Brainstorming

Brainstorming

Purpose: To stimulate the free flow of ideas in a short amount of time without being analyzed or judged until the brainstorming is complete.

Method: There are three primary types of brainstorming: structured, unstructured, and silent.

• Structured: Participants take turns offering ideas; if someone doesn't have an idea when their turn comes, they can pass.
  • Advantage: Each person has an equal chance to participate.
  • Disadvantages: Lacks spontaneity; participants may get distracted by other ideas and forget theirs when their turn comes, atmosphere is more rigid.
• Unstructured: Participants offer ideas as they think of them.
  • Advantage: Participants can build on each others' ideas; atmosphere is more relaxed.
  • Disadvantage: Less assertive and/or lower ranking participants may feel intimidated and not contribute.
• Silent: Participants write ideas individually on paper or Post-it^TM notes.  This is particularly useful when you have participants who just can't avoid discussing the ideas as they are offered.
  • Advantage: Prevents discussion of ideas during the idea generation phase.
  • Disadvantages: May lose the opportunity to build on others' ideas unless a structured or unstructured session is held after the silent inputs are collected and displayed.

The brainstorming session ends when no more ideas are offered.

Ground Rules:

• Don't discuss ideas as they are offered.  In particular, don't analyze, evaluate, criticize, or judge.  Discussion can be held after the brainstorming session ends.
• There are no outrageous ideas.  There is plenty of time during the discussion after the brainstorming session to toss out ideas that won't work.  Even if idea is totally outrageous and obviously won't work, it may spark another idea that is usable.
• Don't quit when the ideas first stop flowing; try to get participants to come up with at least 2-3 more ideas.
• Strive for quantity, not quality.  The more ideas you generate, the better the opportunity to find the best possible solution.
• Combine and rearrange ideas; additions, revisions, and combinations may create even better ideas. 
• Record ideas exactly as offered, don't edit or paraphrase.

Questions to Stimulate Your Thinking:

0. Can we use this idea somewhere else?  As is?  With changes?
0. If we change it, is there anything else like it?  Any related issues?
0. Can we modify or rearrange: the meaning, quantity, color, size, shape, form, layout, motion, sound, appearance, etc.?
0. Can we maximize or magnify it to make it stronger, larger, newer, more of it?
0. Can we minimize or reduce it to make it smaller, lighter, less of it?
0. Can we substitute? Who? What? When? Where? How?
0. Can we reverse it? Opposite?  Backwards?  Upside down? Inside out?
0. What assumptions or constraints are we considering?  Are they valid?  What if we threw them out?
0. What if you could do anything you can imagine?