10 Simple Tips for Organizing Better Brainstorming Sessions
Brainstorming can be either a source of ideas or a huge waste of time and energy. We’ve all been in brainstorm sessions that went nowhere. But how to organize a winning brainstorming session?
Here are 10 tips that will help product teams to unlock the creative power of a brainstorming session.
1. Clearly define your goal
Every brainstorming session should have a clearly defined objective. And this objective should be clear both for you and all other people who will participate in this activity.
2. Make sure everybody prepared
You won’t have too much time, so it’s better to spend it with care. Familiarize yourself with all the relevant information for the topic you want to discuss. For example, if you’re going to brainstorm branding color combinations, it’s better to conduct competitive analysis and see what your competitors use. This knowledge will help you to provide more relevant suggestions during the session.
3. Assign a moderator
A moderator is someone who will guide the brainstorming session and steer the conversation towards a productive output. A moderator should know the topic that the team plans to discuss and also be an authoritative figure.
4. Set a time limit for each session
Set a time limit for each session (say, one hour) and announce it for everyone who participates in brainstorming at the beginning of the meeting.
5. Open discussion
You never know where a good idea is going to come from. That’s why it’s essential to make everyone feel like they can share ideas openly.
Remember that there is no such thing as a bad idea
When someone proposes an idea, don’t reject it even when you think that it’s not good enough. Make sure everyone is paying full attention to whoever is sharing a new idea and take 5 minutes to discuss it together. This discussion can lead to other, hopefully, better ideas.
6. Go for quantity
Which is better, quality or quantity? When it comes to brainstorming, quantity is better.
In creativity, quantity leads to quality
Aim for as many new ideas as possible. Collect all ideas and evaluate them with your team.
7. Encourage wild ideas
Because wild ideas often sound unrealistic, many product teams skip them in an attempt to focus on more tangible solutions. But wild ideas are an essential ingredient of innovation.
When you reject wild ideas, you kill creativity.
Thus, defer judgment. Never reject the idea just because you think it’s not technically feasible. Instead, collect all the ideas that your team members propose. In many cases, the wild ideas you collect will help you in the next brainstorming sessions.
8. Stay focussed
Don’t try to brainstorm many different topics during one session.
One topic per single session
If you’re tackling a fairly large project and want to discuss a few different parts of a design, it’s always better to conduct a series of brainstorming sessions.
9. Be visual
Misinterpretations are one of the most common problems during brainstorming. When one person throws out an idea to two people who interpret it very differently, it quickly turns into three different ideas.
Show, don’t tell
This simple rule will help you solve the problem. Nothing gets an idea across faster than visualizing it. Get a pen and draw it on a piece of paper or whiteboard. By sketching your idea, you get a better chance that everyone will be on the same page.
10. Don’t rely on your memory
Human memory is fallible. Most probably you won’t be able to memorize essential details after the session, especially if it was an intensive one. Thus, whenever you have an essential thought, spend a second to add it to your notes.
A helpful list of tools for brainstorming
While it’s always better to conduct in-person brainstorming sessions, sometimes it’s impossible. That’s why I’ve prepared a list of tools that will help you organize brainstorming sessions online:
Conclusion
The goal of a brainstorming session is not to get a single, perfect idea. The goal is to collaborate and find various solutions for the problem. Brainstorming should be a fun and enjoyable experience.
