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Six Word Story

Inspired by Hemingway's legendary six-word story ('For sale: baby shoes, never worn'), this exercise asks participants to capture something meaningful — their team's challenge, their vision, their user's experience — in exactly six words. The radical constraint forces clarity, creativity, and prioritisation. What's essential when you can only use six words?

Durée

10m–20m

Taille du groupe

2–100 people

Matériel

cards or sticky notes, pens

Source

Community

Comment l'animer

1
Introduce the format with Hemingway's example.
2
Set the prompt: 'Write the story of [your team / our challenge / our user / this year] in exactly six words.'
3
Give 5 minutes for individual writing. Exactly six words — no more, no fewer.
4
Participants share their six-word stories.
5
Discuss: what choices did people make? What was left out? What surprised you?
6
Optionally vote on the story that most resonates with the group.

Conseils

The constraint is non-negotiable — 'exactly six words' produces more creative results than 'about six words'.
Articles ('a', 'the') count.
Numbers count.
The struggling with the constraint is the exercise.

Variantes

Apply to product vision: 'Write our product vision in six words.' Use for retrospectives: 'Describe this sprint in six words.' Run as a closing exercise: 'What are you taking away from today in six words?'

Contextes d'utilisation

Workshop openings and closingsVision and strategy workshopsCreative warm-upsTeam storytelling sessions

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Method descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices.