Hello Alfonso,
These are all great questions about brainstorming, and it would be
very valuable to have the collective wisdom of this and other lists
together in a single article.
I have been teaching brainstorming techniques and leading ideation
sessions over a number of years at Stanford and at Yahoo!, and I will
second Chauncey's citation of the Osborn text and add this earlier
one, where he introduces the term 'brainstorming' :
Your Creative Power,
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Creative-Power-Alex-Osborn/dp/1569460558
"...It was in 1939 when I first organized such group thinking in our
company. The early participants dubbed our efforts "Brainstorm
Sessions;" and quite aptly so, because in this case, "brainstorm"
means using the brain to storm a creative problem - and do so in
commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same objective."
In this book he introduces the four basic principles of brainstorming
which I find are the essential foundation of fluent ideation:
* Defer judgement
* Push for quantity
* Encourage wild ideas
* Build on others' ideas.
Here are some other, more contemporary references:
David Kelley (IDEO) in Fast Company:
Seven Secrets to Good Brainstorming
http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2001/03/kelley.html
Six Surefire Ways to Kill a Brainstorm
http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2001/03/kelley2.html
Bob Sutton (Stanford GSB) in Business Week:
Eight Tips for Better Brainstorming
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2006/id20060726_517774.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+++design_innovation+and+design+lead
The Innovation Catalyst shows that the debate over the value of
brainstorming is not dead
http://opensourceinnovation.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/two-vastly-opposing-views-on-brainstorming-pt-i/#comment-32
And some (Ad agency) people don't like it at all. This article
illustrates how poorly run sessions can be really counter productive.
http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2007/05/death_to_the_br.html
I look forward to seeing more about this,
Gayle Curtis
UX Design Strategy - Yahoo!
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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:12:19 +0000
From: alfonso comitini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Brainstorming
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
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?
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