Hello Alfonso, I would highly recommend that you get the following two books as part of your research.
Osborn, A. F. (1963). Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem-solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. This is considered a classic book on modern brainstorming. Alex Osborn, who began his writings on brainstorming in the 1940s, wanted a meeting process that would reduce the inhibitions that block the generation of creative ideas. Many of the classic rules for modern brainstorming originated with Osborn. This book is out of print, but a worthwhile read if you can locate it. There are a number of versions of this book, each incorporating new ideas from Osborn. The 1963 version is the most-often cited. Used copies are generally available and reprints can be found at http://www.creativeeducationfoundation.org/press.shtml#imagination. Paulus, P. B., & Nijstad, B. A. (Eds.), Group creativity: Innovation through collaboration. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Paulus and Nijstad have edited a book that captures a wide range of research into group creativity. Much of the book deals with brainstorming and related methods for generating ideas and solutions to problems. While the book is loaded with research and theory, most chapters have a set of practical implications for group creativity methods like brainstorming and brainwriting. The book discusses both face-to-face and electronic methods and their respective strengths and weaknesses. The book highlights how social inhibitors can affect creative productivity and provides some research-based tips on how to overcome these inhibitors. I've been doing talks on brainstorming and ideation techniques based on research for a book that I'm working on. Brainstorming is often touted as easy, but it is actually a very complex social psychological process with many factors influening the number of ideas generated. I did a talk titled, "A Portfolio of Brainstorming Techniques" at the last UPA with my colleague from Mad*Pow, Amy Cueva, that was well received. If you like, I could send you a copy. It list best practices for planning and conducting brainstorming sessions and also highlights the method called brainwriting which generall yields more ideas than the class group brainstorming. There are several important concepts in brainstorming that need to be considered: 1. Production blocking - any behavior or influence that blocks ideas by others. For example, I ask that no one bring a computer or iPhone, or Blackberry to brainstorming meetings because glancing at one of those devices means that you aren't focused on the task of generating as many ideas as possibly. A major ground rule is that people do not tell "war stories" since the time spent tell stories blocks the production of ideas. 2. Evaluation apprehension - things that make people worry about being evaluated - for example, managers should generally not be a part of brainstorming groups because they may "rate" their employees on their ideas will lead to evaluation apprehension and then production blocking (fear will limit what people are open to express). 3. Social loafing - large groups allow some people to loaf through the session while other take up the load. Some of the research on brainstorming notes that smaller groups are more effective (2-5) and having two people sit and brainstorming like crazy with each other (dyadic brainstorming) is quite efficient. Here is a list of common blunders from our UPA talk: Not being clear on the goal of the brainstorming Evaluating people on their brainstorming performance Thinking that anyone can facilitate Having too many people for a single group or having only "experts" Too much or too little diversity (strangers in our midst) No explicit ground rules Not addressing violations of the ground rules Having managers and employees in the same session Not understanding the culture Not warming up Here are some additional references that you might find useful: Berkun, S. (2004, July). How to run a brainstorming meeting. Retrieved June 1, 2008 from http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/34-how-to-run-a-brainstorming-meeting/ Camacho, M. L., & Paulus, P. B. (1995). The role of social anxiousness in group brainstorming. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 68(6), 1071-1080. Kelley, T. (2001). The art of innovation: Lessons in creativity from IDEO, America's leading design firm. New York, NY: Doubleday. Spreng, K. P. (2007, November). Enhancing creativity in brainstroming for successful problem solving. HOT Topics, 6 (11), Retrieved on June 1, 2008 from http://hot.carleton.ca/hot-topics/articles/brainstorming Chauncey On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 11:12 PM, alfonso comitini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Hi everyone, > > I'm putting together an article on 'best practice' > brainstorming practical usage and trying to get some feedback through various > mailing lists. One of these lists is > IXDA, I already read most of the interesting posts on brainstorming, and got > some ideas but I would like to get some more feedback. Please, refer to old > posts because I might have missed some of them. > > I'm referring to brainstorming in agencies and design > studios but not over the phone or solo brainstorming. Below are some questions > that would really help me get finished with the article. Everyone that answers > will be cited at the end and I'll also provide a link to the website. Feel > free > to answer as many questions as you like and give as much feedback as you like. > > > > What is your personal definition of brainstorming? > > When and in what kind of projects do you use it ? (generating > new products, new ideas, business) > > Who should sit in the brainstorming session and why? is it > just for creative people or does including non-creatives (managers or admin) > help find the balance between creativity and practicality? Or do you include > everyone in the search of a balanced input? > > Do you include third parties (client)? Why? > > What would you say it's the optimum balance in number of > people? 2,4,5,10? Why? > > What information do you provide before and/or at the > beginning of the session (sketches of target audience, summaries of > researches identifying attitudes and behavior, > other resources or nothing at all)? > > How much time do you give to review the brief and prepare > for the brainstorming session? > > What's the best time of the day to hold a brainstorming > session? > > Where do you conduct the brainstorming session (out-of-house > or in-house)? > > Who the facilitator should be and what characteristics should > have? Do you bring someone from the outside? is it a manager? does it need to > be little known to the group? How many facilitators? > > What is the role of the facilitator? Does it keep things > moving, capture notes, identify key ideas? > > How long should the session be? Different lights for > different sessions? > > Do brainstorming sessions need to be structured or do you > brainstorm in an informal place without planning? For example, on a Friday > with > colleagues in a pub, or in a plane heading to conferences. > > Do you just send out email and ask people to brainstorm? A kind > of e-mail brainstorm and possibly use these information in the actual > brainstorming session? > > What tools do you use? Paper, whiteboard, software? > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Win a voice over part with Kung Fu Panda & Live Search and 100's of Kung > Fu Panda prizes to win with Live Search > http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/107571439/direct/01/ > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... 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