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INTRODUCTION: Brainstorming Techniques
The guideline and template content starts on the following page.
hat This Is
A set of "how-to" guidelines for facilitating a Brainstorming Session.
A brainstorming session is a tool to generate ideas from a selected audience to solve a problem or
stimulate creativity. These meetings are used for solving a process problem, inventing new products or
product innovation, solving inter-group communication problems, improving customer service, budgeting
exercises, proect scheduling, etc.
!sing these tools can help discussion facilitators and "roect #anagers with alternative approaches for
creative idea generation meetings $a%a brainstorming sessions&. They are particularly useful when
previous meetings have gone afoul or were not as effective as they could be, or productivity during these
exercises is less than it should be.
h! It"s Use#ul
'ot all brainstorming sessions are effective. #any times these types of meetings suffer due to various
factors, such as(
unclear obectives or ill-defined goals
disorgani)ed or less-than-enthusiastic participation
failures in note ta%ing
conflicts among team members
strong or overbearing personalities
"class system" in a pec%ing-order hierarchy
micro-management by various decision ma%ers
"not invented here" $'*+& syndrome
+aving a defined and communicated plan or obective, having agreed-upon and enforced "meeting
guidelines," and %nowing what %ind of brainstorming techni,ues to use will ma%e your creativity and
decision ma%ing meetings more effective.
$o% to Use It
-. .ollow your normal meeting processes and conventions with -& a designated meeting time and
duration, /& a designated meeting place, and 0& early notification to the participants with enough time
for everyone to put the meeting on their schedule and get prepared.
/. A "1eneric #eeting 1uidelines" chec%list is provided in this file. #odify this as appropriate with your
own words by adding items that are important to your team and proect culture. 2elete or modify items
that do not apply or are not appropriate. These are rules that should be agreed upon by the
participants and self-enforced or peer-enforced during the meeting.
0. 3eview the set of Brainstorming Session 1uidelines for desired actions and behaviors during a
brainstorming session. *nclude the appropriate ones in your meeting guidelines. 3eview the list of
items that should be vehemently guarded against, and be on the loo%out for any of these in your
brainstorming meetings. 3eview 4Things That 1et in the 5ay of 6reativity.7 Add your own items.
8. 2istribute the meeting guidelines when the participants are invited and briefly review these at the
beginning of the brainstorming session.
9. 6onsider the type of audience or team you are collecting for the brainstorm. 6onsider the type of
problem or ,uestion you are going to try to solve. Select a type of brainstorm techni,ue that will wor%
for the particular audience and problem. :ou may select a couple of techni,ues for the meeting and
combine them, or have a primary and a bac%up, if the primary techni,ue is not getting the desired
results.
;. 5hen a team is comfortable with doing brainstorming together, sometimes it<s ust fun for a change of
pace to use one of the alternate techni,ues.
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ProjectConnections.com Guideline Brainstorming Techniques
A. Brainstorming Meeting Guidelines
Generic &eeting Beha'ior Guidelines
Be present and ready to begin on time.
'o side conversations. 2o not mumble to others during the meetings.
Any member can "process chec%" if an issue goes too long.
Any member can "process chec%" if an issue is not obviously pertinent to the immediate agenda topic.
Any member can "process chec%" if an issue is narrow and only involves a very limited subset of the
team. 3e,uest that the issue be ta%en offline.
*f you cannot ma%e it, send a substitute.
*f you cannot send a substitute, let the team %now in advance.
Assign a facilitator and a recorder.
+ave an agenda and follow that agenda.
Ta%e brea%s once an hour and reconvene @' T*#>A
Assign action items only to people present at the meeting.
6hoose action item due dates with B=C confidence levels.
2o not let egos get in the wayA .ocus on the issue, not the person.
Spea% and act assertively, not aggressively.
Brainstorming (ession ) General Guidelines
>xplain what purpose or obective is to be achieved by having the brainstorming session. 2iscuss
why the selected audience was invited. 2iscuss who else should be involved. 6onsider discussing
any obvious "not invited" audience, but have a good reason for it.
5rite the ,uestion, problem, or issue on a white board or post it in an obvious place in large print.
>xplain that people can verbali)e any creative ideas. 3einforce that sometimes the cra)y ideas are
the most successful. 'o idea is too loony. $3emember that old clichD about thin%ing outside the boxE&
>xplain that everyone is expected to participate $see individual brainstorming techni,ues if this is a
problem&.
>xplain that AFF ideas are acceptable.
"ost all the ideas on white boards or flip charts while they are being generated. #a%e sure to capture
the idea and intent of the audience member. +ave multiple people writing down the ideas, if needed.
Building on others ideas is acceptable. >xpand different threads of thought.
>diting, critici)ing or udging is '@T acceptable. >xplain that the point of the meeting is to ust
generate ideas. >diting them down and refining them ta%es place later after all ideas have been
exhausted.
Fisten to the spea%er carefully.
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Allow snowballing, where an idea generates an extension to that idea that generates expansion of
that idea, and so forth.
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ProjectConnections.com Guideline Brainstorming Techniques
A. Brainstorming Meeting Guidelines
Things That Get in the a! o# Creati'it! during Brainstorming (essions:
The words "that<s wrong" or "that<s stupid" or "that won<t wor%" or anything in a similar vein.
Any sentence starting with "But we don<t have G" $budget, people, time, tools, %now-how, etc.&.
Any sentence that starts with "They<ll never let usG" or "That<s against company policiesG" or
""ersonH will never allow that becauseG"
Anything along the lines of "Been there, done that" or "5e tried that years ago and it didn<t wor%."
An un,ualified "That<s too ris%y." $This might be legitimate if supported by facts and data.&
1lobal ridicule li%e "1et a life," ":ou<ve got to be %idding," "'o $expletive deleted& way," ":ou can<t
do that," "1ood luc%," etc.
Any form of un,ualified opinion or emotional outburstIgentle or passionateIthat negates a
possibility before it<s been studied and bantered about. An impossible idea might be the stimulus
or seed for a new thought that would be successful.
And last, but not least (one of my favorite destroyers of creative thought)
"Fet<s form a committee $action assessment group, executive decision-ma%ing group& to loo% into it."
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B. Brainstorming Techni!ues
This portion of the guideline includes how-to instructions, comments, and variations for the following types
of brainstorming(
T!*e +: ,-lo% o# Consciousness, Brainstorming
T!*e .: ,Post/It Notes, Brainstorming
T!*e 0: Bouncing Ball Brainstorming
T!*e +: ,-lo% o# Consciousness, Brainstorming
This is also %nown as "free wheeling" brainstorming. *t is the most common brainstorming method.
1ather the team or group for the meeting.
Team members volunteer solutions as they thin% of them.
There are no constraints on behavior. Tal% when you want. Say what you want. 'ormal brainstorming
guidelines should be followed and editing is left to the end of the session.
'otes should be ta%en on a white board or flip chart.
At the end of brainstorming, the facilitator goes line by line and eliminates any suggestions that are
not useful. The facilitator, with group input, combines ideas and groups similar or common ideas.
The group then wordsmiths the solution or list of possible solutions. This is the final editing process.
Comments:
"hen it wor#s
This wor%s well with people who are comfortable with each other, open-minded and respect each
other.
"hen it may not wor#
This may not wor% well with people who are defensive or ,uiet, since they may not spea% up.
This may not wor% with people who are not comfortable or familiar with the activity of brainstorming.
They may not feel they have a valuable contribution or they may ust be intimidated, confused, or shy
about the process.
This may not wor% with members of certain cultures. "Just tal%ing when you want" may seem rude or
unfamiliar to them.
This may not wor% well with people who are strong-willed, loud, or overly assertive. They may be the
only ones ma%ing suggestions and may spea% "on top of" others.
$ariation Po*corn Brainstorming
Similar to the freewheeling techni,ue, however team members are limited to one or two word
commentary on any suggestions. This techni,ue might be used when people are good at ma%ing
suggestions, but some fol%s are long-winded or overly severe in their style of disapproval of others ideas.
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ProjectConnections.com Guideline Brainstorming Techniques
B. Brainstorming Techni!ues
T!*e .: ,Post/it Notes, Brainstorming
The team members write down their ideas on post-it notes during the meeting
"ost-it notes are then posted on a white board or blan% wall.
The facilitator reads each one out loud and the group begins to categori)e these by value, creativity,
do-ability, etc.
As each post-it is read aloud, the group decides how to categori)e it with the previously reviewed
notes. 6ontinue until all notes are posted on the wall.
*f a note being read aloud prompts a new idea by a team member, have them write a new note.
3evisit the groupings one at a time for elimination of ideas or re-grouping, now that all the ideas are
categori)ed. This is the editing process. Allow modification, combination or alteration of the ideas.
6ontinue this process until consensus is reached on a solution or list of li%ely solutions.
Comments:
Alternate techni!ue
An alternative is to have one person read their note and put it on the wall. The next person reads their
note and the group decides if they are similar or different and how the new note should be grouped.
6ontinue this process until all the notes are read and categori)ed and the editing process begins.
"hen it wor#s
This process is useful if people want to come prepared to the meeting with their post-it notes written
ahead of time $the notes can be generated in the meeting, too&.
This process is useful if note-ta%ing is difficult for some reason, since the post-it notes serve as a
basic level documentation system.
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B. Brainstorming Techni!ues
T!*e 0: Bouncing Ball Brainstorming
This is also %nown as to%en-passing brainstorming. !sing a ball has its advantages as amusement, but it
can be distracting with a playful group. A ,uieter method is to use an obect that doesn<t bounceIa to%en.
The person with the ball or to%en can share an idea. The ball is then passed to the next person
with a suggestion. Team members must wait to get the ball before they can ma%e a suggestion or
share an idea.
'otes should be ta%en on a white board or flip chart.
At the end of brainstorming, the facilitator goes line by line and eliminates any suggestions that
are not useful. The facilitator, with group input, combines redundant ideas and groups similar or
common ideas.
The group then wordsmiths the solution or list of possible solutions. This is the final editing
process.
Comments:
Alternate techni!ues
An alternative method to re,uesting the ball is to have the current holder of the ball pass it to
whomever they want. This helps sometimes when there are ,uieter members of the team.
The facilitator can re,uest the ball and then pass it to others that he or she would li%e to hear from.
The facilitator can decide ahead of time if team members can "pass" the ball on without a suggestion.
#a%e sure this is included in the brainstorming guidelines when the meeting is started.
1ariation: Round Ro2in Brainstorming
This is similar to the Bouncing Ball techni,ue except the suggestions are given by going cloc%wise or
countercloc%wise around the team, with each member offering a suggestion when it is their turn.
The facilitator should decide ahead of time if team members will be allowed to "pass" without providing a
comment when they have the to%en.
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