Blank Flipcharts Don’t Make Magic, But Templates Do
In product development, the "fuzzy front end" of concept development often represents both tremendous opportunity and significant challenge. During this critical phase, teams are tasked with defining problems, understanding customers, and generating solutions-all before any engineering begins.
How we navigate this phase dramatically impacts bottom-line results, market share, customer satisfaction, and whether projects even launch at all.
What makes concept development particularly difficult is that teams typically lack something concrete to discuss. Without prototypes or developed products, conversations can become abstract and unfocused. This challenge is compounded when cross-functional team members approach problems from vastly different perspectives, sometimes unknowingly working to solve entirely different issues altogether.
The traditional approach of gathering everyone in a room for open brainstorming sessions has proven remarkably ineffective. Research confirms what many of us have experienced: teams engaged in unstructured brainstorming typically generate fewer ideas, and those ideas are often of lower quality compared to more structured approaches.
The solution lies in using visual models and templates-structured frameworks that guide the creative process and facilitate meaningful team collaboration.
Visual models and templates represent systems, processes, or concepts in accessible ways that everyone can understand and engage with. Unlike a team leader facing a blank flipchart hoping inspiration will strike, a well-designed template provides prompts that direct thinking along productive pathways.
Quality professionals have long recognized this power, employing flowcharts, cause-effect diagrams, and 5 Whys analyses to tackle complex problems. Similarly, design methodologies like Systematic Inventive Thinking and Design Sprints leverage targeted frameworks to generate breakthrough concepts.
A case study in designing the right template
A fascinating case study from a multinational telecommunications company illustrates the dramatic impact the right template can have. Initially, the company used a generic visual template asking employees to name their idea, describe it briefly, sketch it, and note how it connected to existing platforms. After six months, this approach yielded 93 ideas, but only three were deemed high-quality.
When researchers helped redesign the template to include targeted questions about prospective customers, their motivations, and potential benefits, the results were transformative. In a single session, this improved template generated 11 high-quality ideas-representing a 300% improvement while saving two months of work.
Why models and templates for innovation work
The effectiveness of visual models and templates is grounded in activity theory, which emphasizes how shared, comprehensible tools enhance teamwork, maintain focus, and prevent confusion. When properly designed and aligned with specific objectives, these frameworks help teams concentrate their collective intelligence on relevant questions. They don't just collect random ideas; they guide thinking toward solving particular problems from customer-centric perspectives. Rather than restricting creativity, well-designed templates channel it productively by limiting scope and providing clear structure.
Embrace visual models and template for innovation
For product development teams tackling concept development, embracing visual models and templates for innovation means reducing the "fuzziness" of the front end. It means generating higher-quality ideas more efficiently, improving team alignment, and ultimately developing better products that truly address customer needs. By adopting structured approaches tailored to specific challenges in concept development, teams can transform abstract conversations into actionable design inputs-making the path from concept to successful product launch significantly more straightforward and effective.
Other podcast episodes you may like:
Need to innovate? Stop brainstorming and try a systematic approach.
Brainstorming within Design Sprints
Risk Barriers as Swiss Cheese?
How can 8D help solve my recurring problem?
Citation
Marta Perez and Sabrina Brescaiani, "The Role of Visual Templates on Improving Teamwork Performance," 19th International Conference on Information Visualisation (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/iV.2015.66
Want to know more about how to do it?
It's in the new book,
"Pierce the Design Fog: Develop High-Quality Products Faster through Team Innovation".