Share and Capture

Purpose

Share and Capture ensures that individual research findings become collective team knowledge. It prevents the common anti-pattern where only the person who conducted the research understands the insights, creating a shared foundation for the synthesis and ideation phases that follow.

At a glance

• Group size: 3–10
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Difficulty: Low
• Facilitation style: Structured round-robin presentations
• Setting: Meeting room with a shared capture surface

How to run

1. Set up the capture board (2 min): Create columns or sections for each researcher on a whiteboard, flip chart, or digital board.
2. Share (15 min): Each researcher gets 3–5 minutes to present their top findings: key quotes, observations, and surprises. No slides — speak from notes or memory.
3. Capture (during sharing): A dedicated note-taker (not the presenter) writes key points on sticky notes and places them in the presenter’s column. Other team members add their own notes.
4. Cross-pollinate (5 min): After all presentations, the team identifies themes that appeared in multiple people’s research. Draw connections between columns.
5. Prioritise (3 min): Mark the 3–5 most important insights for next steps.

Materials needed

• Whiteboard or flip charts with column headers
• Sticky notes
• Markers
• Timer (strict time-boxing is important)

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Monologuing: Without a timer, one person can consume all the time. Enforce 3–5 minutes strictly.
• Presenter captures their own notes: The point is for others to capture what stands out to them.
• No cross-pollination: If you skip the connection step, you just have parallel monologues.
• Too much detail: This is highlights, not a full debrief. Save detail for follow-up.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Allow written submissions for those uncomfortable presenting verbally.
• Use a digital board so remote participants can contribute equally.
• Provide a timer with both visual and audio cues.

Variations

• Lightning share: 1 minute per person, one insight each — for very large teams.
• Gallery share: Each person posts their findings on the wall; everyone walks around and reads silently, then discusses.
• Video share: Researchers record 3-minute videos in advance for async teams.

When NOT to use this

• When only one person did research — use a different synthesis method.
• When the research is already documented in a shared report that everyone has read.
• When the team needs deep analysis, not breadth — use a structured debrief instead.

Source & further reading

• d.school, Stanford University — synthesis methods
• Kolko, Jon — *Exposing the Magic of Design* (Oxford University Press, 2011)
• Young, Indi — *Mental Models* (Rosenfeld Media, 2008)