This is nothing new, but it’s taken on a renewed importance for me in the modern world of remote and hybrid work. There are many virtual whiteboard experiences. None I’ve seen are truly excellent, or able to be adopted by everyone on a team. I miss physical whiteboards.

Cheap Mistakes

Make your design mistakes on a whiteboard. Really dig in and think about an end goal, work your way backwards from there, and don’t be afraid to erase the whole thing and start over. We’re all seen teams and projects hang on to early ideas because it was so much work to create them.

Dry erase markers cost about a dollar, and they come in many colors. In discussions, I have occasionally picked up a dry erase marker and said something like “these are cheap, let’s make our mistakes with one of these.”

This, or This?

I’ve had the experience of attending a long meeting where a large number of people are discussing a topic, and I get the idea that we’re not all talking about the same thing. More than once, I have gone to the whiteboard, drawn two labelled boxes on a whiteboard, and said “Are we talking about this, or this?” More often than not, the conversation clarifies.