One of my favorite project stages is brainstorming; I love the creativity and excitement that comes with idea generation. I like to exercise my brain and think outside of the box and use the constraints of a project challenge to determine how to move forward. Brainstorming is also an important step when you want to determine the right option to move forward with as your first idea is unlikely to be your best.
Unfortunately, the next step after brainstorming can be a stressful, emotional and angst-ridden process. The next step is deciding which idea is the best solution and, in a group setting, critiques to an idea can feel like personal attacks. And if the decision-making process is prolonged, our attention is spread between the choices, wasting resources like time, money and emotional investment.
If this struggle feels familiar, you’re not alone. Making a decision within a brainstorming setting can be hard, especially when you’re choosing from a slew of workable, good ideas. Luckily, this is a skill that can be improved with thoughtful preparation, best practices, and usable techniques that will allow you to more efficiently narrow down and rank your ideas. To streamline the brainstorming process, below are some best practices for each step of the process.
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Preparation
The first thing you need to do is to identify and define the problem you want to solve. At this stage, it’s important to clarify the need for the solution, who will use it and how they’ll use it, and any other factors that put constraints on the situation. Reach out to stakeholders and make sure you have a grasp on their understanding of the problem.
The next step is to gather your brainstorming team, making sure you have a diverse group with a range of perspectives and a dedicated time to discuss. It may be helpful to include key stakeholders in brainstorming activities to ensure their perspectives are captured.
Then, work together to determine three to five key guidelines to judge the ideas. For example, clarity, stability and integration may be key factors on which to judge a successful slogan. Other possible criteria include profitability, practicality, “stickiness”, originality, and clarity. Finally, give each criterion a score between 1 and 5 (1 being unimportant and 5 being very important).
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Brainstorming
Begin your brainstorming individually to prevent groupthink and “idea anchors” that can limit creative thought. This is the time to turn off that critical voice in your head and let your mind play with the problem. Not all your ideas will be winners, and that’s ok! Give yourself a set amount of time and aim for quantity. If idea creation is difficult, try some of these creativity techniques.
Following this, share these ideas with the group and let them spark additional solutions building from others’ thoughts. Together, develop an affinity diagram that will group similar ideas, allow for the elimination of duplicates, and show areas for growth.
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Evaluation
When your group reaches a lull in idea generation, it’s time to shift gears into idea evaluation. Have everyone pick their favorite ideas from the affinity diagram, limiting people to 5-10 choices depending on the number of ideas and group size. Go through the full list and have everyone rate the ideas based on each criterion, giving a numerical score from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good).
Collect all the scores and multiply each score by the predetermined ‘weight’ of each criterion. Immediately eliminate the low-scoring ideas. If there’s a clear winner, you’ve made your decision.
In addition, it’s important at this stage to methodically eliminate the worst ideas because too many choices only makes it harder to choose. There are several techniques that can help you explore the possible outcomes of your choices. Not every technique will work for every project, but some helpful methods include:
- A desirability-viability-feasibility Venn Diagram. Create a Venn diagram with these (or other important) factors to help you evaluate an idea. The best ideas will fit in the middle of this chart, any ideas that only fit in one circle should be eliminated, and, in general, if the idea fits in the ‘desirable’ circle, you’re working in the right direction.
- Develop feasibility roadmaps. Collaborate to determine the steps it would take to make each idea a reality. Are the steps clear-cut and achievable, or are they complex and expensive? This should help eliminate ideas with hidden roadblocks.
- SWOT Analysis. This is helpful in larger projects and involves identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to your solutions to help you compare ideas and how they relate to the situation and environment around it.
- Request outsider opinions. Select a person or people who will be thoughtful but decisive. Describe the solutions as objectively as possible, without any statements that might influence them (e.g. “This was the boss’s idea,” or “My favorite is…”). Ask them questions about their first impressions and any concerns they have. It may be helpful to have them also ask questions, as they may bring up points you hadn’t considered already, but make sure not to become defensive or argue with them.
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Selection
From this point on, you’ll be deciding between a small selection of appropriate, interesting and workable ideas. There should be no wrong answer, but there’s likely a best answer. Take the time to make sure each idea addresses the problem and matches the needs of the relevant stakeholders. Think about which choice you and your group wants more; a project with the interest of the team will drive better focus and dedication. If you still can’t decide, introduce the element of chance. Flip a coin. If the option that the coin suggests makes your stomach drop, you know to pick the other.
The best thing you can do to streamline the decision-making process is to make eliminating choices systematically. By preparing ahead of time and gaining a deep understanding of the problem, you’ll come up with better ideas and have the tools to efficiently analyze, eliminate, and choose the best option.