Brainstorming

What is it?

Brainstorming is a method to enable a team to work together to generate ideas quickly and effectively.

What is it useful for?

Generating ideas quickly in response to a problem.

How can I do it?

Start with a warm-up. Brainstorm a fun problem such as "How can we get every Monday morning off work?"

State the problem clearly and concisely.

Don't lose anything. Write your ideas on flipcharts, or on the wall.

Number your ideas and set a target – to get to 100, for example.

Keep the focus sharp: edgy and precise statements are better than fuzzy ones.

Keep the ideas flowing, be responsive and keep trying to approach the problem from different viewpoints.

Brainstorming will be most effective if you keep to these ground rules:

• Defer judgment – build on ideas to make them better
• Don't criticise!
• One conversation at a time
• Go for quantity – the more ideas the better
• Have wild ideas – every idea is valid
• Stay focused on the problem in hand
• Be visual – draw ideas or represent them with whatever is to hand

After brainstorming, a smaller group can cluster the ideas for voting.