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 "brainstorming" 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.

A core function in the project managers job revolves around creative thinking and problem solving every day. Through effective brainstorming, out-of-the-box solutions can be generated. In fact, in the PMBOK® Guide brainstorming is specified as a recommended tool and technique in some knowledge areas, such as Scope Management and Risk Management. 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 and rules that are recommended for project managers to follow in order to run an effective brainstorming session will be outlined. 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”. 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 plays a big role in Risk Management for example, when identifying risks, assessing the situation and developing ideas. 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.

Brainstorming in project management

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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 ground rules:

1. No criticism of ideas. The project team will feel free in generating new ideas when judgment is suspended. In addition to that, another more subtle rule is to avoid praise.
2. Welcome unusual ideas. To get a good list of suggestions, unusual ideas are encouraged.
3. Go for large quantities of ideas. Quantity over quality. The assumption is that the more ideas generated, the more likely it is to produce a radical and effective solution.
4. Combine and improve ideas. Encourages building on previously generated ideas.

According to Osborn, a lot more ideas can be created if these rules are followed. After the brainstorming session, the team can criticize, rate, rank, or vote on good ideas, but during the brainstorm the focus should be on getting as many ideas as possible.

In addition to the four rules, there are few steps to guarantee an effective brainstorming session:

• Keep a relaxed and inspiring atmosphere. Meetings should be disciplined but informal. People usually feel more inspired when they feel comfortable. Try to avoid any interruption from computers and phones.
• Define the problem or topic clearly. That prevents the brainstorming session going out of hand.
• Choose a process leader/facilitator. The project manager usually is the facilitator managing the process and reminding the team of the ground rules.
• Keep track of time. Brainstorming takes energy and if the session is too long, the more likely it is that participants lose focus and therefor waste time. The time can range from 15 minutes to several hours, depending on the project.
• Record everything. Write down all thoughts, statements and ideas. It's a good way to have an oversight over the ideas.
• There are no bad ideas during brainstorming. It's important to keep the ideas flowing whether they are good or bad. The goal is to produce as many ideas as possible. The analysing will take place later.

After brainstorming

After the brainstorming session the ideas need to be put in order and the best one selected. Therefore, the next steps are important; Organise, analyse and take decision. While there are many tools available to do so, only few will be mentioned here.

Affinity Diagram

Ungrouped data before affinity diagram section on the left and named groups after a session on the right.

In large projects, where even several brainstorming sessions are required to cover the entire scope, the number of ideas needs to be reduced into something more manageable. The PMBOK® Guide recommends Affinity diagramming, which is a method for organising qualitative data into related groups for review and further analysis. Project managers can use the affinity diagram to help team members see the the pattern of what's being discussed and help identify potential solutions to problems.

The affinity diagram organises ideas with the following steps:

• Ideas are gathered together.
• Ideas are sorted into logical groups. If applicable, the ideas can be sorted into subgroups (and sub-subgroups if the amount of data is large).
• Header for the groups.
• The final affinity diagram is drawn formed by the groups and subgroups.

Finally, the results can be used for further analysis.

Decision Matrix Analysis

An example of a decision matrix for a Decision Matrix Analysis to choose the best ideas from brainstorming.

When the ideas from the brainstorming session have been organised and analysed, they can be utilised to make a decision using the Decision Matrix Analysis. It's used to perform data analysis within the organisational structure created in the matrix. The matrix diagram seeks to show the strength of relationships between factors, causes and objectives that exist between the rows and columns forming the matrix. Following are step-by-step instructions for the tool:

1. All options are listed as rows on a table, and the factors considered are listed as columns. It's the project manager and the team that decide the factors.
2. Working the way down the columns of the table, each option is scored for each of the factor. Each option is scored from 0 (poor) to 5 (very good).
3. Relative importance of the factors is decided, rated from 0 (not important for the final decision) to 5 (very important for the final decision).
4. Each scores are multiplied by the values for the relative importance of the factor. The outcome will be the weighted score for each option/factor combination.
5. The option that scores the highest is the most desirable option.

Variations and extensions of brainstorming

Over the years, various modifications and variations of the traditional brainstorming have been developed. It's a little like the process of brainstorming itself: One good idea begets another. Here, few popular variations will be mentioned.

Brainwriting

Brainwriting, like brainstorming, has a goal of generating quantitive amount of ideas in a short time. But unlike brainstorming, it's done via writing, not speaking. Participants write their ideas on paper at the same time and exchange written ideas rather than shouting them out as happens during traditional brainstorming. For brainwriting, the following steps should be followed:

• Ideas written down on a page for a specific time (usually several minutes).
• Ideas passed on to the next person in the team on a signal from the project manager.
• New ideas added to the list without interacting with anyone else.
• The process is repeated until the allotted time has run out.

At the end of the brainwriting session, all the ideas are collected for review. The team can then vote on the best idea or use another approach to determine what ideas to consider further.

The benefits of nominal group techniques are there might be a reduction of the social inhibitions and anxieties that might occur in traditional brainstorming as well as a highly efficient method for generating ideas. There will be a better chance for equal participation where quiet or shy participants have a chance to state their ideas. On the other hand the drawbacks are that there will be limited interaction among participants and a lack of synergy because all ideas are generated privately.

The Nominal Group Technique

The nominal group technique introduces structure to the process. It's a technique that enhances brainstorming (and brainwriting) with a voting process used to rank the most useful ideas for further brainstorming or for decision making. The participants are given a problem or topic and asked to write down ideas for a specific period of time. Then all ideas are listed on a board where each team member reads out one idea at time and the project manager sees if any further clarification is needed. If so, the team member who proposed the idea has limited amount of time to explain the idea. Then, the team members give each idea a score following with summing the scores up, providing a rank-ordered list.

Remote brainstorming

Remote brainstorming, also known as online brainstorming and electronic brainstorming, replaces physical and oral session with virtual and written one. Remote brainstorming can be done with synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies. Some general approaches for remote brainstorming can be:

• Online chat. Distributed team can then brainstorm using chat or instant messaging software. The session is recorded and the ideas that are generated can be prioritised later.
• Visual diagramming and mindmapping software. For example Mindjet and Mindmanager.
• E-mail. Participants can do individual brainstorming and send ideas to an e-mail where they are gathered and listed on some kind of archive.

The team members are then working in the presence of each other or remotely, but not sharing ideas verbally. This technique can be an efficient complement to nominal group brainstorming especially for large groups.

Limitations & Benefits

Limitations

Brainstorming has proven to have numerous advantages; however, not everybody agree on its excellence whereas it has some limitations. Brainstorming is about generating ideas. It doesn't help with analysing the ideas once they're recorded. There is usually a need for another technique to follow up the brainstorming session to organise and evaluate the ideas collected (like affinity diagram or decision matrix analysis). Moreover, brainstorming can sometimes be less effective than having the same number of participants generating ideas individually. Finally, brainstorming may not suit in all circumstances but that's up to the project manager to decide what tool is the most relevant at each time. Brainstorming needs to be approached in the right way in order to be effective. Wrong approach in a brainstorming session may lead to argument, criticism and groupthink. However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, showing why brainstorming is as popular as it is today.

Benefits

Brainstorming has name recognition. Most people have some sense of what a group brainstorming session is like hence it's not necessary to convince teams to use the technique. Furthermore, brainstorming provides many ideas quickly; ideas that may not come up any other way. It's a democratic way of generating ideas and it provides social interaction.

Finally, brainstorming may not suit in all circumstances but that's up to the project manager to decide what tool is the most relevant at each time. Brainstorming needs to be approached in the right way in order to be effective. Wrong approach in a brainstorming session may lead to argument, criticism and groupthink. However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, showing why brainstorming is as popular as it is today.

Annotated bibliography

Project Management Institute. (2013) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). Available at: http://proquestcombo.safaribooksonline.com.proxy.findit.dtu.dk/book/software-engineering-and-development/project-management/9781935589679/firstchapter This guide includes relevant theories and concepts within project management. Furthermore, it provides deeper understanding of when to use brainstorming in project management e.g. identifying risks, defining scope and developing project charter.

Wilson, C. (2013) Brainstorming and beyond: A User-Centered Design Method. This book provides deeper understanding of the brainstorming technique and other related creative exercises.

Osborn, A. (1953) Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem-Solving. This book is great for those interesting to read more about the traditional brainstorming and its author, Alex Osborn.