Brainstorm – How to get best outcome

• Eric Le Navenec
• April 26, 2019

Brainstorm sessions are sometimes perceived as the fallback action. Meaning, we don’t know what else to do. Which highlights key strengths, Brainstorming opens new perspectives and gets people insights through participation.

Usefulness

Before listing out use cases, let’s look at the steps that a Brainstorm session goes through. The starting point is a question. To get more then Yes/No, it must be an open question that will trigger participants thoughts and imagination. It requires a team of participants. They will contribute to the brainstorm by submitting as many ideas as possible. When this is completed, the ideas are sorted into groups or categories. Although these resulting groups lead into the following step, we’ll consider this the end of the brainstorm.

To understand the usefulness of brainstorming, let’s loop back on the above:

• It enables to get insight into a question or problem.
• It enables, if not already done, to identify stakeholders. Best results are obtained when participants have a diverse perspective.  That includes experts and novices. That can also be different roles such as users, operators, testers, managers, suppliers, customers or others. Eventually, an outsider, with no knowledge of the area, could think out of the box.
• It’s an opportunity to have some fun while working. After all a good laugh brings people closer. A good way to fit in some team building with generating new ideas.
• While organizing the many ideas that were put forward, the participants dialog to build knowledge. They will gain clarification on several points. Each individual will learn about other’s perspective. They will build an overall understanding. And, most importantly, they will provide potential answers to the question.

Getting to use cases, there is the obvious general domain of Creative problem Solving. It is a method to gain insight or clarification on a problem statement, a project scope. I can be used to build lists such as influencing factors, requirements, potential solutions, criteria or constraints. In the earlier stages of a project, the safe zone contributes to building a closer team, and increasing participants acceptance.

Brainstorm Ground rules

Osborn had two principles that contribute to idea generation efficiency: Defer judgement, Reach for quantity. From these principals, four ground rules are deducted:

• Aim for Quantity – Quality comes in later
• Withhold criticism – The evaluation is later
• Welcome wild ideas – Wild ideas are new ones
• Combine and improve ideas – Expand to generate new ideas

You can extend these ground rules if you see a need. For example, everyone must find a gazillion ideas. Simply bare in mind, too many or strict rules will influence creativity.

Brainstorm Pitfalls and Advice

There are many pitfalls and opportunities to get the most out of a Brainstorm session. Here is a shortlist of the most meaningful ones:

Trying to address multiple questions at a time

A Y/N question and a broad question are two extremes to avoid. By aiming to get too tackle too much, the result will also be broader. And, you might not answer anything at all. While preparing and presenting the question to participant, the SMART technique (i.e. Simple Measurable Achievable Relevant Timely) can be helpful to refine the question. No need to aim for perfection, it is about setting a direction versus dictating an outcome. That would hinder the creativity. For the team to start, it is important that the challenge is generally understood and accepted. This can be achieved through open discussion and adjustments.

Team with single perspective

If we looked at stars for the first time without any scientific knowledge. We’d probably all describe bright spots moving in the night sky. Through history, people with different ideas and perspective have influenced that initial perception. When identifying participants, the team should ideally cover all perspective of the object. There are likely to be constraints such as sizes, availability, interest. Look for a compromise then avoids the single sided view.

Intimidated participants

A common example is a manager in the room. Some people may hesite to express themselves freely. There are the ground rules of criticism, participation and respect. Creating a safe environment is essential. The brainstorming in Goal Nabber uses anonymity to minimize that effect. Also, it allows for wild out of the box ideas to come out. The chat room offers the possibility to ask questions (with respect). Breaching barriers should be a way to generate new ideas.

Monopoly of speech time

If a person is capturing what others are saying, there are a few inconveniences. Firstly, ideas can only come one at a time. Secondly, speech time could be monopolized. Third, a new line of thought and ideas may be cut off. Brain writing can be effective for such situation. The limitation is that participants still need to pay attention to new ideas in order to build on them. To balance the collective and individual contribution, Goal Nabber shows the question and image with a word map of the collective ideas. The word map changes real time with newly submitted ideas. Participants are using their own device to submit their ideas. They are also able to scroll the submitted ideas freely.

Bias

Bias has several causes. Our information is usually partial because of availability or sampling. Our objectives and people that we want to please (e.g. boss, customer) are influencing our actions. And, there are many more factors that can influence our perception and reasoning. Nothing will beat seeing it with your own eyes. Gemba’s, or Go See sessions, play an important role in Lean Six Sigma. In a meeting room or conference call, you will rely on memory. That’s not ideal. Actual observation is the best approach. By using Goal Nabber on a mobile device, the participants can observe “out in the field” and submit ideas/notes live. Ideas are closer to reality. And, the inputs are collected together immediately with no extra effort.

Try Goal Nabber

To conclude, the above advice applies even if you’re not using Goal Nabber. Goal Nabber makes it easier to apply. That way, you can focus on the more important aspects, and the desired results. If you’re not already using Goal Nabber, you can begin with a free trial: