A highly effective method for facilitating feedback, either individually or in groups.

Quickly Generate Feedback.

This method of generating feedback is simple to facilitate and highly visual. Positives, negatives and opportunities are highlighted using different coloured Post-It notes:

• A pink Post-it note is a rose, or a positive.
• A blue Post-it note is a thorn, or a negative
• A green Post-it note is a bud, or an opportunity

It’s an easy way to quickly generate feedback on an idea, a concept, a design, copylines, a product, a service - or anything you want feedback on!  In a group environment, you can generate a lot of feedback in a very short space of time, and the colouring of the Post-its give you an instant visual snapshot of the skew of the feedback. For example, if you see lots of pink, the chances are you’ve got predominantly positive feedback.

Encourage people to place their feedback in silence, to avoid influence in the room from individuals who may have strong voices and opinions.

Learn how to use the method.

When might you use the Rose Thorn Bud method?

• If you’d like rapid insight and feedback from a group of people
• To gain balanced feedback without prejudice or influence
• To involve a team in the feedback process promoting inclusivity and collaboration
• To reflect on an experience, either personally or professionally

Use Examples of the Rose Thorn Bud Method

• To generate feedback from your team on an idea you have for a service development
• To generate feedback from clients on proposal options
• To generate feedback from colleagues on your product development tweaks
• To generate feedback from stakeholders on a campaign approach
• To generate feedback on a vision or purpose
• To review your a personal experience of a training intervention
• To review a service experience, either personally or as a team

Background

It is cited that the method originated with the Boy Scouts of America as a way to review and analyse experiences in the field. Rose Thorn Bud has been adopted and adapted by various organisations, very often used in a design thinking context. 

All that’s required to quickly generate feedback is a stack of pink, blue and green Post-it notes and some Sharpies. It can also be done virtually using Mural or Miro or any other virtual whiteboard. The Engine Room uses this tool frequently with both internal teams and client teams and our love of this method stems originally from our Practitioner Certification Program work with LUMA Institute and our work as Design Council Experts for Design Council.