woman in black blazer standing in front of woman in white dress

How to Brainstorm– Seven Steps to Success

Brainstorming is a great tool to explore an idea, concept, product/service, etc.  For all the possible approaches one can take.  An Entrepreneur would be well served to brainstorm any business idea or product/service concept they may come up with.

What is brainstorming? 

Brainstorming can best be described as an idea or brain dump.  Ideas come fast and wild– the faster and wilder the better.

The “rules” for successful brainstorming are simple:

  1. Effectively, there are no rules–anything goes
  2. Be free, quick, And casual with ideas
  3. Don’t criticize any ideas–the wilder, the better
  4. Write or record everything for later review
  5. Bounce ideas back and forth– the key is to use free form ideas to generate other ideas
  6. Combined ideas are great results
  7. Quantity of ideas are best in the beginning, quality comes later as things take shape

How many people are needed for effective brainstorming? 

A group is usually best– synergies abound.  However, that said, I have brainstormed myself recording ideas and possibilities in notebooks.

Do we have to be face-to-face?  It is a big help to be locked up in a room together for a few hours, but it can be done over the phone or via email.

What should we do to record our ideas?  Here is my view, you should use:

  • Pictures
  • Diagrams
  • Charts
  • Words
  • Concept statements 
  • Acting
  • Props
  • Prototypes

I have recently been brainstorming with a colleague about a joint venture.  We have exchanged emails, phone calls, and concept statements, and sites to look at and compare.  We have had great success because we have bounced ideas between us– the project is now progressing because it is taking shape with our shared vision.  More on this project in a future post.

Think, share, brainstorm!

Good luck!


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply