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Lotus Blossom
 
WHAT
The Lotus Blossom technique focuses the power of brainstorming on areas of
interest. It does so through the use of a visual representation of ideas and is
similar to a mind-map, but is more structured and pushes you in ways you don’t
experience in classic mind-mapping.
 
WHEN
Early in the design process, when emphasis is on developing many ideas.
 
WHY
To develop many ideas; the focus is on quantity not necessarily quality at this
point.
 
HOW
Eight 3×3 squares, known as blossoms, are arranged around a center blossom.
The center square of each blossom contains a concept or problem that the other
squares of the blossom are related to.
 
1. Enter a problem to be solved, an item to be improved, or a theme to be
examined in the center box.(Box I above)
2. Brainstorm related components, solutions or themes and put these in the
boxes immediately surrounding the center box.  (Boxes A-H above)
3. The values from those boxes should now be used as the center of the eight
lotus blossoms on the outer edges of the sheet.
4. Brainstorm related components, solutions or themes and enter these in the
eight boxes surrounding each of the new center seeds for each outer lotus
blossom. Try your best to complete all of the blossoms to maximize ideas.
5. Upon completion you will have at least 64 new ideas related to the original
problem or theme to explore.
 

©2018 The MITRE Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Approved for public release. Distribution unlimited 18-1663-3
The Futures Whee

Get an overview of what might happen as a result of your decision.

If you've ever needed to explore the full impact of a proposed change, you'll know how hard it can be to identify all possible outcomes.
In situations like these, many people panic, and list the first consequences that they can think of, resulting in a list that's shallow, incomplete, and tricky to analyze.
This is where the Futures Wheel can help. This visual tool gives you a structured way of brainstorming the direct and indirect consequences of a decision, event, or trend. Find out more in this article and
infographic.
What Is the Futures Wheel?
The Futures Wheel (see figure 1, below) was created by Jerome Glenn in 1972. Glenn has since become a recognized expert and speaker on Future Studies.

Figure 1 – The Futures Wheel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

From Glenn, Jerome C., "Futurizing Teaching vs Futures Course," Social Science Record, Syracuse University, Volume IX, No. 3 Spring 1972. Reproduced with permission from  Jerome Glenn.
Glenn originally created the Futures Wheel to identify the potential consequences of trends and events, but you can also use it in decision making (to choose between options) and in change management (to
identify the consequences of change). The tool is especially useful during the brainstorming stage of Impact Analysis.
How to Use the Futures Wheel
Step 1: Identify the Change

Write the change that you need to consider in the center of a piece of paper, or on a flipchart. This could be an event, trend, problem, or possible solution.
Step 2: Identify Direct, First-Order Consequences

Now, brainstorm possible direct consequences of that change. Write each consequence in a circle, and connect it from the central idea with an arrow. These are "first-order" consequences.
Step 3: Identify Indirect, Second-Order Consequences

You now need to brainstorm all the possible "second-order" consequences of each of the first-order (direct) consequences that you wrote down in Step 2, and add them to your diagram in the same way.
Then, repeat this by identifying the third-order consequences, fourth-order consequences, and so on.

Tip 1:
You may find it useful to color-code each "level" of the wheel, as we have in figure 1, above. This makes it easier to prioritize and analyze consequences once you've completed your brainstorming.
Tip 2:
Remember that consequences are not necessarily negative.
Step 4: Analyze Implications

Once you've completed all of the levels of the Futures Wheel, you'll have a clear picture of the possible direct and indirect consequences resulting from the change. List these.
Step 5: Identify Actions

Where the possible consequences that you've identified are negative, think about how you'll manage them (our article on Risk Analysis gives some useful pointers). Where consequences are positive, think
about what you'll do to take full advantage of them.

                                            

A Futures Wheel Example

Judith's departmental budget is going to be cut by 20 percent in six weeks. She gets her managers together, and completes a Futures Wheel (see figure 2) to identify all of the possible consequences.

Figure 2 – Judith's Futures Wheel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Judith can now see that cutting staff will have a significant impact on her team. If she's going to work around her budget shortfall, she knows that she'll need to try every other option first. Trimming staff will be
a last resort.
She can also see that low motivation and low productivity could be indirect consequences of this budget cut. So she needs to be ready to rebuild team morale, and to help people be more productive. She may
also find it hard to increase sales volumes, so she needs to manage expectations accordingly.

©2018 The MITRE Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Approved for public release. Distribution unlimited 18-1663-3
•What is NGT?
•Method of brainstorming, making decisions, or
organizing ideas in a group setting

Why use NGT?

Helps eliminate biases and peer-pressure
Encourages participation from all team members
All opinions are heard and weighted equally

What inhibits people?

They dont want conflict.
They dont want to be criticized.

©2018 The MITRE Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Approved for public release. Distribution unlimited 18-1663-3