Always be capturing

I’ve been running Design Sprints for years since the method was first introduced as a book.

One practice that really stuck with me is “Always Be Capturing”.

The concept is simple: as the facilitator, you capture ideas on post-its or whiteboards the moment people share them. This small practice has some great side-effects. It saves the in-the-moment discussions and thoughts, shows the participants their ideas are important, it creates a visual summary that we can use as a “was this what you meant?” and probably the best part is that it creates a collection of ideas that we can organise later.

I use this during conversations, while listening to audiobooks, or podcasts. I’ve set up a quick shortcut on my phone that opens a text area and saves notes directly to my favorite note-taking app.

The beauty of this system is its simplicity. Capture first, then group, filter, and remix later.