We explain what brainstorming is and what its benefits are. We also tell you how to do it and what tools to use. Please read other MTV articles for more information. If you share it, it will be of little help to us.
What is brainstorming?
Brainstorming (from the English “brain” and “storm”), known in Spanish as “storming” or “storming”), is a group work technique that seeks to obtain novel ideas and original points of view through the free and massive generation of ideas around a topic of interest. The objective of this technique is to achieve a critical mass of ideas by combining the ideas of the group members and then selecting the best ideas.
The brainstorming method was formally proposed by American publicist Alex Faickney Osborn (1888-1966) based on a series of experiences with a group of advertising creatives, who, together, were able to generate more and better proposals than any of them could individually. The foundations of his experience were captured in his 1953 book, The Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking.
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Brainstorming is used today in various situations where a large number of ideas or points of view are desired, in order to subsequently select the most suitable one. It is a very popular idea generation method, often used without prior knowledge, whose basic principles are the postponement of critical judgment and the free association of thought.
As with all Anglicisms and borrowings from foreign languages, the term brainstorming should always be written in italics in Spanish.
Benefits of Brainstorming
The idea behind brainstorming is that many minds create better than one, and therefore, by freely combining the ideas of a group, progress can be made toward selecting the best. This is a much-debated notion, challenged by various psychological approaches that advocate individuality as a source of creativity. However, the application of brainstorming in group exploration processes of an idea, theme, or perspective is extremely popular today.
In fact, brainstorming is a very common method in the advertising industry and graphic design, especially when creating an advertising campaign from scratch.
Brainstorming has the virtue of allowing for group integration and the free exploration of ideas, which fosters creativity with a sense of shared adventure. In fact, in his notes, Osborn found the best possible results when the exchange of ideas occurred free of hierarchies and evaluations, that is, on a completely horizontal level.
In short, brainstorming has the following virtues:
- It allows the group’s creativity to flow freely, exploring any idea without restriction.
- It allows traditional barriers to proposing new content to be overcome, such as the judgment of superiors or the opinions of colleagues.
- It encourages innovation and daring among creatives and also optimizes communication between group members.
- It helps keep the team motivated, as they feel their ideas are taken into account, no matter how bold they are.
- It maximizes the production of novel ideas by prioritizing quantity over quality.
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How to Conduct a Brainstorming Session
To organize a brainstorming session, we must gather participants in a group and ask them to bring a pencil and paper. The meeting place should have a whiteboard or some other support for writing down and displaying the ideas that arise. The topic to be discussed freely should be clearly written on it for a set period of time (usually one hour).
The brainstorming session is guided by four main rules, which are:
Deferring Judgment During the Session
All ideas that arise are written down, without distinction, without making critical judgments or assessments of any kind, or making any comments that hinder the flow of ideas and proposals. Judgments and opinions will take place after the ideas have emerged and the selection phase has begun.
Thinking Freely
The session should encourage the free flow of ideas, no matter how crazy they may be. The goal is to remove obstacles to creativity and register ideas more vigorously, as it’s easier to refine an existing idea than to come up with one that’s perfect from the start.
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More is more
It’s important to have many ideas, as this will give you more variety to choose from later. Furthermore, the best ideas will emerge along the way, inspired by the first 20 to 25, which tend not to be very original or powerful. A brainstorming session can easily include 50 to 100 ideas, depending on the context.
Moving away from purity
Participants in the session may fully or partially rework other people’s ideas, making connections, introducing alternatives, and generally being as unrelated to the original as desired. The important thing isn’t to respect the other person’s idea, but to come up with the most innovative, creative, or contextually appropriate proposal.
Once the brainstorming period is over, discussion and selection will begin, narrowing down the available set until the best idea is found. It will then be reviewed and discussed to see if it can be improved or enhanced, and finally, the final idea will be developed.
Tools for online brainstorming
There are numerous online platforms for brainstorming sessions, both group and individual. Most of these are work software capable of virtual meetings, connecting people in different locations. Some of the best-known are:
- Free Mind
- Git Mind
- Mindly
- OmniOutliner
- WorkFlowy
- Slack
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References
All the information we offer is supported by authoritative and up-to-date bibliographic sources, ensuring reliable content in line with our editorial principles.
- Brainstorming on Wikipedia.
- What is brainstorming and what is it for (video) on Design Thinking Spain.
- Brainstorm on The Britannica Dictionary.
- Brainstorming definition, What it is, benefits, tools, and how to do it – concepto.de
