How to Brainstorm Effectively

Before we begin this blog post, let me say there are a lot of different ways and opinions on what the most effective way to brainstorm is. The information described below was modified from Brain Fuel's "The 6 stages of a truly good brainstorm session" and Lucidchart's "How to Brainstorm: 5 Ways to Get the Creative Juices Flowing". Applying even one of the techniques described below really will make a difference in how you and your team executes your brainstorming. 

Brainstorming Effectively

Brainstorming occurs during the Generating phase of The Engineering Design Process. While it is often overlooked as a trivial part of group work, it is really one of the most important aspects in creating a product. Many people have trouble beginning the brainstorming process, however, brainstorming can be broken down into a few stages. A few rules to keep in mind as you go through these stages are the following:

• Focus on quantity
  
• Withhold Criticism 
  
• Don't be afraid of crazy ideas
  
• Build upon each other's good ideas
  

With those in mind, the following stages can be followed to create a successful brainstorming environment.

Prep

Know your problem. Tying into to how import research is, without knowing your actual problem, and the various issues surrounding it, you won't be able to come up with solutions. Therefore, prepping and knowing your problem is critical before a brainstorming session.

Warm-up

In cases where you hardly know the team you are working with, or are not comfortable with them yet it is important to do a warm-up (or icebreaker). This step is critical as it will aide in creating a positive atmosphere where people can talk about ideas freely. Icebreakers are a prime example as they can introduce similarities among team members and get conversations flowing.

Divergence

Here your team will try to come up with as many ideas as you can. A useful tip would be to have material such as sticky notes or whiteboards, so that all ideas and solutions can be recorded and are visually tangible to the group. DO NOT HOLD BACK. All ideas are welcome at this stage; do not be afraid of unusual ideas or solutions. It is extremely important during this stage that all of the ideas, sketches, and suggestions are documented for your Engineering Technical Notebooks (BEST Robotics). Having pictures of groups of students working around a whiteboard full of sticky notes with ideas really shows the audience you were working together to have a successful brainstorming session.

Convergence

Here is where the team will take a step back and view the ideas generated focusing in on which ideas are feasible, and which ideas may  not make too much sense. Explain to each other why one idea might be a better approach than the other. Discuss and hear everyone's opinions, but most importantly document this thought process and discussion. 

Decision

Finally, once you have sorted the good ideas from the not so good ideas, and have a decent working group of solutions, it is time to choose which path best fits your project. This discussion again is really important to document. We don't want to just know that you went with option C, but we want to know why options A & B weren't chosen and why you think option C is the best solution for your problem. Remember, it always goes back to truly understanding the problem you are trying to solve. 

Hopefully this brief outline of an effective brainstorming session was helpful! If you are interested in reading the articles we found helpful, or watching a great video on brainstorming the links are below. The video begins with some techniques that are not very helpful in having effective brainstorming, and finishes with the recommended way to get the best out of a brainstorming session with your team.

If you want more information check out the links below from Brain Fuel and Lucidchart, as well as the youtube video from Stanford's Design Lab.

https://medium.com/brainfuel/brain-fuel-funnel-the-6-stages-of-a-truly-good-brainstorm-session-5782d8e4cc8c

https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-brainstorm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmoWCSyujPY

Don't forget to stay updated on our Twitter, and look for another blog post next week!