8 steps to running a brainstorming session
Defining the “correct” problem to solve is hard, but coming up with ideas to problems can be equally challenging. Sometimes, getting a group of people together to ideate on possible solutions is helpful.
What is it?
Brainstorming, is the process of generating ideas. The intention with brainstorming is to general as many divergent ideas as possible, typical to address a specific problem. Brainstorming can be done individually or as a group.
Why do it?
Part of the benefit of working with many different and diverse individuals is the opportunity to use the knowledge and experiences of others. When problems are complex and there isn’t a correct answer, brainstorming allows people to contribute to the solution development process. Brainstorming shouldn’t be used for tackling problems with a known, correct answer. For example, the solution to 1+1 = 2. There doesn’t need to be a brainstorm to determine what’s the best way to identify the solution to 1+1.
How to run an effective brainstorming session with a group of people?
Define the problem that requires a brainstorming session by completing the sentence “How might we <problem statement>?”
State known constraints to focus participants.
Ask if participants have any questions about the problem statement or constraints. Discuss and answer those.
Set a timer for 25 minutes and ask each participant to individually, think and write down possible ideas or solutions. Inform participants that each person will be asked to present his or her ideas after 25 minutes.
Ask a person to present their idea(s). Inform others who are listening that they can’t critique the idea, but must can add on (e.g., “Yes, and…”) or create derivative ideas (i.e., idea riffs). Exploratory questions are okay for other participants to understand.
After a single idea is presented, ask if other participants had similar/derivative ideas to speak up. Explore what the differences might be.
Document the idea and any derivative/related ideas.
Repeat step 5-7 with remaining participants.
Principles to good brainstorming sessions
Some people argue that providing constraints isn’t a good idea. The argument is that constraints limits human ingenuity. While I agree, the reality is that most problems you’re be solving have some known constraints that are fixed. Perhaps you only have a limited budget or time. Rarely, are we brainstorming in a situation with no constraints. To address this concern, spend a few minutes reviewing the constraints you’re representing and ask yourself if they are hard constraints and limit yourself to 5 maximum. Another way to tackle this concern is to ask participants to actively think of solutions that would overcome the constraints during individual brainstorming.
Forcing people to brainstorm individually is important for two reasons: reduces group think and you get more possible answers. Lazy participants can’t just free ride off someone else’s idea because you stated each participant will be providing one idea.
Some people will struggle to generate many different ideas. They focus on refining a single idea, to making it better. To reduce such behavior, one approach is to use 10 minutes of your 25 minute session for rapid ideas. In this 10 minute period, tell each participant they have 1 minute to come up with an idea, anything and write it down. After 1 minute, tell the participant they have to move on to the next idea.
It’s important to stop any criticism when participants start sharing ideas. You have to remind yourself and stop other participants who offer critiques.
One way to redirect critiques or people’s objections against an idea is to ask the individual how they might modify the idea by completing the sentence, “Yes, that’s a great idea and I would also … <fill in>”. By using words such as “yes”, “great idea”, and “and”, you’re forcing the critic to build on top. This is so an idea riff.
Ask participate to write ideas on post-it notes during in-person sessions. If you’re remote, try using a tool such as Miro, Whimsical, Jamboard, or Google Docs (but remember, keep it individual at first).
People can get very possessive of their ideas or solution very quickly. That’s why you want to generally hold a separate session to critique ideas, which isn’t covered here.