{"id":15656,"date":"2017-04-06T18:29:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T18:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/?p=15656"},"modified":"2019-06-17T04:27:54","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T04:27:54","slug":"brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainstorming &#8212; Setting Limits or Just Letting it Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rules, rules, rules. It seems counterintuitive that so many rules are required to encourage a free flow of ideas. But as you\u2019ll see from the examples below they are crucial to enable constructive brainstorming sessions. There are common themes to these rules, such as setting goals and a focus, and also methods developed by companies to suit there own unique work practices.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Better brainstorming \u2013 a framework for success.<\/strong> Once you have your team in the room, you need to know what tools you\u2019ll need and where everyone will sit. You know that some individuals will shy away from participating and some will try and dominate the discussion. So it\u2019s a good idea to start with a round table around which the participants will sit. Then, as described by The Clever PM, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleverpm.com\/2014\/10\/14\/better-brainstorming-a-framework-for-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">you can provide the supplies required for the process<\/a>; a clear wall for posting sticky notes, a pad of sticky notes for each person, colored dot stickers for each person for voting, sharpies and flip-charts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seven secrets to good brainstorming.<\/strong> A great place to start looking for inspiration is at IDEO, a globally renowned product design firm whose business is to come up with innovative ideas. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/63818\/seven-secrets-good-brainstorming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Their rules, as learned by Linda Tischler, are strictly enforced<\/a> and include sharpening the focus on specific customer needs, allowing only one conversation at a time (and without criticisms) and agreeing on a set number of ideas to be created to force the group to think beyond the obvious, low hanging ideas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seven steps to better brainstorming. <\/strong>McKinsey believes that many brainstorming sessions are wasted by not initially defining the limits a company has to execute the resulting ideas.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/business-functions\/strategy-and-corporate-finance\/our-insights\/seven-steps-to-better-brainstorming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">In a process that they call brainsteering<\/a> (a verb\u00a0we could probably do without), there are seven (there\u2019s that number again) rules that will help you avoid problems such as producing groundbreaking technical solutions that your IT department wouldn&#8217;t possibly allow. They disagree that aiming for a lot of ideas will be productive and instead suggest you ask pointed questions to elicit creative responses. They also push you to limit certain questions to people who are experienced enough to answer them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rules, rules, rules. It seems counterintuitive that so many rules are required to encourage a free flow of ideas. But as you\u2019ll see from the examples below they are crucial to enable constructive brainstorming sessions. There are common themes to these rules, such as setting goals and a focus, and also methods developed by companies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Brainstorming - Setting Limits or Just Letting it Flow - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brainstorming - Setting Limits or Just Letting it Flow - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rules, rules, rules. It seems counterintuitive that so many rules are required to encourage a free flow of ideas. But as you\u2019ll see from the examples below they are crucial to enable constructive brainstorming sessions. There are common themes to these rules, such as setting goals and a focus, and also methods developed by companies [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/productcollective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-06T18:29:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-17T04:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Brief-Image-Template.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul McAvinchey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul McAvinchey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/\",\"name\":\"Brainstorming - Setting Limits or Just Letting it Flow - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Brief-Image-Template.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-06T18:29:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-17T04:27:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f34ceda9eb6237e864633ca033061c0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Brief-Image-Template.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Brief-Image-Template.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/brainstorming-setting-limits-or-just-letting-it-flow\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Brainstorming &#8212; Setting Limits or Just Letting it Flow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/\",\"name\":\"Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\",\"description\":\"For people who build, launch and scale world-class software products.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f34ceda9eb6237e864633ca033061c0b\",\"name\":\"Paul McAvinchey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PLnHr3Hu_400x400-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PLnHr3Hu_400x400-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Paul McAvinchey\"},\"description\":\"For over 20 years, Paul has been building and collaborating on digital products with fast-growing startups and global brands, including AOL and WMS Gaming. 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In recent years he led business development at DXY, a leading product design firm in the Midwest, and product innovation at MedCity Media, a publishing startup acquired by Breaking Media in 2015.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaboya"],"url":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/author\/newindsum\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}