Tragic Design

45-minute activity that can be done as a group. We call this the catastrophic brainstorm. The goal is to invite as many people as possible into a room and ask them, “What’s the worst that could happen with our new feature?” Each participant has to come up with a catastrophic scenario, write it on a Post-it, and stick it on the wall. Encourage all participants to be creative! We find that coming up with funny examples at the beginning helps to break the ice. Once you have a bunch of Post-its on the wall, vote for “the worst thing that could happen.” The top three scenarios should then be seriously considered as a priority on the roadmap.