Chauncey Wilson - Brainstorming and beyond: a user-centered design method

If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.

Alfred Nobel

Most projects spend considerable resources generating and organizing ideas throughout the product cycle. The three chapters in this book describe effective and efficient methods for generating ideas through speaking, writing, and drawing.

in this book focuses on group brainstorming, perhaps the most well-known method for ideation. Brainstorming is often portrayed as simple with only a few rules, but as you read through the first chapter, you will discover that brainstorming is a complex social process requiring knowledge of social psychology, motivation, and corporate culture. There are many variations on brainstorming that can be useful in different contexts, like the nominal group technique, which is useful when you want to minimize status differences, and free listing, which can be used to generate ideas with very large groups (as well as with a single individual) in minutes. This chapter provides many tips on how you can increase the number of ideas that emerge from brainstorming sessions.

describes a method called brainwriting. Brainwriting is a variation on brainstorming, in which each person in a group writes ideas on paper and then passes the paper to another who reads the first set of ideas and adds new ones. Brainwriting requires little training and could be considered a discount ideation method. Because there is no group where participants shout out ideas, strong facilitation skills are not required for the leader of a brainwriting session. The output of ideas from brainwriting can often exceed the output of group brainstorming in a shorter period of time, so the return on investment (in this case, the number of ideas per unit time) is relatively high compared to traditional group brainstorming. Brainwriting is appropriate in cultures where there is some hostility (covert or overt) or where participants may be reluctant to express ideas that go against the ideas of more senior colleagues. It is also useful when you have limited time with a group.

covers braindrawing, a method of visual brainstorming that you can use to generate ideas for icons, graphics for product branding, user interface layouts, or web page designs. In braindrawing, you present a group with a visual problem like generate ideas for an icon to represent the function insert link, and then ask each person to sketch ideas and pass them on to someone else who can add a new idea or embellish previous ideas. Good ideas are extracted from braindrawings and applied in the product.

The methods described in this book provide ways to generate, present, and evaluate ideas and begin building a strong foundation for product success.