Rose / Bud / Thorn
A garden metaphor that everyone gets, including the people who don't write code.
Roses are what's blooming, buds are what could, thorns are what's pricking you. Nobody needs a glossary, which is why it holds up with support, design and product in the same room.
Reach for it when
- Run a session with designers, product and support without anyone needing a glossary
- Talk about what could grow, not only what went wrong
- Notice the promising things nobody has picked up yet
Pick something else when
- The team would rather say 'blocker' than 'thorn' and finds the metaphor twee
- Three buckets aren't enough to sort what you're dealing with
- You need to get to the bottom of one problem, not sort a sprint into piles
The board
What your team sees during Collect. Everyone writes on their own device, and nobody sees anyone else's Notes until the stage closes.
Rose
Wins worth calling out
Bud
Early signs of something good
Thorn
What got in the way
How the session runs
The facilitator moves the room from one part to the next, so nobody has to remember what comes after what.
Collect Notes
Add your notes. Everyone writes at once.
Read-out
Everyone reads their own notes aloud, one at a time
Group Similar Notes
Pull related notes into the same pile
Vote on Topics
Pick what the group should spend its time on
Discuss
Work through the topics in vote order
Session Summary
Check what came out of the session and export it
Prompts that open it up
The facilitator can drop any of these into the room when it goes quiet.
Run Rose / Bud / Thorn with your team
Share a six-digit session code. Everyone joins from their own screen, and nobody needs an account to take part.