Best Practices for Effective Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a great way to solve problems and current tasks, based on stimulating the creative activities of a team.
The goal of brainstorming is generating as many ideas as possible and determine the best solution based on them.
The author of the article about brainstorming on DZone reminds the quote of Michael Jordan: “Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.”
Any successful decision is achieved through the efforts of the whole team. Where does the path to success begin? Here we highlight the most interesting ideas from the article.
During the brainstorming session, all team members are invited to express as many options as possible to resolve the issue. Here are 10 rules for arranging an effective brainstorming session:
Preparation stage
A brainstorming plan should be announced in advance. A moderator (usually a project manager or a product manager) chooses and notifies all participants, informs them about the place and time.
Present issues correctly
A clear formulation is important to all team members. It is necessary to identify the problem without any additional clarifications.
Set the right goals
The more clearly initial data will be given to each participant, the more effective the brainstorm will be. Set your goals according to the popular SMART principle.
Generate ideas
You should provide a continuous stream of ideas, from the most trivial to the most fantastic. The more active participants in a brainstorming session, the more chances for successful ideas.
Download thoughts
Visualization is the first step in finding a solution to any problem. Draw illustrations, graphics, use Kanban-boards with cards. All this will help to find the right way faster.
Criticise constructively
Even the craziest idea has a right to exist. Criticism during brainstorming can bring down the pace or even offend.
Evaluate and prioritize
After active brainstorming, the stage of evaluating and ranking ideas begins. It’s a good time to remember about prioritization techniques and, if possible, to apply an accessible tool for prioritization that will quickly help visualize the most important and secondary ideas.
Do not hesitate to ask for help
If the process of discussion has reached a deadlock or the votes of the participants have shared equally, do not hesitate to call “fresh” heads.
Moderate constantly
Some participants may be shy and not speak out on time. You need to track the timing, ask leading questions and give the voice to everyone.
Do not get distracted
Do not lose conclusions. It is very important to fix all the thoughts to have the opportunity later to return to them and to analyze something again.
Have a great brainstorming session!