February 2008

Brainstorming
Concepts and Planning
Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft

This presentation is a collection of techniques I use for

brainstorming sessions. Brainstorming is often
misunderstood or used ineffectively. Hopefully youll
find some of these concepts helpful. The are techniques I
been taught at the Institute of Design and have refined
in my work at IBM and at Microsoft. Its a great
starting point for understanding how brainstorming
can work for you.

Topics for Discussion

Our goals
Defined
Setting the right environment
A sampling of methods
Where you can learn more
Resources

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Our goals for todays session

Define what brainstorming is and why it matters
Share some basic techniques
Understand when to use it
Learn how to prepare ourselves for the activity
Enable you to learn more on your own
Have a dialog about the concepts as we step
through them

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So, what is brainstorming?

Brainstorming is a social process for generating new thinking around
problems and challenges (theories, technology, ideas, services, products).
It involves coming up with many, often radical, ideas based on a set of
assumptions or constraints that can take many formats.
It recognizes the principle that our brains are pattern recognition systems
and that we sometimes get stuck with patterns and think within them
versus outside of them.

Brainstorming helps us think outside of

traditional the patterns we are
programmed with to think of new ideas.
Source: James Manktelow, Edward de Bono
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Programmed thinking versus lateral thinking

Another way to think of brainstorming is to understand what its
not and how it differs from something we do often in our day to
day jobs programmed thinking.
Programmed thinking is using a structured or logical framework
to create a product, system or service. GS Method, general project
management, information design, and quantitative and
morphological analysis all represent programmed thinking.
Lateral thinking is about jumping outside of traditional patterns
that we use to solve problems.
Brainstorming is different from the structural process that we
often use on projects, but both methods have a time and place in
our toolkit when used correctly.
Source: James Manktelow, Edward de Bono
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Where programmed thinking works

In the analysis or research stage of a project
In the detailed design of a product, service or
system that has been identified
Root cause analysis

Source: James Manktelow

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Where Lateral thinking works

In improving an existing concept
Generating radical ideas
Making creative leaps
What are some areas in your company where you
can use lateral thinking?

Source: James Manktelow

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Why should I care?

Lateral thinking leads to breakthrough discoveries
and innovation that cant be derived from solving
the same problem the same way, its the
difference between developing incremental
innovations versus breakthrough innovations.
Breakthrough innovations, and our competency in
practicing techniques that can provide them
enhances our ability to provide value to
customers.

Source: James Manktelow

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The first step: Setting the right environment

All successful brainstorming activities hinge on
team effectiveness
In our culture team effectiveness typically follows
a model of:
Results: What are we trying to accomplish
Action: Who, what, when
How: Plans and strategies
Possibility: Stating what is possible
Relationship: Shared and aligned commitments
Source: Doblin
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But that model, in that order, doesnt work for us

Teams rarely get a chance to focus on the
possibility and relationship domains unless this
model is reversed.
Getting a team aligned and comfortable around
the domains of relationship and possibility is
critical for successful brainstorming.
Without alignment, teams cant make the
emotional investment thats required to solve the
problemtheres no skin in the game.
Source: Doblin
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We need to ensure that the following occurs

Relationship
Avoiding background conversations (or sharing them with everyone)
Listening
Leave personal biases behind
Granting trust
Being responsible
Recognizing who people are being when expressing ideas

Possibility
Its about allowing dialog and not debates.
Letting all team members know their voice counts.
Making inspiring commitments without evidence that we know they can be
accomplished.

Source: Doblin
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Preparing yourself and your team: Location

A location should be comfortable and isolated
from distractions. Youll need:
At least an hour, probably two
Paper
Sharpies
Post It Notes
Tape
White board or dry erase boards
Sugar and caffeine never hurts
Source: Scott Berkun
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Preparing yourself and your team: Purpose

Good brainstorming sessions are not random in planning
Prep your team with a series of questions or problems that
your trying to solve (remember, were not talking results).
Provide supporting information in advance that the team
can review (prepare this data, focused brevity is better
than data overload that nobody has time to look at).
Focus on contextual research, primary and secondary
research.
For short or last minute sessions consider giving an
overview of this data as part of your session.

Source: Scott Berkun

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Communication with your team: Results

Know what youre going to want to do with this
data after youve gathered it.
Tell your team whats going to happen with the
data generated (nobody likes ideas that disappear
in a desk drawer).
Establish and communicate the process you will
use to select and refine ideas.

Source: Scott Berkun

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Working with your team: Facilitate

Have a clear leader in the session, a person responsible for:
Listening
Helping people express ideas
Getting ideas on the wall
Running the white board
Moderating conversations (managing interruptions and giving the
floor all people in the session)
Maintain the velocity of the session
Its okay (even encouraged) for the moderator to generate ideas
as well, but their primary task is to effectively facilitate the
environment where other participants can accomplish that goal.

Source: Scott Berkun

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Working with your team: Volume and comfort

Brainstorming is a volume business
We are going for the number of ideas, not the quality of
each idea.
Encourage participants to build on the ideas of others and
generate as many unique ideas as possible.
As a facilitator get these ideas on the wall so everyone
can see them.
Encouraging the group to build on ideas is a critical task
for the facilitator, youll often be moving too fast to
differentiate between good ideas and bad ideas during
this stage.

Source: Scott Berkun

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Working with your team: Ground rules

People hate feeling silly or stupid in front of their
peers, thats why its important to
Have a code of conduct that everyone on the
team understands
Postpone (or eliminate criticism)
Jointly define a code of conduct before you begin
your meeting (i.e. with a focus on how to
communicate, document, expand on ideas, etc.)

Source: Scott Berkun

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A simple approach for a three hour Brainstorm (1)

Define a series of 4 questions or problems that youre trying
to solve.
Send out a briefing package that a participant can review in
less than half an hour. (Limit participants to between 8 to 20
people).
Get your team together and give them a half hour overview
of your set of problems, give them the opportunity to ask
questions.
Tackle each question as a discrete activity (For large teams
consider dividing the room into subgroups that each tackle
the problem from a specific perspective).

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A simple approach for a three hour Brainstorm (2)

Spend 10 minutes having your team generate as many concepts as possible by
sketching or writing concepts on an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper with a Sharpie.
For each concept developed by a group or sub-group, number the concept and put it
up on a wall or in a place where everyone can see it.
Set goals for your team (a modest goal is 6 to 8 concepts per participant, high
performance teams can often generate 10 to 15 concepts per person in 10 minutes).
Spend the next 20 minutes having each team explain their ideas to the entire group
(Consider having each team pick their 3 to 5 best ideas).
Move on to the next question and repeat the process until all questions are
complete.
By the end of this process you should have been able to generate dozens of ideas
and filter them down into a manageable collection of what you feel are the most
promising ideas.

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Some suggestions before you embark on a brainstorm

This process can appear intimidating
Try it out internally first
Only use with customers that you know and are
familiar with or that you can clearly communicate
the process to in advance
If you are using the team to make decisions as
well make sure you employ a shared evaluation
tool (i.e. a voting system using post its or sticky
dots)

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Enhance a brainstorming session by introducing the

following lateral thinking concepts
Reversal
SCAMPER
Random Input
Provocation

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Reversal
Ask the opposite of the question or problem you
are trying to solve, then apply the results
How can we make customer service worse?
How could we make this kiosk harder to use?
Whats the hardest way to build this site?
What can we do to not win this business?

Source: James Manktelow

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SCAMPER
Substitutecomponents, material, people

For example, using high tech materials to enhance a product, like stainless steel, carbon fiber

Combinemix, combine, with other products, services or technology

For example, the iPod and iTunes Music Store

Adaptalter, change function, use part of another element

For example, the Baygen radio that needs no batteries, due to a hand crank, from cell phones to VOIP phones

Modifyincrease or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes

For example, GE Aviation, from We make jet engines to Were in the propulsion business

Put to Another Use

For example, using baking soda as tooth paste or a deodorizer

Eliminateremove elements, make as simple as possible

For example, Basecamp versus SharePoint or Quick place, a Bose 3,2,1 versus a typical home theatre

Reverseturn inside out or upside down (similar to reversal)

Make a PDA into a remote control, a car into an entertainment center

Source: James Manktelow and Alex Osborn

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Random Input
Making creative leaps by linking one thinking pattern to another
For example, using a movie pitch analogy to describe a purchase
experience or user group, Its Lord of the Rings meets Dumb and
Dumber!
Simple methods may involve using a noun for a simple item that can be seen
or touched
For example, use a noun like garbage in terms of designing a product
might prompt a discussion on how to create a product more efficiently and
in generating less waste during manufacturing.
More advanced methods might involve the use of concepts that are randomly
applied to your problem (Creative Whack Packs from Roger von Oech)
For example, apply a random statement from a Whack Pack like How is
your ego adversely affecting your judgment?

Source: James Manktelow, Roger von Oech

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Provocation
Making a deliberately provocative statement to spur a discussion
What if we made a cell phone that didnt have a keypad?
What if we decided to sell a $5.00 cup of coffee?
We then use that provocation to suspend judgment and generate
ideas, we can:
Explore the consequences of the statement
Explore the benefits
What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution
The principles needed to support it and make it work
How it would work

Source: James Manktelow, Edward de Bono

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What next?
Look for future sessions that help teams:
Analyze ideas
Synthesize options
Visualize concepts
Communicate ideas

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Resources
Web
Mind Tools, James Manktelow
Leading a Brainstorm, Scott Berkun

Books
Lateral Thinking, Edward De Bono
A Whack on the Side of the Head, Roger von Oech

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