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Inspiration

Share ideas and learn from others. Collaborate on templates, use cases, and innovative ways to use Lucidchart, Lucidspark, and Lucidscale.

  • 151 Topics
  • 317 Replies
151 Topics
Ktomlinson
KtomlinsonLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Bridging the Gaps: How Understanding Upstream and Downstream Can Improve Your Workflow

In fast-paced work environments, teams often focus on their own tasks without seeing how their actions impact the broader process. This lack of awareness of upstream and downstream effects can lead to inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and costly mistakes.When teams collaborate to map out processes, they can identify dependencies, spot gaps, and see how each role contributes to the bigger picture. Involving different departments fosters shared understanding, ownership, and creates a more effective process overall.Why Upstream and Downstream MatterEvery process is part of a bigger system. An upstream process refers to steps that happen before a specific task, while downstream processes follow. When teams lack visibility into these connections, they risk roadblocks, duplication, or decisions that disrupt others.Examples: IT & Engineering: A development team launches a feature without consulting the infrastructure team, causing server crashes. Sales & Product: A sales team commits to

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Ktomlinson
shannon
shannonLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Lately @ Lucid: Big announcements and product updates on April 3

If you haven’t heard, Lucid is hosting its biggest event yet on April 3, and we want you to join in on all of the excitement! 🎉Lucid leaders, including CEO Dave Grow, CPO Dan Lawyer, and SVP of Strategy & Operations Jamie Lyon, will share big announcements during our Lately @ Lucid keynote. Join us virtually to hear about:Lucid’s expanded vision Product updates that will help you accelerate major initiatives across your organization Exciting partnership newsFollowing the keynote, there will be four breakout sessions to help you start using Lucid for Agile, cloud optimization, process improvement, and product management.We’re offering three start times to support Lucid users all over the world, so we hope to see you there!👉 Register nowIf you can’t attend, still register! We’ll send you the recordings via email post-event.

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Micah
Ktomlinson
KtomlinsonLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Making Mission Statement Creation Less Intimidating (utilizing AI Quick Actions)

Before joining Lucid as a Solutions Consultant, I facilitated strategic planning sessions, helping teams define their core values and mission statements—surprisingly, a daunting task for many. Just hearing the words 'Strategic Planning' or 'Mission Statement' often made people anxious. Strategic planning can feel overwhelming, so having someone to guide teams through it in a structured yet approachable way is a huge asset.Utilizing Lucid in this process has allowed me to remove some of the stiffness from strategic planning and mission statement creation, simplifying it by taking it back to the basics. Just dropping ideas on a whiteboard with sticky notes makes the process feel less intimidating—especially when using private mode. AI Quick Actions in Lucidspark make the process even easier by helping brainstorm, refine ideas, and summarize key themes into a clear, actionable statement. Key AI Quick Action Features:Brainstorm: Expand and generate ideas quickly Sort Ideas: Organize ideas

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Micah
Olivia Q
Olivia QLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Powerful brainstorming with AI

I’m curious, how many of you currently use AI for brainstorming? I’ve found myself using it to get inspiration for weekly meals, itineraries for upcoming trips, team activities, and more. What‘s great about it is that it can be used for just about any use case, from deciding on what’s for dinner to developing user personas.To really maximize your AI brainstorming sessions, here are a few of our tips to get better results.Be specific about what you want. For example, instead of saying, “Develop a user persona for my tech company,” try something like, “Develop three user personas for my collaboration software company. Answer who, what, when, where, and why.” Avoid yes or no questions so that AI can provide more detail. Use natural language.💡Explore our recent blog post for more tips and examples!

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Olivia Q
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uzoarufu
posted in Inspiration
Customizing Lucid's Canvas Integration (Special shout out to Ms. Cicero)

 

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
bnomichith
bnomichithLucidite
posted in Inspiration
[Upcoming webinar on February 27] How non-technical teams use Lucid: New examples to inspire your work

I’ve got exciting news for all the great humans here in marketing, operations, sales, strategy, finance, and other non-technical roles! We’ll be revisiting one of our most popular webinar topics with three all-new examples of how non-technical teams use Lucid to work more efficiently. Here are the details:How non-technical teams use Lucid: New examples to inspire your workFebruary 27, 2025 at 11 a.m. MTJoin us for tips, demos, and templates on using Lucid to: Brainstorm, prioritize, and plan impactful projects.  Visualize, document, and improve processes.  Transform dull meetings into lively, actionable sessions.Register here: https://lucid.co/resources/webinars/how-non-technical-teams-use-lucid-feb-2025?utm_medium=lucid-outreach&utm_source=community&utm_campaign=webinar&utm_content=feb-2025-gtm-webinar3  

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bnomichith
Patrick Saul
Patrick SaulLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Unlock Real Business Value with Tech Value Mapping

“What does ChatGPT actually do? And do I care?”In my past life working in an innovation center, this is a common question I would get from executives.  This was not exclusive to ChatGPT. In fact,  replace ChatGPT with just about any other technology that’s seeing a lot of hype at the moment (e.g. “The Metaverse”, AR/VR, Robotics, IoT, blockchain/crypto… the list goes on). What they are really asking is this: What value does this new technology actually have for my business? Where can we apply it to get the most benefit?It’s a good question, and it’s the right one to start with when you’re investigating any new technology - whether it’s for your team, your customers, or your company / organization.We’ve developed a Technology Value Mapping template to help teams come together and brainstorm the path forward more effectively. Try it out and let us know what you think! Technology Value Mapping Template Looking to up your facilitation game with an exercise like this? Check out this resourc

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
Kelsey Gaag
Kelsey GaagLucid community team
published in Inspiration
Tips for facilitating meetings in Lucidspark 💻

Want to run more efficient and engaging meetings? Try these facilitation tips in Lucidspark to keep your team aligned and productive—whether you’re meeting in person, remotely, or in a hybrid setting. Utilize paths and frames for seamless topic transitionsFrames and paths help you effortlessly manage the flow of your meetings. Instead of constantly scrolling and zooming to navigate your boards, you can seamlessly open a path and click through to transition to different topics. Additionally, you can link to the path, which allows everyone in the meeting to follow the same path and easily navigate through the board. This prevents confusion and keeps your team on topic.   Add quick tools for efficiency Make collaboration easier by leveraging Quick Tools, which allows you to drag frequently used elements—like sticky notes, Lucid Cards, and story points—directly onto your canvas. This feature allows contributors to easily navigate and add to the canvas. This is a great tool for newer users

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
knikolai
knikolaiLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Two easy ways to drive engagement in your Lucidspark board

If you're looking to boost engagement in your Lucidspark collaboration sessions, here are two great ways to inspire more active participation and create an interactive atmosphere!In your Lucidspark document, simply select Quick tools from the toolbar to access a variety of options, from facilitation support to powerful AI features.One of the most effective ways we've seen teams boost engagement is by using a Sticky note bank. Sticky notes are a key element of collaboration in Lucid, and having an infinite supply encourages participants to freely share all their ideas. It's a fast and easy way to inspire everyone to contribute, without ever worrying about running out of space!   Another great tool for increasing interaction is the sticker bank. Similar to the sticky note bank, this feature offers a collection of emojis that collaborators can drag and drop around the board. It’s a fun and intuitive way to quickly gauge audience reactions, making it easy to assess engagement in real time.

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
Audrey V
Audrey VLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Webinar follow-up questions and resources: More ways non-technical teams use Lucid

Thanks to all who joined us for our webinar, “How non-technical teams use Lucid: New examples to inspire your work”! (If you didn’t have the chance to join, you can access the webinar on demand here.)Check out these additional resources to keep learning:On prioritization and alignment: Template: Solution alignment Article: Get started with Visual Activities On process mapping and documentation: Template: Email flow example  Article: Create a flowchart in Lucidchart On facilitating engaging meetings: Template: Meeting agenda Course: Pro tips for more productive 30-minute meetings Learning pathway: Creative facilitation A collection of the many ways Lucid teams use Lucid Our first webinar on how non-technical teams use Lucid Lucid help centerLeave any follow-up questions you have from the webinar in the comments below so that a Lucid team member can help answer them.

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
Morgan T
Morgan TLucid support team
published in Inspiration
Check out the new, fully customizable Primary Toolbar in Lucidspark! 🎉Product update

Exciting news! We have released a new Primary Toolbar experience in Lucidspark (and Team Spaces) that allows you to fully customize which tools appear. Drag tools in and out of the toolbar to optimize your workflow and provide quick access to the tools you use most often. For more details, check out our Welcome to Lucidspark article.Let us know in the comments which tool you are most excited to feature in your customized Primary Toolbar! 

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Leianne C
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Brock WoodLucid product team
posted in Inspiration
🔍 Search for Lucid documents using your browser search bar 🔍

We are excited to announce site search functionality! This allows for browser-native searches for Lucid documents directly from your search bar! If you are already signed in, this will take you directly to the search results page for your query. To learn more about how you can set this up for your web browser you can reference the PDF attached to this post.  

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Humas1985
Lucid Legend Level 8
shannon
shannonLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Webinar follow-up questions and resources: Stay in sync with Jira and ADO integrations

Thank you for joining us for our webinar, “Stay in sync with Lucid’s Jira and Azure DevOps integrations”! (If you didn’t have the chance to join, you can access the webinar on demand here.)Check out these additional resources!Jira and Azure DevOps integrations:Integrate Lucid Cards with Jira Integrate Lucid Cards with Azure DevOps Cloud Video: Lucid Cards for Jira Video: Lucid Cards for Azure DevOps Blog post: Make the most out of the Lucid Cards for Jira integrationOther capabilities:Task estimation Dynamic Table Visual Activities Progress bars and workload trackers Template: Measure confidence activity An Agile team’s guide to sprint planning in LucidAgile event templates that incorporate Jira/ADO integrations:Backlog refinement Sprint planning Big room planningOur Jira and Azure DevOps integrations are available to Enterprise users. If you’re not currently on an Enterprise account, reach out to our team to learn more.Leave any follow-up questions you have from the webinar in the com

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Ria S
Lucid Legend Level 7
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ShannonMGO
posted in Inspiration
Which template for visualizing nonprofit donors?

Hi friends,I work as a major gifts fundraiser for a nonprofit and manage a portfolio of about 150 donors. I’ve got them all in a database, as well as a spreadsheet, but I need to be able to visualize and organize them in various groupings based on a few different datapoints. I’m not sure which template I should use but I’d love ideas from this community. Here are the details of what I need:Visually organize and color-code donors based on:  Geographic location Interests in different areas of the nonprofit’s programmatic work. They may have one singular interest or may have multiple interests.  3 levels of engagement: A, B, and C I’d like to be able to drag and drop or easily change color/shape if a donor moved from Boston to Atlanta, for example. I’d also be able to switch views so I can see, for example, all donors with interest in education, or all A-level donors, or all Massachusetts donors. If at all possible to assign tasks/set reminders for actions within this visual chart, tha

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Shira M
Lucid Legend Level 4
Kelsey Gaag
Kelsey GaagLucid community team
published in Inspiration
3 Valentines Day Themed Icebreakers for Lucidspark ♥️

Impress your coworkers this month with these Valentines Day themed icebreakers! To download any of the icebreakers, click on the heading link. This will create a new document, that you own, with the featured activity!  Tier Rank Valentines TreatsLearn more about your team's favorite Valentines treats with this visual activity! This icebreaker includes a tier list of classic Valentines day treats like Conversation hearts, chocolate covered strawberries, and more! This icebreaker is a fun conversation starter and will get your meeting off to a great start. You can also add more treat options to the left bank!  Complement IcebreakerShare the love by using this icebreaker to complement and appreciate your teammates! In this template you will find various frames for your coworkers, where you can spend about 3 minutes as a team adding a complement to each coworker's frame. Afterwards, you can choose to read the compliments aloud if you'd like. This is a great way to boost team morale, help y

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Ambar D
scowley
scowleyLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Upcoming webinar on February 13: Stay in sync with Lucid’s Jira and Azure DevOps integrations

Hey Lucid Community! Have you ever had a coworker fall asleep 😴 during a Sprint Planning meeting because one person was sharing their screen of the Jira backlog the whole time? Or tried to do quarterly planning in a digital tool but gotten frustrated about the amount of work it can take to transfer everything back over to Jira or Azure DevOps?  Yeah, that’s happened to me too. I’m Spencer and I’m one of the product managers here at Lucid. My scrum teams use Jira everyday for tracking work but we quickly realized that they aren’t very collaborative or easy to use. Once we started using Lucid’s integrations with tools like Jira and Azure DevOps, it completely changed the way we work. People actually talk and collaborate in meetings as we talk through work and break down epics. I rarely have to go into Jira anymore because I can create tasks straight from Lucid and edits are synced back without me having to do anything.  We want to share how you can also use Lucid with these tools! Join

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Humas1985
Lucid Legend Level 8
Olivia Q
Olivia QLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Q4 template roundup!

As we step into a new quarter at Lucid, we wanted to take a minute to share all of the templates that were created in Q4! We have a variety ranging from Agile planning to fun team resources. Check them out!A bunch of holiday team activities Onboarding: Make onboarding new team members a breeze. Affinity estimation: Quickly assess projects and keep your team aligned. Discovery tree: Clearly visualize ideas throughout the discovery process. Imposter Syndrome workshop: Help you and your team identify, acknowledge, and manage imposter syndrome. New team space: Create a single source of truth with your team.  New team space template Project management team space: Coordinate work, track progress, and align with your team throughout the project. Agile team space: Connect with your agile team in a shared space. Team roster: Get to know your team and share fun stats. Team resources: Use dynamic tables to keep team resources organized. Decision log: Track decisions with ease. Decision log templa

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Olivia Q
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ssahagunLucid support team
published in Inspiration
What syntax can I use to diagram as code with Mermaid?Lucid advice

Lucidchart supports a variety of diagram types when using Mermaid for diagramming as code. This post outlines the basic syntax for creating supported diagrams with Mermaid in Lucidchart. FlowchartCreate clear and easy-to-understand flowcharts to represent complex systems and processes. The following code provides a framework for implementing a flowchart using Mermaid syntax in Lucidchart. Code: ---title: Chart Title---flowchart LRA[Start] --> B[Step 1]B --> C[Step 2]C --> D{Decision Point}D -- Option 1 --> E[Step 3A]D -- Option 2 --> F[Step 3B]E --> G[Step 4A]F --> H[Step 4B]G --> I[Next Step or End]H --> IThis code represents a basic flowchart structure where each step or decision point is clearly defined. Use ‘LR’ for left-to-right flowcharts. Use ‘TD’ for top-to-bottom flowcharts. For more advanced flowchart styling options, check out Mermaid’s Flowchart Basic Syntax guide.  The example below utilizes Mermaid code to visualize the scientific method through

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mskidmoreLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Lucidspark Fundamentals badge pathway

We know how important it is to visualize your work in order to move projects forward, which is why the Lucidspark Fundamentals pathway is all about using Lucidspark’s collaborative canvas to brainstorm, plan, and host engaging meetings in an unlimited virtual space!Having completed any or all of the 4 courses in the pathway (Basics, Brainstorming, Planning, or Meetings) we want to keep the conversation going and make sure we’ve enabled you to more effectively see and build the future with your team! Use the thread below to tell us more about your experience!Provide feedback: Our goal with this pathway was to include more relevant use cases to help you quickly integrate Lucidspark into your workflow. Were the examples for Brainstorming, Planning, and Meetings applicable to your work? Do you feel like you’re able to competently use Lucidspark to help you accomplish what you need to do? Share your work: Throughout the pathway, we talked about creating opportunities for your collaborators

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LauraMNLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Build consensus with these techniques ✋

Having trouble achieving consensus on your team? It isn’t always easy to ensure true team alignment. To help, we’ve identified the top consensus building techniques and created templates to help facilitate discussions. Check out these techniques the next time you need to achieve consensus on your team: Fist to five, where each person indicates their level of agreement by holding up a certain number of fingers.  Dot voting, which helps you quickly identify your team’s preferences.  Task estimation, a special feature in Lucid that helps teams align on workload estimates. Confidence voting, where team members use a sliding scale to indicate their confidence. Check out our blog post to learn more, including the benefits to consensus building and tips on how to achieve consensus efficiently. Which one of these techniques do you think you’ll try? Do you have other methods you use to build consensus on your team? Let us know in the comments!

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mskidmoreLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Intelligent Diagramming badge pathway

We know how important it is to be able to quickly gather insights about the efficiency of business processes, which is why the Intelligent Diagramming badge pathway is all about using data with your diagrams to surface critical information visually and make more informed decisions, faster! Having completed any or all of the 4 courses in the pathway, we want to keep the conversation going and make sure we’ve enabled you to more effectively see and build the future with your team! Use the thread below to tell us more about your experience!Provide feedback: Our goal with this pathway was to equip you with the skills to gather insights from your process diagrams. Do you feel like you’re able to competently use Lucidchart to surface critical information about your processes? Share your work: Throughout the pathway, we talked about creating a living blueprint of your business via data linking and conditional formatting. Have you tried using these capabilities? How did it go? Any successes or

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mskidmoreLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Creative Facilitation badge pathway

We know how important it is to constantly be innovating within teams and organizations, which is why the Creative Facilitation badge pathway is all about designing and leading experiences in Lucdispark that help you and your team surface the best ideas and bring them to life! Having completed any or all of the 5 courses in the pathway, we want to keep the conversation going and make sure we’ve enabled you to more effectively see and build the future with your team! Use the thread below to tell us more about your experience!Provide feedback: Our goal with this pathway was to equip you with the skills to facilitate a creative session with your team in Lucidspark. Do you feel like you’re able to competently use Lucidspark to design and host a creative session? Share your work: Throughout the pathway, we talked about creating opportunities for your team to engage in the board via brainstorming templates and Visual activities. Have you tried using these? How did it go? Any successes or road

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mskidmoreLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Diagramming Foundations badge pathway

We know how important it is to have alignment across organizations and teams, which is why the Diagramming Foundations badge pathway is all about using Lucidcharts’s intelligent diagramming capabilities to create clear diagrams, collaborate, and convey your processes in a way that drives alignment and consistent action!Having completed any or all of the 4 courses in the pathway, we want to keep the conversation going and make sure we’ve enabled you to more effectively see and build the future with your team! Use the thread below to tell us more about your experience!Provide feedback: Our goal with this pathway was to equip you with the skills in Lucidchart to visualize a process you use at work. Do you feel like you’re able to competently use Lucidchart to visualize and align with your team on a process? Share your work: Throughout the pathway, we talked about creating clarity in your diagrams via flowchart shapes, swimlanes, and legends. Have you tried using these features? How did it

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carlos
asked in Inspiration
Mapa conceptual

Investiga los conceptos clave: ¿Qué es un programa?, ¿Qué son los lenguajes de programación?, ¿Cuáles son los tipos de lenguajes?, ¿Qué son las variables y constantes?, y ¿Qué es un algoritmo?Crea un mapa conceptual que relacione estos conceptos de manera clara. Debes mostrar las conexiones entre los términos, y cada concepto debe estar claramente explicado.El mapa conceptual debe incluir, al menos:Definición de programa.Definición de lenguaje de programación.Tipos de lenguajes de programación (imperativos, declarativos, etc.).Variables y constantes (explicando la diferencia entre ambas).Definición y ejemplos básicos de algoritmos. 

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Ambar D
Audrey V
Audrey VLucidite
posted in Inspiration
Webinar follow-up questions and resources: Integrations for streamlining team communication

Thank you for joining us for our webinar,  “Lucid’s best integrations for streamlining team communication”! (If you didn’t have the chance to join, you can access the webinar on demand here.)Want to learn more about using Lucid for streamlining communication? Check out these additional resources: Learn more about Lucid + Microsoft Teams: Marketplace listing Article: How to integrate Lucid with Microsoft Teams  Blog: Transform how your team communicates with Lucid’s Microsoft Teams integration Learn more about Lucid + Slack: Marketplace listing Article: How to integrate Lucid with Slack Learn more about embedded links: Article: How to embed links and media in Lucid Learn more about Lucid + interactive whiteboards: Marketplace listings Article: How to use Lucid on interactive whiteboards Learn more about using Lucid to improve communication: Blog: Using Lucid as a single source of truth Article: Use team hubs in Lucid to stay aligned Leave any follow-up questions you have from t

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Audrey V
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