Benny Hill sorting (”Thirty-Five”)
The Benny Hill sorting (”Thirty-Five”) method is a fast and energetic way to choose the most interesting options from a large group of ideas. The method involves participants exchanging papers with each other, comparing the ideas on the papers, and assigning points to determine the ranking of the ideas.
Here are the steps to conducting a Benny Hill sorting session:
- Ask each participant to prepare their pitch, sketch, idea, or insight on a piece of paper. The ideas should be concise and understandable within about 15 seconds of viewing it.
- Play lively music and instruct everyone to move around and exchange papers with each other randomly.
- Participants form pairs with the nearest person and compare the ideas on their papers, assigning 7 "interestingness points" between the two ideas.
- After several rounds of moving around and exchanging papers, each participant will have a paper with an unfamiliar idea and a number of points written on it.
- Participants add up the points assigned to their papers, and the highest-ranked ideas are the ones that most interest the group. The highest-ranked ideas may not necessarily be the ones chosen to keep, but they provide a good starting point for further discussion and decision-making.[1]
Pro Tip: The Benny Hill sorting method can help people let go of ownership by creating a more collaborative and fluid environment for idea-sharing and decision-making. Use it when members of the group are too attached to their own ideas.
