The brainstorming method can help to find creative solutions to a problem. It is often used as a form of group discussion to generate a list of ideas that might lead to a solution.
Basic Brainstorming principles are:
- Quantity, not quality counts.
- No idea is rejected.
- All ideas are listed and displayed where everyone can see them.
- Participants may build on one another’s ideas.
- Discussion and analysis are prohibited.
Source:
Toastmasters Advanced Manual Series, “Facilitating Discussion”, Project #2: The Brainstorming Session.
Access it here: http://de.scribd.com/doc/81064323/Toastmasters-Manual-Facilitating-Discussion
However, those rules are not always easy to follow. Especially #2 and #5 – to defer judgement and not reject ideas when someone suggests what you think is “stupid”.
Another pitfall is #1 – Many people stop generating ideas once they have found a seemingly viable solution, thus settling on the obvious and not finding the really breakthrough ideas.
Here is an example of brainstorming how it should be done. d.school brainstorming rules – YouTube
And here’s an example how NOT to brainstorm.
The “actors” in the videos are students of Stanford University’s “Design Thinking” school. Main points are shown as intertitles, so you should be able to get the picture even if you don’t understand everything that is spoken.
There are many other points to consider if you want a brainstorming session to be a success. For example, the setting in which it occurs, or the size of the group doing the brainstorming…
In this video, Journalist and author, Jonah Lehrer, even argues that brainstorming may not really work at all.
What are your experiences with brainstorming sessions? What contributed to the successful or not-so-successful sessions?
Here are some additional links that may be of interest:
- Groupzap, an online brainstorming tool
- Where good ideas come from, a brilliant presentation on creativity and innovation
- Research on electronic versus “real” group brainstorming in a Stanford lecture
- An interesting presentation on the effects of group size on dialog and high quality participation