The rose, thorn, bud method is a reflective exercise that allows participants to pinpoint what works well, what doesn’t, and potential new ideas to try. Each of these three categories is represented by one of three components of a flower:

Roses – Your winning ideas—the features, concepts, or initiatives that have already fully bloomed. When you list something as a “rose,” you’re asserting it’s perfect the way it is.

Thorns – Your aptly-named pain points. When you add something to the “thorn” category, you’re saying it isn’t working out.

Buds – New ideas that have yet to germinate. Ideas added to the “bud” section are often antidotes to “thorns.” They can also be existing ideas that need to be improved.

Simply put, rose, thorn, bud design thinking means categorizing your initiatives and actions into these three buckets throughout your process. This “what’s good, what isn’t” thought exercise ensures that you’re achieving your highest potential and always evaluating where you can go beyond.

Ultimately, rose, bud, thorn exercise examples are meant to illuminate the needs of a project, product, or sprint. At the same time, these activities allow participants to pat themselves on the back by pointing out what is working and to create a toolkit to implement in future projects.

The best part about rose, thorn, bud examples is that anyone can fill them out. While the method works well for internal employee meetings, it’s equally useful as a framework for user testing. By giving users a structure for their feedback, you and your guinea pigs will have an easier time making sense of the results.