Disney Creative Strategy
A group works on an idea in three separate roles, each in its own space: the Dreamer imagines freely, the Realist works out how it would actually be done, and the Critic looks for gaps and risks. Criticisms are turned into questions, which go back to the Dreamer. Keeping the roles apart stops ideas being judged before they have been developed.
Use when a team needs to develop an ambitious idea into a workable plan without killing it too early.
Solves: Ideas get shot down in the first five minutes because dreaming and judging happen in the same conversation.
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Step 1: Set up three spaces, clearly labelled Dreamer, Realist and Critic, far enough apart not to interfere (5 min).
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Step 2: Dreamer: imagine the outcome with no limits. What would it look like if it worked? (15 min).
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Step 3: Realist: work out how to make it happen. Storyboard the steps, who does what, when (15 min).
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Step 4: Critic: look at the plan, not the people. What is missing, what could go wrong? Write each criticism as a question (15 min).
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Step 5: Back to the Dreamer space to answer the Critic's questions with new ideas (10 min).
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Step 6: Repeat the cycle until the plan holds up in all three roles, then capture it (10-20 min).
- Physically moving between spaces helps people switch mindset.
- Hold the Critic to the plan. Critique of the dreamers is out of bounds.
- Keep the Dreamer phase free of 'but'.
- Split the group so subgroups hold each role, then rotate.