Method guide · Progress through phases
Idea Cyclone
Generate ideas through expansion, reversal, and combination, then retain priority ideas and reasons for votes.
- People
- 4–30
- Base procedure time
- 60 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Generate ideas; Organise and narrow ideas.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A method for linking three idea waves with changing perspectives and retaining voted ideas in a priority record. Use it when discussion stops with first ideas, open brainstorming adds only similar ideas, or selection remains unclear despite many ideas. The first wave increases quantity, the second reverses assumptions, and the third combines two distant ideas. Rotate speaking order and place only one idea per turn. The result is three waves of ideas, each person’s voting reasons, and priority and pending ideas to try together. Do not use it as proof of feasibility or to evaluate ability from speaking speed. People may silently pass a turn and return on the next round.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Set the focus0–5 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Set. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Run the first wave5–17 minutes from the start (12 minutes)
Action: Run. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Bend the second wave17–29 minutes from the start (12 minutes)
Action: Reverse. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Narrow the third wave29–41 minutes from the start (12 minutes)
Action: Narrow. Participation: Groups of 3–6.
Shared record
- Retain priority ideas41–60 minutes from the start (19 minutes)
Action: Retain. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 5 minutes, write the subject, user, and desired change in one sentence each on the whole-group surface.
- For 10 minutes, each group takes turns contributing one idea at a time to the first-wave expansion area.
- For 2 minutes, overlap similar cards without discarding them, offsetting them so different words remain visible.
- For 10 minutes, take turns proposing ideas that reverse one first-wave assumption and place them in the second wave.
- For 2 minutes, choose and mark the group’s 2 most distant ideas as combination inputs.
- For 10 minutes, take turns proposing third-wave ideas using one element from each marked idea.
- For 10 minutes, each person casts 3 dots on different ideas and transfers the group’s top 2 to the whole-group surface.
- For 11 minutes, choose 2 ideas to try from the whole-group candidates and record the first testing action and responsibility.
If something changes
If
Five minutes into the first wave, the group has fewer ideas than participants.
Then
Pause the speaking rotation, have everyone silently write 2 cards, then read only one aloud.
If
After voting, at least 4 ideas tie for first place.
Then
Keep only ideas that can get user reactions within 1 week and move the others to pending.
Preparation
Materials
- 6 idea cards per person, one idea per card
- A3 three-wave sheets: one per group and one for whole-group consolidation
- 3 perspective labels per group: expand, reverse, combine
- 3 voting dots per person
- One pen per person
Room and setup
- 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
Adjust for people and time
With 4–6 people, run all three waves in one group. With 7–30, form groups of 3–6 with sizes differing by no more than 1, each receiving one sheet and 3 perspective labels. Transfer only the top 2 ideas per group to one consolidation sheet. With 30 people, handle 10 ideas from 5 groups, keeping each person’s vote allocation at 3 rather than increasing it, and select the final 2.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not equate fast speech with ability or voted ideas with demonstrated feasibility. Allow silent passing and return on the next turn. Keep similar cards visible rather than discarding their differences.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- The source gives the third wave 12 minutes and priority retention 19, while steps allocate 10 minutes to third-wave generation followed by 10 minutes voting and 11 minutes final selection. The total is unchanged, but voting crosses the named phase boundary; no new boundary rule is supplied.
- The guide lists individual voting reasons as an output, while the timed voting step does not explicitly record them. This draft does not add a recording instruction.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Moises Romero: Idea Cyclone
https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/idea-cyclone/
Adaptation under CC BY 4.0; changes made
- CC BY 4.0
Current-page licence notice
A Taiwa no Fumen adaptation based on the Open Practice Library practice identified below. The manuscript's recorded references and the source page checked for this notice are shown separately.
Changes: explanations, timings, instructions, materials and branches were edited for this site. The English edition translates that Japanese manuscript; it is not a verbatim translation of the original practice.
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Credits on the checked source page
- Named contributors on the source page: Moises Romero
- Contributors listed in the official practice source (repository handles): @Moimero
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Idea Cyclone.
Source lineage
CC BY-SA 4.0 — this site's adaptation and translation contributions · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.