Online Whiteboarding Tools: Ideas and Finest Practices

Online whiteboarding helps you get back to basics by putting all your ideas on the virtual table before diving into business critical projects.

At a time when it is difficult to open the marker and work together in the same room, there are apps that allow you to do this. Online whiteboarding apps can also help resolve potential problems that might arise along the way by having a solid flow of ideas and fixing problems before they arise.

Working with your team and listening to different perspectives is the best way to encourage creative problem solving, create a healthy work environment, and help you achieve the next big thing.

Before you get your pen down on paper, read our roundup of best practices for brainstorming online whiteboards and the tools to help you keep your creative momentum going.

Why online whiteboarding tools are important

The best managers are constantly picking up new ideas and getting to know the latest approaches in their respective jobs. Continuous brainstorming and collaboration is the safest way to keep things fresh while exercising your team’s creative muscles.

You know why whiteboarding is important. So how do you do it effectively Remote and hybrid teams? Fortunately, we are experts in this field! Whether you’re starting a project or solving a problem, here is how to use online whiteboards to improve your brainstorming process.

Take method crazy with online whiteboarding best practices

Time for a team brainstorm? Instead of jumping into a video call and staring at each other, try these techniques to get the most of your whiteboard session.

Try a few whiteboards to find the right one

There are several popular online whiteboards that you can try out. Many are scaled-down, single-purpose apps. Tools like Blue landscape have an advantage thanks to enriched content and a meeting experience.

While other surfaces are quickly filled with sticky notes, a Bluescape workspace offers contains high resolution images, beautiful all-in-one presentations, editable documents, playable videos, and more. Tag and leave comments on any asset. You can even create new assets in real time by extracting pages from an uploaded document or taking screenshots from a video. The entire work area is your whiteboard.

Of course, you need to determine your needs before choosing the right solution for you. Whichever one you choose, an online whiteboard is the foundation of a solid brainstorming strategy.

Optimize your process

Many external factors can cause a team’s brainstorming sesh to fail. Here are some of the main reasons why whiteboarding sessions fail:

• Unequal conversation. Courageous personalities (like extroverts and quick thinkers) tend to dominate conversations. However, that doesn’t mean that more reserved team members don’t have anything valuable to say. Encourage them to speak up!
• Settlement. Sometimes people decide on the first bright idea that comes up on the table. New ideas that could possibly extend a meeting are shooed away for the sake of brevity.
• Unpreparedness. It goes without saying that people sometimes come into meetings completely unprepared. There is nothing more painful than trying to fill an hour window by talking to a wall.

You can avoid awkward, unproductive sessions by following these tips:

Change the scenery

Changing things can change the tone and inspire new ideas. Why not take it outside or to a local coffee shop? Your environment plays a big role in the brainstorming process. They affect how you work, feel, and think. If your team continues to brainstorm in the same meeting room (or familiar home office), creative power can stagnate. The mood might seem repetitive and stale.

Build on each other’s ideas

The first idea that comes to the table might not be the winner, but it could still be something.

Maybe it’s the launch pad for three solid ideas to work with. Your team can build this idea by sticking it on the whiteboard and drawing lines connecting it to sub-ideas to create a visual representation of the brainstorming process.

Building a virtual flowchart or mind maps can be extremely useful in this phase. You can literally build on ideas while keeping the main initiative in the foreground. You can also Create Kanban boards to keep track of every step of a project and make sure what was decided in the brainstorming session actually takes shape.

Use the round robin technique

This strategy draws the help of everyone on the team and gives even the shyest team members a voice. In this type of brainstorming, everyone should bring at least one idea into the conversation and build an open dialogue.

You should keep the rules to a minimum, but it is a good idea to have the discussion around the room before someone comes up with a second idea. If you have lengthy people on your team, give it a try set a timer.

To keep the conversation going, use sticky notes to keep track of everyone’s ideas and call for a vote at the end of the session to see which resonated the most.

Round robin works best when people have time to prepare beforehand so that they can confidently present a thoughtful idea. It also gives your team a chance to bring all of their ideas to the table before moving on to the criticism phase. Aside from giving your team time to prepare, it’s important to set intentions and goals before starting the meeting so everyone knows what they’re working towards.

When is your next online whiteboarding session?

With these pointers in mind, you are ready to run productive online whiteboarding sessions and bring different ideas together in a cohesive manner.

Not every idea on the board is going to be groundbreaking, but even the most humble ideas can lead to something spectacular. That’s the beauty of finding the right balance in a whiteboard session: let it flow while providing just enough structure to be effective.

We hope these whiteboarding tips and tricks help make your next collaborative work the best yet!

And don’t forget: After the whiteboarding session, make concrete plans with the expected results to actually come up bring your visions to life.