Brainstorming is a tool applied in many institutions so as to generate as many ideas as possible in a team. The focus is usually on the number of ideas brought up but not the quality of the ideas. The groups are usually made up of 5 to 15 people with attention put into the composition of the group. A consideration is made to ensure there is a variety of experience, knowledge, and backgrounds in order to produce varied ideas from varied perspectives.
Brainstorming is usually applied at the beginning of a project when there is no clear definition of the project possibilities. This is a useful way of coming up with ideas that are creative in production methods or product development. Marketing and advertising objects are popular for brainstorming. Brainstorming helps stimulate a group’s creativity and encourages the bringing up of unconventional ideas. Every contribution is welcome and may lead to a diversity of ideas.
It is imperative for there to be a clearly defined question before brainstorming starts. However, it is important to note that brainstorming is not as effective on problems that are complex or difficult to describe or those that require specialized knowledge.
Rules of BrainstormingÂ
The most important rule is ‘postponement of judgment.’ Criticism or feedback is not allowed during the brainstorming session. Every idea is welcome whether common or uncommon, obvious to absurd, impossible to clever ideas. Brainstorming is about gathering as many ideas as possible when criticism is introduced, it blocks free thinking and discourages contribution of ideas instead of motivating each other to generate more ideas. In a brainstorming session, every person must feel free and safe to contribute. The rules in brainstorming are to allow space and remove any obstacles to allow free thinking. Some of these rules are:
1. Postpone judgment – every idea is good, acceptable and noted down, criticism waits for later.
2. Focus on quantity – the aim is to gather as many ideas as possible.Â
3. Freewheel – there is freedom to jump from one idea to the next and even to think aloud.
4. Hitchhike – it is allowed to hitchhike on another idea and apply synergy and complementing each other by continuing to work on the idea.
