Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a creativity technique of generating ideas to solve a problem. The main result of a brainstorm session may be a complete solution to the problem, a list of ideas for an approach to a subsequent solution, or a list of ideas resulting in a plan to find a solution. Brainstorming was originated in 1953 in a book called Applied Imagination by Alex F. Osborn, an advertising executive. Other methods of generating ideas are individual ideation and the morphological analysis approach.

Brainstorming has many applications but it is most often used in:
 * New product development - obtaining ideas for new products and improving existing products
 * Advertising - developing ideas for advertising campaigns
 * Problem solving - issues, root causes, alternative solutions, impact analysis, evaluation
 * Process management - finding ways of improving business and production processes
 * Project Management - identifying client objectives, risks, deliverables, work packages, resources, roles and responsibilities, tasks, issues
 * Team building - generates sharing and discussion of ideas while stimulating participants to think
 * Business planning – develop and improve the product idea.
 * Trial preparation by attorneys.

Approach
Brainstorming can be done either individually or in a group. In group brainstorming, the participants are encouraged, and often expected, to share their ideas with one another as soon as they are generated. Complex problems or brainstorm sessions with a diversity of people may be prepared by a chairman. The chairman is the leader and facilitator of the brainstorm session.

The key to brainstorming is to not interrupt the thought process. As ideas come to mind, they are captured and stimulate the development of better ideas. Thus a group brainstorm session is best conducted in a moderate-sized room, and participants sit so that they can all look at each-other. A flip chart, blackboard, or overhead projector is placed in a prominent location. The room is free of telephones, clocks, or any other distractions.

In order to enhance creativity a brainstorm session has four basic rules:
 * Focus on quantity: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming to facilitate problem solving through the maxim quantity breeds quality. The greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution. An individual may revisit a brainstorm, done alone, and approach it with a slightly new perspective. This process can be repeated without limit. The result is collaboration with your past, present and future selves.


 * No criticism: It is often emphasized that in group brainstorming, criticism should be put 'on hold'. Instead of immediately stating what might be wrong with an idea, the participants focus on extending or adding to it, reserving criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. By suspending judgment, you create a supportive atmosphere where participants feel free to generate unusual ideas. However, persistent, respectful criticism of ideas by a minority dissenter can reduce groupthink, leading to more and better ideas.


 * Unusual ideas are welcome: To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They may open new ways of thinking and provide better solutions than regular ideas. They can be generated by looking from another perspective or setting aside assumptions.  If an idea is too "wild" to be feasible, it can be tamed down to a more appropriate idea more easily than think up an idea.


 * Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas can be combined to form a very good idea, as suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". Also, existing ideas should be improved. This approach leads to better and more complete ideas than just generation of new ideas, and increases the generation of ideas, by a process of association.

The main reasons why brainstorming does not yield the expected results are faulty operation and exaggerated expectations. When the basic rules and best practices are not followed, or when the group expects miracles, the session will not give the optimal result.

A short brainstorm session
Brainstorming is very well suited for ad-hoc problem solving. A short brainstorm session can be applied in many occasions where a quick solution is needed. For example: students working on a project, a support team looking for a quick solution for their customer or a project team who have to deal with the illness of one of its members.

The session contains, as depicted in Figure 1, three phases:

Figure 1: Activities of a short brainstorm session

Set the problem
Determine and specify the problem which needs a solution. Every participant must to know the problem.

Generate ideas
Generate as many ideas as possible. Keep in mind the four basic brainstorm rules and record the good ideas. Continue for five to fifteen minutes.

Select best idea
Select the most appropriated idea from the suggested ideas.

Preparation
The preparation described here contains the basic activities, but depending on the situation more activities can be added. Figure 2 depicts the preparation activities in an activity diagram.



Figure 2: Activity diagram of preparing of a brainstorm session

Set the problem
One of the most important things to do before a session is to define the problem. The problem must be clear, small enough, and captured in a perfectly definite question such as “What service for mobile phones is not available now, but needed?“. If the problem is too big, the chairman should split it up into smaller components, each with its own question. Some problems seem to be multi-dimensional and non-quantified, for example “What are the aspects involved in being a successful entrepreneur”. Finding solutions for this those can better be done with morphological analysis.

Create a background memo
The background memo is the invitation and information letter for the participants, containing the session name, time, date and place and the problem. The problem is described with its question, and some example ideas are given. The ideas are solutions to the problem, and used when the session slows down or goes off-track. The example ideas also give the participants an idea of the direction upfront. The memo is sent to the participants at least two days in advance, so that they can think about the problem beforehand.

Select participants
The chairman composes the brainstorm panel, consisting of the participants and an idea collector. Many variations are possible but the following composition is advised:


 * Five core members of the project who have proved themselves.
 * Five guests from outside the project, with affinity to the problem.
 * One idea collector who records the suggested ideas.

Create a list of lead questions
During the brainstorm session the creativity may decrease. At this moment, the chairman should boost creativity by suggesting a lead question to an answer, such as "Can we combine those ideas?" or "How about a look from another perspective?". It is advised to prepare a list of such leads before the session.

Session conduct
The chairman; leads the brainstorm session and ensures that the basic brainstorm rules are followed. The activities of a typical session are:


 * 1) A warm-up session, to expose novice participants to the criticism-free environment. A simple problem is brainstormed, for example "What should be the next corporate Christmas present?" or "What can be improved in Microsoft Windows?".
 * 2) The chairman presents the problem and gives a further explanation if needed.
 * 3) The chairman asks the brainstorm panel for their ideas.
 * 4) If no ideas are coming out, the chairman suggests a lead to encourage creativity.
 * 5) Every participant presents his or her idea, and the idea collector writes down the idea.
 * 6) If more than one participant has ideas, the chairman lets the most associated idea be presented first. This selection can be done by looking at the body language of the participants, or just by asking for the most associated idea.
 * 7) The participants try to elaborate on the idea, to improve the quality.
 * 8) When time is up, the chairman organizes the ideas based on the topic goal and encourages discussion. Additional ideas may be generated.
 * 9) Ideas are categorized.
 * 10) The whole list is reviewed to ensure that everyone understands the ideas. Duplicate ideas and obviously infeasible solutions are removed.
 * 11) The chairman thanks all participants and gives each a token of appreciation.

Best practices

 * Participants who have an idea but no possibility to present it should write down their idea and present it later.
 * The idea collector should number the ideas, so that the chairman can use the number to encourage quantitative idea generation, for example: "We have 44 ideas now, let’s get it to 50!".
 * The idea collector should repeat the idea in the words she has written it, to confirm that it expresses the meaning intended by the originator.
 * When more participants are having ideas, the one with the most associated idea should have priority. This to encourage elaboration on previous ideas.
 * During the brainstorm session the attendance of managers and superiors is strongly discouraged, as it may radically reduces the effect of the four basic rules, especially the generation of unusual ideas.

The process of conducting a brainstorm session is depicted in Figure 3.



Figure 3: Activity diagram of conducting a brainstorm session

Uses
Brainstorming can be used as a supplement for:
 * individual ideation for quicly generating many potentially useful ideas
 * a business conference to stimulate creative thinking in a judicial and relatively unproductive atmosphere.
 * creative training: brainstorming improves the creative attitude towards solving problems and improves the creative ability in groups and individuals.

Although the main purpose of brainstorming is to generate ideas, it has additional benefits:
 * improves initiative that can last after the session, as participants are encouraged to constantly throw in their ideas, to take initiative all the time.
 * Improves creative thinking: participants learn to approach problems creatively and use association to create ideas, which they can use after the session.
 * Improves morale: Participants work together to find a solution to a problem and every participant is encouraged to take initiative. This can improve the morale of the team and its members.
 * Enjoyment: participants usually like the interactive and creative atmosphere.

Nominal group technique
Nominal group technique is a type of brainstorming that introduces structure to the process. It is useful in ensuring that all participants have an equal say and can be used to generate a ranked list of ideas.

Typically each participant is asked to write down their ideas. Then the moderator asks each participant in turn to express one of their ideas. The moderator writes down each idea on the flip chart. Then each participant copies the group's final list on a blank page giving each idea a score. The pages are collected from each participant and the scores summed, providing a rank-ordered list.

Group passing technique
Each person in a circular group writes down one idea, and then passes their piece of paper to the next person in a clockwise direction, who adds some thoughts. This is repeated until everybody gets their original piece of paper back. By this time, it is likely that the group will have created some powerful ideas.

A popular alternative to this technique is to create an "Idea Book" and post a distribution list or routing slip to the front of the book. On the inside cover (or first page) is the problem definition statement. The first person to receive the book lists his/her ideas and then routes the book to the next person on the distribution list. The second person can log new ideas or add to the ideas of the previous person. This continues until the distribution list is exhausted. A follow-up "read out" meeting is then held to discuss the ideas logged in the book. This technique does take longer, but allows individual thought whenever the person has a spare minute to think deeply about the problem.

Term controversy
The story that an organization has banned the word 'brainstorm', in favor of 'thought shower', due to its connection with epilepsy, appears regularly in British newspapers. Invariably, it is given as an example of 'political correctness gone mad'. One example can be found in the Observer, 26 June 2005 regarding the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Belfast. Another example is the Telegraph, 26 April 2003 regarding trainee teachers.

A survey in 2005 by the UK charity National Society for Epilepsy found that 93 per cent of people with the condition do not find the word brainstorm offensive.

Another UK epilepsy charity, Epilepsy Action, discussed this in their Epilepsy Facts, Figures and Terminology web page. An informal survey by Epilepsy Action in their journal Epilepsy Today (Issue 73, October 2005) confirmed the NSE findings.