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Stop Brainstorming

matthewstrom.com

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Re: Stop Brainstorming

#11

Post by Jtsummers »

There seems to be a difference of intent between what Osborn describes (at least the selected quotes) and what the researchers, Diehl and Stroebe, studied. In particular, he describes brainstorming as for developing creative ideas, while the researchers study it as a method for problem solving.

From the quotes by Osborn it seems his purpose for it was to find ideas, no matter how far out there. Whereas the researchers were directing people to use brainstorming to find (what sounds like) one or a small number of viable solutions. Those are two different activities, so an approach could be useful for one and useless (or suboptimal) for the other, but there is no way to conclude how applicable it is to the former based on studies of the latter.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#12

Post by bluetwo »

As far as solving well defined problems, I don't necessarily think brainstorming is great. That's never how I've seen it used.

But for better defined unstructured problems and then turning to novel solutions, it is great.

It bothers me that corporations don't use it that way MORE. And I dearly HATE meetings.

Also, the hip term these days is "ideation" not "brainstorming". Get with the times, boomer. (Just kidding--almost a boomer here)

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#13

Post by allenu »

692 wrote: post #5

I'm a divergent thinker and like to bounce ideas off other divergent thinkers, so I can work alone or with others, but/ ideally they need to be creative/ open Once we have a list of ideas, then whittle the list down with the realist and pessimistic people of the group; until there's one obvious way forward or a couple of least worse ideas. Generally most people are better at telling you what you can't do,

I've also found brainstorming isn't great for more "creative" thinkers. In a group setting it's easy to say "no that won't work" or not get buy-in on the spot, so ideas that aren't mainstream get shot down right away.

People like me also need time and space to think deeply about certain topics, and a brainstorming session has neither time nor space, so you're immediately limited in the ideas that are presented.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#14

Post by kerblang »

In my experience it is best to explain the problem today, and ask about ideas tomorrow. Most people tend to think up ideas on their own time rather than on-demand as if they're some kind of ideas slot machine you can just yank on.

I think it helps to have weekly-or-so discussions about The Problems We're Having Lately, not so much as "brainstorming" but giving people a chance to offer their latest ideas and explain problems encountered with previous ideas.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#15

Post by mrkramer »

>“Brainstorming” — the problem-solving technique of coming up with as many ideas as possible in a short period of time

I'm Longstorming-the problem-solving technique of coming up with as many ideas as possible in a long period of time

Now I have over 100 startup ideas, it's kind of hard to keep track anymore. But it is interesting how some ideas synergize with each other and can be combined in order to solve bigger problem.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#16

Post by _djo_ »

milesvp wrote: post #8

>Brainstorming has become a heuristic, an attempted shortcut, a lossy substitution for psychological safety. I'm glad this was where the author ended up. As I read this, I kept thinking that I know how to get better ideas out of people than a lot of typical brainstorming scenarios I've experienced in the past. My mind kept going back to how good some of the (Agile) retros I've had, and the one thing they all had in c…

Can you explain more about the 'turkey shoot' in brainstorming sessions, and the value it adds? It's not something I've heard about before.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#17

Post by indymike »

Jtsummers wrote: post #11

There seems to be a difference of intent between what Osborn describes (at least the selected quotes) and what the researchers, Diehl and Stroebe, studied. In particular, he describes brainstorming as for developing creative ideas, while the researchers study it as a method for problem solving. From the quotes by Osborn it seems his purpose for it was to find ideas, no matter how far out there. Whereas the researcher…

> In particular, he describes brainstorming as for developing creative ideas, while the researchers study it as a method for problem solving.

The article should have been called "Stop Brainstorming to Solve Problems". The title is clickbaity. Brainstorming to solve a problem is just team easter-egging.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#18

Post by mnutt »

Many of the Design Sprint brainstorming sessions I've been a part of felt superficial. I can see the value in pushing people to list out lots of ideas very quickly, to force them to explore the solution space and not get stuck on a single idea. But the output is more like idea stubs than ideas, usually a few words on a sticky note.

In the brainstorming sessions I've attended, the next stage involves the facilitator taking all of the idea stubs and grouping them together, then riffing on the idea groups. The whole process (intentionally?) feels like improv comedy. And much like improv, it often seems geared more for the enjoyment of the participants than the quality of the output.

And maybe that's ok, using brainstorming purely as a tool to circulate half-ideas and get the creative juices flowing? But in a design sprint, the brainstorming outputs are often directly used for longer term planning. I've found something like a lightweight RFC process is a much better medium for refining and discussing ideas. RFCs are usually written alone, and discussed as a group.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#19

Post by ouid »

ajuc wrote: post #6

Brainstorming isn't for problem-solving, especially when problems are small and well defined. Communication overhead destroys the efficiency. I've participated in several team programming competitions. The way every team worked was - everybody read all tasks, quickly decide who works on what, and then we work solo on one problem each in parallel, when somebody finishes (s)he can help others who are stuck or take on a…

I think the opitmal number of people working on a problem is somewhere between 1 and 2. The amount of communication required obviously scales very poorly, but in principle, having to explain your process to someone else functions well. I prefer pair programming to solo work, usually. I catch more bugs, and am forced to explain things to myself as I explain them to my partner.

Re: Stop Brainstorming

#20

Post by Jtsummers »

_djo_ wrote: post #16
milesvp wrote: post #8

>Brainstorming has become a heuristic, an attempted shortcut, a lossy substitution for psychological safety. I'm glad this was where the author ended up. As I read this, I kept thinking that I know how to get better ideas out of people than a lot of typical brainstorming scenarios I've experienced in the past. My mind kept going back to how good some of the (Agile) retros I've had, and the one thing they all had in c…

Can you explain more about the 'turkey shoot' in brainstorming sessions, and the value it adds? It's not something I've heard about before.

Another term that may be more familiar is "ice breaker". The senior person offers up an idea to get the ball rolling. It shouldn't be too complex, it shouldn't sound like the way to go. It's just something to help make other people more comfortable participating, especially people junior to them. It may even be a dumb idea, getting some laughs and breaking the tension.
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