Getting excited about your project with a news headline from the future
I have an amazing time machine that lets me think better about projects. This is part 2 in a series of blog posts exploring the use of a time machine.
This is a trick that I learned from my User Experience (UX) friends.
In many projects, the project members have a great feeling about the possibilities of the product they are building, even if they quite know if they will get there or if the road ahead will be bumpy. A great way to focus your mind on the goal is to ask your future self to brag about what success the product was.
This exercise works great in groups: Form groups of 3-4 people (group of diverse people are better). Each group gets 15 minutes to draw the front page of a news paper (or online news paper) that picks up the story of the success of the product you all are building together.
Give each group a thick A3 paper and some colored markers. (Avoid pens - they don’t show up at a distance)
Some things to include:
- The name (and logo) of the publication
- A headline for the article
- A sketch of an article image (including image description)
- An ingress - a short summary of the news story
When the 15 minutes have expired, each group stands up and presents their article.
The posters make for great decoration of the team area (for a couple of weeks, anyway).
Remember: You will only build something remarkable if you can envision how it will be received.