Brainstorming

Developed by Alex F. Osborn in 1954, the brainstorming session is still one of the most widely used resources when it comes to creative problem solving. The technique is used, for instances, in industrial problem solving, or in the early phases of creative advertising and marketing. Furthermore, since brainstorming is a collaborative technique, it heps building rapport amongst the team members that eventually might be in charge of fully developing a project after the brainstorming session.





Though quite straightforward, the brainstorming session should follow a set of well defined rules in order to guarantee the highest output in terms of quantity and quality:

1. Focus on quantity.  More ideas means better chances of finding a realistic creative solution.
2. Leave criticism out of the room.
3. Aim for the unusual. Aim for bold ideas, that no one else would ever dare to consider.
4. Combine and improve. Combine and adapt ideas in order to open up new fields of exploration.

The steps during the brainstorming session are:

1. Group selection. There are no general rules regarding the composition of the group, but it is advisable to have an heterogeneous, mid-size team, with compatible individuals. Mixing people with different expertise and skills always improves the outcome.
2. Preparation. The session should be carried out in a comfortable place, away from the usual working environment when possible. Participants would be introduced to each other and the moderator would explain the goal of the session.
3. Brainstorming session. The moderator will ensure that the atmosphere is relaxed, that rules are followed, and that everybody gets a chance to participate. Every idea will be written down during the session. This stage should last somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes, and the target should be to collect between 50 and 100 ideas.
4. Recap and filter. Filtering out ideas can be done in different ways and through different stages. Cleaning up first truly impossible ideas (that nonetheless may have led to more realistic ones) will leave a list that can be grouped and sorted by the team.

When organizing the ideas of the session, mind maps may come in handy. The new order that is revealed after concepts have been grouped into families and subfamilies allows for the identification of gaps, and may lead to opening even new lines of exploration. Nowadays, freeware like Mind42 allow creating, editing, adding visual content and hyperlinks, and even sharing mind maps with remote teams.

A Selection Matrix will also help prioritizing ideas in terms of preselected criteria such as technical feasibility, market potential and degree of differentiation.