Brainstorming
Quick Tip!
The most outlandish ideas could lead to a transformational solution.
At the Digital Corps, we conduct brainstorming sessions for a number of projects. We use divergent and convergent thinking in order to generate a lot of ideas and then find the most effective solution for a problem. Divergent thinking seeks to gather as many creative and innovative ideas, without judgment or criticism. Those ideas are then brought together in convergent thinking where they are analyzed and reviewed with a focus on logic, critical thinking, and accuracy. This article explains the different forms of brainstorming and how those strategies are used.
There are two forms of brainstorming conducted at the Digital Corps: Formal and Informal.
Informal
In most projects, brainstorming is required, and doing so informally is very common at the Digital Corps. Not all brainstorming requires an in-depth report. An example of the use of informal brainstorming is for video projects when the team needs to think of b-roll ideas. Individuals on a project team may be assigned a task to brainstorm ideas for said project – this brainstorming can be done individually or as a group.
Formal
We use formal brainstorming when we need an organized list of many ideas from a diverse group of people. For formal brainstorming, a session is scheduled and a specific technique is used to provide structure. A report may or may not be created after a formal brainstorming session. The Loading Zone project team uses formal brainstorming to come up with episode ideas, while the team for Reference Guides uses it to generate new article ideas.
For all brainstorming sessions, whether formal or informal, it is important to set the focus.
Set the Focus
Discuss the focus prior to the session to review the project or session goals, how the results will move the project forward, and to avoid scope creep. The focus is defined by the JPM, PM, and staff members, as well as by the client if the project is external.
If you conduct a formal brainstorming session, part of this activity includes the selection of a session technique.
Session Techniques
There are many informal techniques that teams use when brainstorming for projects:
- Inspiration sharing: team members will bring a list of ideas that they like and share/present them – then, ideas can be narrowed down or pivoted to find the perfect solution for a project.
- Talking points or thoughtful questions: creating questions that will help generate ideas.
- Previous projects: thinking of previous projects and finding what worked best and what did not work best to help decide how to move forward in future projects.
- New skills: choosing ideas that will be good for a project but also helping students practice and learn new skills.
- Media: finding what has been done recently in the media (documentaries, news, TV series, movies, etc.) and suggest trying these approaches.
While informal brainstorming is typically more relaxed, and at times done independently, it is important to keep a few tips in mind:
- Quantity over quality: generate a lot of ideas, select what is useful and discard what is not, then expand the chosen ideas to best fit the project.
- Take brain breaks: if you’re stuck and have the time, go for a walk or do a brain dump. If time does not permit, think of something mindless to clear your head before returning to brainstorm.
- Think from a different perspective: put yourself in the shoes of someone who knows nothing about this project to help you think outside the box.
Formal brainstorming is typically more structured. Below are four common techniques you can use at the Corps:
- Rapid Ideation: after the session leader provides the appropriate context, a time limit is set for participants to write down as many thoughts or ideas around the topic as possible.
- Saturate and Group: saturate a space with ideas to help unpack thoughts and experiences, then group these findings to explore what themes and patterns emerge.
- Six Hats: uses six different ways of thinking, each represented by six colored “thinking hats.” As you “wear” each hat, you learn how to think in different ways to brainstorm and approach problems from various angles.
- SCAMPER: think creatively to innovate and create problem-solving solutions. Each letter of the acronym stands for a different brainstorming prompt: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse.
Report Brainstorming Conclusions
When reporting for informal brainstorming, especially at the Digital Corps, it is likely to be a short explanation of your ideas, but be ready to defend these ideas and how they fit into the goal of the project.
When reporting for formal brainstorming sessions, a full, written report from the brainstorming session may be required. This report reiterates the goals of the session, the session techniques used, and the findings from the session either using a table to identify groupings, or using paragraphs/lists to identify individual findings.
Use brainstorming to encourage problem-solving in a collaborative way through the generation of a larger amount of ideas in a short amount of time. Consider looking up brainstorming tips if you run the session by yourself.
