Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a creativity technique in which a group of people interact to suggest ideas spontaneously in response to a prompt.
[1] The term was popularized by advertising executive Alex Faickney Osborn in the classic work Applied Imagination (1953).
In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by employees.
[5] Osborn outlined his method in the subsequent book Your Creative Power (1948), in chapter 33, "How to Organize a Squad to Create Ideas".
[8] Osborn said that two principles contribute to "ideative efficacy": Following these two principles were his four general rules of brainstorming, established with intention to:[citation needed] These four rules were: Osborn said brainstorming should address a specific question; he held that sessions addressing multiple questions were inefficient.
The group simply provide ideas that might lead to a solution and apply no analytical judgment as to the feasibility.
During this consolidation phase, participants may discover a common understanding of the issues as they share the meanings behind their ideas.
Directed brainstorming works when the solution space (that is, the set of criteria for evaluating a good idea) is known prior to the session.
This type of brainstorming removes all cause for conflict and constrains conversations while stimulating critical and creative thinking in an engaging, balanced environment.
[citation needed] Participants are asked to adopt different mindsets for pre-defined period of time while contributing their ideas to a central mind map drawn by a pre-appointed scribe.
Having examined a multi-perspective point of view, participants seemingly see the simple solutions that collectively create greater growth.
[citation needed] Following a guided brainstorming session participants emerge with ideas ranked for further brainstorming, research and questions remaining unanswered and a prioritized, assigned, actionable list that leaves everyone with a clear understanding of what needs to happen next and the ability to visualize the combined future focus and greater goals of the group nicely.
[citation needed] Early efforts, such as GroupSystems at University of Arizona[17] or Software Aided Meeting Management (SAMM) system at the University of Minnesota,[18] took advantage of then-new computer networking technology, which was installed in rooms dedicated to computer supported meetings.
When using these electronic meeting systems (EMS, as they came to be called), group members simultaneously and independently entered ideas into a computer terminal.
The software collected (or "pools") the ideas into a list, which could be displayed on a central projection screen (anonymized if desired).
Later EMSs capitalized on advances in computer networking and internet protocols to support asynchronous brainstorming sessions over extended periods of time and in multiple locations.
Identified by Gallupe and colleagues,[19] both production blocking (reduced idea generation due to turn-taking and forgetting ideas in face-to-face brainstorming)[20] and evaluation apprehension (a general concern experienced by individuals for how others in the presence are evaluating them) are reduced in EBS.
[22] A perceived advantage of EBS is that all ideas can be archived electronically in their original form, and then retrieved later for further thought and discussion.
For example, ideas might be "pooled" automatically, so that individuals do not need to wait to take a turn, as in verbal brainstorming.
The production gain associated with GroupSystem users' attentiveness to ideas expressed by others has been documented by Dugosh and colleagues.
[23] EBS group members who were instructed to attend to ideas generated by others outperformed those who were not in terms of creativity.
This technique has been used particularly in the field of new product development, but can be applied in any number of areas requiring collection and evaluation of ideas.
[26] A good deal of research refutes Osborn's claim that group brainstorming could generate more ideas than individuals working alone.
