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What is the KJ Technique?

The KJ-Method or KJ Technique, is an idea generating and prioritizing technique named after its inventor, Jiro Kawakita. This technique is one of the most popular brainstorming variations for design, team, retrospective, and project meetings. The KJ Technique includes these steps:

  1. Individual brainstorming:
    Everyone silently writes down ideas. Each idea goes on a separate note.
  2. Sharing ideas:
    People take turns sharing the ideas they've written and posting them to the group space.
  3. Grouping or Clustering:
    Working together, the team makes groups of similar ideas or concepts. Each group then gets named with a single word or short phrase that best captures the core concept underlying the ideas in that group.
  4. Voting
    The team then votes on which concepts matter most. Each person gets a set number of votes (or “dots”) that they can place on the concepts they care most about. The concepts that get the most dots win.
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Related Templates
Related Glossary Terms
Brainstorming, Dot Voting, Silent Brainstorming, Simple Consensus Workshop


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