The first trick to a good productive brainstorm is, counter intuitively, to make sure no one knows it is a brainstorm.
The second trick is to have only people that are comfortable with each other in the room.
Stop Brainstorming
41–50 of 100 posts
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#42I think the article’s missing an important trick: Brainstorming establishes a shared understanding (depending on the group dynamics, you might call it a fiction) that the group , not any individual, came up with the idea. That sense of ownership is psychologically important for aligning the group during the execution phase: People are usually a lot more motivated to implement a plan that they came up with, and if any…
> Brainstorming establishes a shared understanding (depending on the group dynamics, you might call it a fiction) that the group, not any individual, came up with the idea.
IME, brainstorming sessions don't really serve that purpose except when they actually do result in real substantive collaboration. While people may have tribal identity as part of a team, they also tend to be aware of the group dynamics in the team and how decisions are actually made.
But, IME, lot of people in lead and management positions buy into the effectiveness of brainstorming sessions as tools of forging shared fictions in ways which are supported by the way people on the team look at the output.
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#43Is the author, by any chance, selling psychological safety training?
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#44Dilbert on brainstorming: https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-12-12
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#45Dilbert on brainstorming: https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-12-12
I like making stupid suggestions in brainstorming sessions. They make people laugh, they can help defuse things a bit, and on occasion, people say "wait... that's actually not a terrible idea" and it grows into something.
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#46In a group, sure. On your own though it's an incredible technique to get over mental hurdles. Instead of letting yourself get distracted because a problem seems insurmountable or you can't see a path all the way through, try brainstorming entirely by yourself.
It can provide psychological safety for your own subconscious. Write down every idea, regardless of how ridiculous it is. Every "What if I...". I sometimes do a question and answer format in a simple text/markdown document. Write out a question that's one facet of the issue you're working on, and answer it with a bunch of different options. Then discard or select or flesh out the responses. Ask questions about what might and might not work with each option.
It's amazing what having a few different new paths to try can do for your energy levels and motivation.
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#47I worked at IDEO for a few years.
None of the brainstorms I've ran, or taken part in, ended with a, "eureka, that's it!" type of moment.
And coming up with the 'solution' was never the point. It was about doing something generative, creative, and fun together. It was about engaging folks and collaborating in a different way than they might be used to. I'd also start by offering a few very poorly drawn, completely nonsensical ideas.
Discovery work to get to a viable 'solution' takes weeks - months - years. Nobody assumes it happens during a one hour brainstorming session.
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#48I have never seen brainstorming sessions be useful, and they've been heavily in vogue since I was in pre-school.
Nobody ever actually prepares for them, so they don't have the slightest idea what the real constraints of the situation are. So huge amounts of time are wasted getting on the same page, then more as somebody bolts off on an impossible tangent that upsets the whole applecart. No one ever takes any notes, and every participant comes away with a different understanding of what was decided.
A singularly useless endeavor.
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#49I think the article’s missing an important trick: Brainstorming establishes a shared understanding (depending on the group dynamics, you might call it a fiction) that the group , not any individual, came up with the idea. That sense of ownership is psychologically important for aligning the group during the execution phase: People are usually a lot more motivated to implement a plan that they came up with, and if any…
Yes, the article almost perfectly misses the point of brainstorming. The studies quoted were for groups solving puzzles, not groups designing tools or products. Puzzles have solutions, products can be entirely abandoned.
Almost zero of the brainstorming meetings I've ever attended were of the kind "How do we solve the well-defined problem X", and were almost exclusively of the kind "What do we want to do in the area of ?" or "Can we agree on needs to be solved, and deal out problems to individuals?".
Re: Stop Brainstorming
#50To me, the important parts of (what I would call) brainstorming are "everybody shares the ideas that come to their mind" and "ideas are not evaluated until later". It's happened so many times that some ridiculous-sounding (and outright wrong/unusable idea) has brought us on track to something novel and sound.
"Viability" paints you into a tiny corner of the solution space. Removing it from the equation lets you freely walk around and inspect other corners (which you can paint yourself into later).