison developped the idea-box & colours technique, usually called « idea-box » or « Yellow Box » (or even C-box, the first version of the idea-box).

The "Yellow Box" is an essential tool that allows us to make an HyperConvergence that is enriching and also...creative !

THE Yellow Box : How DOES IT WORKS ?

The Yellow Box is a simple, quick and powerful technique that classifies ideas through a colour code after a brainstorming session.  Thanks to the Yellow Box you avoid the creadox, that tricky phenomenon that makes us losing the most audacious and original ideas during the begining of the convergence phase.

There are five types of ideas :
the blue ideas, the green ideas, the red ideas, the yellow ideas and the white ideas.

At the end of the brainstorming :

• Participants have written down all their ideas on post-it notes
• All the ideas produced are hanging at the wall
• Ideas are numered from 1 to n

1Give to each participant 48 round stickers (Brand : Herma reference n° 1851).

Each participants has :

• 12 blue votes : ideas easy to implement
• 12 green votes : ideas that improve the existing
  
• 12 red votes : breakthrough, revolutionary ideas
  
• 12 yellow votes : impossible, visionary ideas
  

2In silence, the participants are reading all the ideas produced during the divergence. Individually, they write down the number of the ideas they like on the coloured stickers. Of course, the participant can only vote once for an idea and he should use his 48 stickers.

3Once the participants have finished their vote, they put the sticker on the corresponding post-it note.

4The post-it notes that have 3,4 or more votes are taken and placed in a big idea-box drawn on a flip-chart or a board, according to the dominant colour.

5The group is selecting 2 ideas per colour and develop and enrich these ideas, so it could be transform into a creative proposition during the next step.

The advantages of the Yellow-Box:

• Speed : it takes around half an our to go through the procedure
• Simplicity : coloured stickers is all you need !
• User-friendly : Personal choices are respected and a collective selection comes up naturally.
• Diversity : ideas of the 4 colours are considered, which means that the most audacious ones shouldn't be rejected
• Efficiency : the best ideas are rapidly spotted without losing de variety produced during the brainstorming.

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