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Brainstorming Rules

IDEATION Successful brainstorming requires Stay focused
Start with a well-honed statement of the problem at hand. Ideally, this
following a set of rules. Enforcing
these rules will help you maximize the should be articulated around a customer need. Don’t let the discussion
144144 number of useful ideas generated. stray too far; always bring it back to the problem statement.

DESIGN Enforce rules
Clarify the brainstorming rules upfront and enforce them. The most
important rules are "defer judgment," "one conversation at a time,"
"go for quantity," "be visual," and "encourage wild ideas." Facilitators
should enforce the rules.

Think visually
Write ideas down or sketch them out on a surface everyone can see. A
good way to collect ideas is to jot them down on Post-it™ notes and stick
these to a wall. This allows you to move ideas around and regroup them.

Prepare
Prepare for brainstorming with some sort of immersion experience
related to the problem at hand. This could be a fi eld trip, discussions with
customers, or any other means of immersing the team in issues related
to your problem statement.

Adapted from an interview with Tom Kelley of IDEO in Fast
Company magazine: "Seven Secrets to Good Brainstorming"

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