Executive Summary

Effective brainstorming requires the following basic steps:

    1. state the problem or topic
    2. capture ideas with NO criticism
    3. build on each others ideas
    4. go for a large quantity of ideas
    5. encourage crazy ideas

       !! Quantity counts, NOT quality !!

Brainstorming

The goal of a brainstorming session is to generate ideas. It is not to evaluate them!

Brainstorming works best to get ideas that are new and different from what came before. We all tend to fall into habits, and those habits make paths through our brains that cause us to do things the same way each time.

When we try to get off those paths, or "out of the box", or "thinking laterally" (Edward DeBono wrote great things on lateral thinking) we have to become a little wild to pop off the tracks our mind wants to follow.

This means that many of the ideas generated will be dumb. Record them anyway and move on. It means you'll hit some gems. Record them anyway and move on. The goal is to get as many ideas as possible. Don't pause and evaluate them. Don't criticise anyone's ideas, and give yourself a break too!

Try to make insane ideas. How many ways could you use a herring to cut down a mighty tree? Use it pay a bear to tear the tree down? Freeze the herring and drop it from orbit? Coat the herring in nitro glycerine and throw it at the tree? Hey, who knows, but keep those ideas flowing!

We need to know what topic to shoot the ideas at. That's why having a specfic issue in mind is important. You want to be sure that all participants are solving the same problem. Otherwise, you can't take advantage of all the results.

As you see other people's suggestions, those will sometimes jog your thoughts into an even new idea. Great! Go with it! You should be able to feed of what they said, just as they will feed off of what you said.

The goal is to make a set of potential solutions without being constricted by what we dare not question or think about. Once we have this bunch of solutions, we can end the brainstorming session and think about using these ideas.

And remember to have a good time doing this session! You may not get a good usable idea each time, but you often will get more than one.

Once you have the ideas, then you go back to the analytical side (left-brain side) of analysis to use those ideas to help assemble a final solution.

Conclusion

Brainstorm to invent creative new solutions, and have fun doing it!

Brian Jones (brianj@otterspace.com