Brainstorming and Its Variations

Brainstorming is a technique used by a group to generate ideas without evaluating those ideas. Brainstorming is relatively simple to do, and can be fun. However, there is a fair amount of research literature that suggests that both the quality and quantity of ideas created by group brainstorming is less than the quality and quantity of ideas created by having the individuals in the group work alone. See below.

In addition to the notes presented here, refer to the Brainstorming section in Part II of the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson. (pp. 200-201 in the 4th edition).

Basic Idea

  • Identify a focused problem you want to solve.
  • Frame a question about the problem.
    • How would we … ?
    • What would … look like?
  • Have a scribe (person) and a public space for recording ideas (white board, flip-chart paper)
  • Participants shout out ideas (no need to be loud).
  • Scribe writes down ideas – no analysis

Let ideas flow

  • The Goal is to create many ideas, not analyze them
  • Use "yes, and": If you don't like an idea, don't criticize it, build on it
  • If possible, use a facilitator who is not invested in the outcome
  • Capture ideas quickly – don't get bogged down in documentation when ideas a flowing
  • Being absurd is OK: a playful attitude is helpful

Generating Prompts to Promote Creative Thinking.

When successful, brainstorming can generating lots of ideas. However, if the ideas are too unrelated or deal with competing aspects of the same problem, the results can be confusing. Therefore, it is helpful to think carefully about the goal of the brainstorming exercise. Then, before beginning, develop a motivating question or prompt that focuses the brainstorming on a single concept.

Some examples:

  1. If we had plenty of money (time, support staff) … ?

    If resources were not a limit (ie. if your team had plenty of money), what should your team buy this week that would most help your design (or design process)?

    Follow-up: After collecting and organizing the ideas, (1) what are the key themes? (2) what are the top 3 or top 5 best ideas? (3) what could you do now, with your actual budget, that would get 50% of the benefit of the best idea? Note that the goal is not to neglect cost (or other resource limits). The goal is to remove cost concerns so that you can think up creative ideas.

  2. Quick discussion round: The single biggest technical challenge is …

    The team may not agree on the biggest technical challenge. Write down ideas to transform the big challenges into a challenge that is a little easier to solve?

  3. Pick one design feature for the group to work on: We can solve the … problem by …

    Write down ideas that will simplify or better allow you to control that feature.

Alternative: Brain-writing or Post-up

Research on brainstorming has identified that individuals working alone can (and often do) generate more ideas and better ideas than a group doing brainstorming. One way to improve brainstorming, therefore, is to have participants work quietly by themselves for a brief time (say 10 to 15 minutes) and then share their ideas.

Here are the steps for quiet brainstorming in a group:

  • Put a focused question on the board
  • Participants sit silently and write ideas on post-it notes
    • Allow 10-15 minutes
    • One idea per note
    • Move quickly. Don't edit. There is no need to write in complete sentences.
  • When the creative energy of participants is exhausted, have participants put their ideas (on notes) on the wall/board
  • After all ideas are posted, step back without criticizing and let everyone read the ideas
  • After everyone has read the ideas, group similar ideas by moving post-it notes
  • After ideas are grouped, label the groups, and record the ideas with a phone camera

In brainwriting, each participant writes an idea on an index card, and then passes that card to the person on their right. The person recieving the card can (1) read the idea outloud, (2) add to the card by building on the idea, or (3) use the idea on the card to stimulate creation of another idea on a separate card.

Other references

  • Brainwriting on gamestorming.com
  • Post-up on gamestorming.com
  • Method 6-3-5 in Part II, Product Development Reference in the textbook by Mattson and Sorenson (pp. 254-255 in 4th edition)

Alternative: Crawford Slip-writing technique

Slip-writing is a variation on brain-writing: individuals generate ideas on post-it notes. The ideas are evaluated according to two criteria: the probability of successfully implementing the idea, and the probability of having a positive practical impact on the design problem. Note that these two criteria are (or should be) independent: An idea that is easy to implement may not make a significant positive impact.

  1. Participants silently generate ideas on post-it notes.
  2. After generating many ideas, individuals score each of their own ideas according to the two criteria: probability of success, and probability of a positive impact.
    • Write H, M, L to indicate probability of success in upper left corner
    • Write H, M, L to indicate probability positive impact in upper right corner
  3. Create a large two-dimensional grid on the wall. Label Low-Medium-High probabilty of working on one axis and Low-medium-high impact on project outcomes on the other axis.
  4. Have participants place their ideas in the appropriate region of the larger grid.
  5. Discuss the ideas – perhaps some need to be moved.
  6. Record the large grid with a phone photo

Obviously H-H ideas (high probability of success and high positive impact) are desirable and L-L ideas are not worth pursuing. However, do not automatically rule out ideas from other parts of the grid.

"High-medium-low grid"

click for larger image

Collect and analyze after brainstorming

Before doing analysis, capture ideas in their raw state, for example, take a photo with your phone

Begin the evaluating process by grouping ideas using affinity maps or other strategies. New ideas may emerge at this point. It is likely that the brainstorming process has opened up new possibilities for the team. Use this source of ideas for another stage of ideation involving sketches, cardboard mock-ups, or with some client research using ideas of rapid experimentation.

Perhaps the brainstorming has highlighted the need to do additional research. Use the brainstorming results to develop focused questions for additional conceptual design work.

Make plans to analyze ideas in another step. See, e.g. notes on concept screening and scoring.

On the Effectiveness of Brainstorming

Recommendations

There are many web pages and articles giving advice. Here are a few


Document updated 2017-08-22.