What needs to be finished first
A concrete challenge or idea to illuminate is formulated as a single sentence and understood by the team.
What needs to be ready before start
Whiteboard or Miro/FigJam board with star template (six points: Who, What, When, Where, How, Why); stickies in two colors (question, answer); timer; markers.
One facilitator who timeboxes question rounds and slows discussions; three to ten participants with different contextual knowledge; one scribe who visibly parks open questions and assumptions.
Core idea or challenge as one sentence; existing preliminary research or assumptions; list of known stakeholders; optionally first solution sketches, explicitly held back.
30-60 min
Write core idea in star center. Label six points with W/H questions. State rule: questions first, no answers. One timebox of 3-5 min per point.
The one question this method answers
Which questions around who, what, when, where, how and why must the team answer before meaningful solution work can start?
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Setup and sharpen idea | 5-10 min | Formulate core idea in one sentence and write it in center. Clarify what the idea is and is not. Show star template, read W/H questions. | If the sentence already contains solution, reformulate as problem or effect. Otherwise questions become detail tuning instead of real clarification. |
2Phase 2: Question rounds per point | 20-30 min | Per point 3-5 min silent work, everyone writes questions on stickies (one per sticky). Briefly read out after each point, cluster duplicates. No answers, no discussion. | Facilitator interrupts every answer attempt immediately and parks it. People who seek answers immediately overlook uncomfortable questions that hurt later. |
3Phase 3: Prioritization | 10 min | Review all questions. Each person puts 3-5 dots on questions whose answers most influence the next step. Mark top questions. | If all dots go to one point (for example only How), that shows a blind spot. Facilitator points it out and checks whether Who and Why were consciously skipped. |
4Phase 4: Answers and assumptions | 10-15 min | Write answers or assumptions for top questions. Where answer is missing: mark as open question with owner and research path. Explicitly label assumptions. | Separate guess and fact. If an answer is only gut feeling, it belongs on assumptions stack, not in documentation as fact. |
What comes out at the end
Structured note or board export with core idea, six points with collected questions, top questions marked, each top question with answer or open assumption and owner.
Date and idea in header. Follow-up sessions append updates as new section instead of overwriting. Open questions become tickets or spikes with link to star.
Compact working template for Starbursting with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
Question-driven ideation across Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why.
When and for what do we use this method?
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Short notes along the runsheet.
Owner, date, and success signal.
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Core idea: An interactive onboarding tutorial in the mobile app should guide new users to first aha moment in under 2 min.
Top questions (dot voting): Who skips today, What is the aha moment, How do we measure success.
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Participants give solutions or rationales directly instead of questions.
Facilitator interrupts and parks answers in separate area. Repeat rule: first collect questions, answer later. On repetition, stop timer and briefly return to rule.
How point has 40 questions, Who and Why stay almost empty.
Facilitator makes imbalance visible and forces second round only for weak points. If nothing emerges, that is a finding (for example target group unclear).
Questions like "What is success?" without reference to concrete idea, interchangeable.
Facilitator demands concrete relation: "What is success for this tutorial variant in week 1?" Reframe abstract questions as assumptions or remove.
Answer round tips into implementation discussion instead of clarification.
Limit answers strictly to 1-2 sentences. Solutions are parked on separate "solution ideas" stack and belong in downstream ideation session.
Documentation contains answers without source, nobody knows which statement is verified.
Every answer needs source or label "assumption". Without source, no answer. Assumptions get owner and verification path, otherwise they hang.
More than 10 people, questions shouted over each other, silent phase does not work.
Split group into 2-3 small groups, each works all points in parallel. Consolidate results afterward. Plenary only for prioritization.
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.