Brainstorming technique

Abstract

Brainstorming is a creativity exercise where individuals or groups of people generate ideas impulsively with the goal of finding solutions to a specific problem. It is a simple, yet powerful tool used in virtually all industries. The term was originally introduced in the year 1953 by Alex Oxford in his book “Applied Imagination” and has now become one of best known idea generation method in the world. Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem solving providing an open environment that encourages everyone involved to participate. No idea is a bad idea no matter how wild they are and people are given the freedom of mind and action to spark off and reveal new ideas. Therefore, people should avoid criticizing or rewarding ideas during the brainstorming session as it limits the idea generation and creativity .

When looking into the job of a project manager, creative thinking is required every day to solve problems. Through effective brainstorming, out-of-the-box solutions can be generated. In fact, brainstorming is often used by project managers when developing project management plan, defining the scope and identifying risks for example . Since brainstorming usually requires multiple participants, the project manager functions as a facilitator of the session. It is therefore critical for the project manager to follow some basic rules in order to get the best results.

In the following article the overall idea of the brainstorming technique will be discussed; the origin and when, how and why it should be used. General guidelines for project managers and rules will be outlined, that are recommended to follow in order to run an effective brainstorming session. Furthermore, other brainstorming variations and extensions of the tool will be introduced following with limitations of the technique and its strengths. Finally, references relevant to the article will be listed for further reading.

Overview of brainstorming

Origin

In the year 1942, the advertising executive and one of the founders of BBDO, Alex Osborn, published a book titled “How to Think Up” in which he presented the technique of brainstorming. Osborn originally used the term to “think up” to describe the process developed – something that was being used at BBDO as part of their ideation process. At that time he found that the atmosphere in business meetings was inhibiting the development of new solutions and proposed basic rules to change that. The term brainstorming became popularized in 1953 by Osborn in his book “Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving”. Since then brainstorming has become one of the most widely used creative thinking techniques done in virtually all industries .

What is brainstorming?

Alex Osborn described brainstorming as “a conference technique by which a group attempts to find a solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by its members” *REF to his book*. Brainstorming is often used in the early stages of product development, but it is in fact applicable through the whole life cycle of a project or program; at any time that new ideas or solutions to problems are required. It is useful when identifying problems and solutions, assessing the situation and developing ideas which plays a big role in risk management for example. Brainstorming can be done individually or within the project team and there are many variations or extensions from the initial idea. The bottom line is that you need to be able to generate ideas and allow them to grow into something viable .

Application

For the project manager, it's important to be able to recognize the benefit of brainstorming to the success of the project and provide an outlet for its occurrence. With that being said, the key attributes to an effective brainstorming session is to plan ahead and follow four basic rules:

1. No criticism of ideas
2. Welcome unusual ideas
3. Go for large quantities of ideas
4. Combine and improve ideas

If these rules are followed, a lot more ideas are created.

The rules he came up with are the following: • No criticism of ideas • Go for large quantities of ideas • Build on each other’s ideas • Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas He found that when these rules were followed, a lot more ideas were created. A greater quantity of original ideas gave rise to a greater quantity of useful ideas. Quantity produced quality. People’s natural inhibitions about producing ideas that might be considered “wrong” or “stupid” were reduced. Osborn also found that generating “silly” ideas could spark off very useful ideas because they changed the way people thought. With increasing refinement of the process, and the introduction of creative thinking techniques, this original technique was revolutionary in problem solving

Quantity over quality. e assumption is that the more ideas generated, the more likely it is to produce a radical and e ective solution 2. Withhold criticism. Instead of criticizing ideas, participants should focus on implementing or extending ideas, reserving the criticism to the critical stage of the brainstorming. In addition, par- ticipants will feel free in generating new ideas when judgment is suspended. 3. Welcome unusual ideas. To get a good list of suggestions, unusual ideas are encouraged. 4. Combine and improve ideas. Encourages building on previously generated ideas.

After brainstorming

What do you with all the ideas? Here, techniques for analysing the output of the brainstorming session will be outline and discussed.

Variations and extensions of brainstorming

This section will cover briefly what different types of brainstorming there are and how they work.

Benefits & Limitations

Limitations of Brainstorming and advantages + disadvantages