I’m afraid I have to introduce you to one of the facts of life. As long as you’re employed by a company in our current world, you’ll probably have to work on a team. Yes, even if you are a software engineer.

Teamwork almost always requires coming up with new, creative ideas. In fact, just last week, I was working in a group of engineers trying to come up with a new project concept. We were all sitting in a circle, throwing out ideas, poking holes in some, and defining what a Minimum Viable Product would look like. It felt a little bit like… brainstorming.

Ah, brainstorming. The extrovert’s dream and the introvert’s nemesis. The best day of the week for neurotypical folx and sometimes a hard road for neurodivergent individuals. A classic example of a business practice that seems smart in theory but undercuts how humans actually work.

Good thing there’s nothing else like that out there…I’m looking at you 40+ hour work week!

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Let’s take a quick look at the history of brainstorming. It was originally designed by Alex Osbourn, a Madison Advertising executive in 1953 (think Mad Men!).

The Harvard Business Review defines Osbourn’s approach as follows:

“Brainstorming is based on four rules: (a) generate as many ideas as possible; (b) prioritize unusual or original ideas; (c) combine and refine the ideas generated; and (d) abstain from criticism during the exercise. The process, which should be informal and unstructured, is based on two old psychological premises. First, that the mere presence of others can have motivating effects on an individual’s performance. Second, that quantity (eventually) leads to quality.”

So basically, keep throwing nonsense at the wall until something sticks. We’ve all been in brainstorming sessions where the suggestions get really wild. Certain people in the group can be relied on to say absolutely bonkers things. This was Osbourn’s intention, and when it comes to developing cutting edge 50’s era ad content, that approach sometimes worked.

But what about now? When you’re trying to work together as a team to solve a problem with your app or build a new feature on your product? How can this bananas approach to group creativity work?

Well the truth is… it doesn’t. Not the Mad Men way, at least!

Well, you all saw that coming.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this post:

1. Why traditional brainstorming doesn’t work
2. What to try instead to keep your team creativity pumping

Let's get some ideas on the whiteboard... j/k!

On to the first part!

Why traditional brainstorming needs a rebrand:

It’s no surprise that a breakthrough in team dynamics in the 1950’s could be improved upon almost 70 years later. What is a surprise is how many teams still rely on that process and still wonder why their brainstorming sessions fall flat.

In college I was an RA and we would engage in Green Light Brainstorming to come up with ideas for the dorm. This process kind of worked for our team of seven because we were admittedly all extroverts and eager to please. However, I think back and wonder if those sessions forced us into some of the pitfalls of group brainstorming.

1. Social Loafing - A.K.A. “If the whole team is working on ideas, I don’t really need to think about it or say anything.” We all have that team member who we know is smart and creative who says NOTHING in brainstorming sessions. Or they say nonsense. They didn’t come to play, they came to lay back and watch the show. I’ve been there. I’ve also been really annoyed at that person.
2. Social anxiety - A.K.A. “I’m too anxious to share my great ideas because my team will probably not like or respect them.” Anyone who has ever had testing anxiety or performance anxiety or general anxiety could fall into this camp. In my opinion, this is one of the worst things that happens. Valuable voices are missed in the fray. This is particularly present in large groups or groups that are dominated by a people with a lot of privilege (white, cis men, for example). Just by virtue of being in the room, people from different backgrounds bring other perspectives and spur creativity, but sometimes the fear that they might not be accepted or respected can push them into the background. Or they might not speak up because it doesn’t feel like they’ll be heard.
3. Lowest Common Denominator - A.K.A. “Well, no one else is trying that hard or thinking creatively, so I’m not going to do so either.” It is so hard–impossible actually–to be a star on a team where everyone else is just chillin. Eventually, you too will stop trying to come up with good ideas and choose the lowest denominator. One Individual Contributor cannot drive a whole team’s creativity. (And then you will find a new job, because that's no way to live!)
4. Sharing Limits - A.K.A. “I can only share so many good ideas at one time.” This is a little harder to explain but the Harvard Business Review described it as, “No matter how large the group, individuals can only express a single idea at one time if they want other group members to hear them…[thus] the number of suggestions plateaus with more than six or seven group members, and the number of ideas per person declines as the group size increases.” Basically, group size matters. Even if creativity isn’t suffering, the ability to communicate it is.

A lot of these concerns with brainstorming are barriers to motivation. You have certain people taking themselves out of the process because they don’t see the point, or are too nervous. Some people physically cannot share all their ideas because of the process.

Brainstorming seems pretty limited when we look at it this way.

But there is a certain value to the energy of bouncing ideas off each other. Individuals might be able to come up with amazing ideas, but the interaction between creative folx has really driven some of the best art, technology, and deep human innovation we can account for in history.

So let’s talk about how to make this work. How we can brainstorm “better.” More brain, less storm.

Better brainstorming, a few techniques:

You still need ideas as a group and you want to try something different. Here are three ways to put brainstorming on it's head. Or just make it better.

1. Brainstorm alone, discuss as a group. - This technique gives everyone an opportunity to think about the problem at hand within a bounded time limit (10-20 minutes), and jot down a few ideas on paper. They are shared with a moderator who presents the ideas to the group. Ideas can then be sorted into similar piles and discussed.

This technique handily addresses most of our concerns with brainstorming with ease. Ideas are semi-anonymous, individuals are not limited in their ability to share a certain number of ideas, everyone is expected to contribute, and the group isn’t hearing anyone else's ideas while they are thinking so they shoot for the moon.

It can also be done completely anonymously and asynchronously for remote teams. The possibilities are endless. But what if you are still seeking that fiery brainstorming session feeling…?

2. Small group, large group. - This technique is pretty popular and you may already be using it without knowing it. Knowing that group dynamics break down around six people, start by breaking up bigger groups into groups of six or smaller to attack a problem and give them six minutes to generate ideas.

Personally, I think six people and six minutes is too many and too little time. I think groups of 3 - 4 can be way more effective. And, gosh, give us at least 15 minutes! However, it does allow all group members to participate, gives enough space for everyone to share ALL their ideas, and hopefully creates a small enough group where individuals experience less anxiety.

3. Reverse and opposites. - Sometimes it’s not the group motivation, it’s the quality of the ideas. This can be the case when groups are small and well-bonded, but sort of stuck in one way of thinking. Maybe the group isn’t very diverse and tend to all think the same way. One way to fix this is to ask the group to take their current (boring) solutions on the table and think of all the opposite solutions. It might sound a little odd, but it can help to shake the table and get creativity moving.

Another way to invigorate a stagnant group is to start with the ideal solution (don’t tell Kenneth Stanley from Part One of this series!) and work your way backwards in whatever way possible. Some people compare this to hiring a hacker to check your cyber security; it helps you think through your current plans in a different way, test for failures, and shake loose new solutions.

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So, do other people’s ideas make your ideas better? Or do you really end up conceding or defending your own ideas in a group development process? Can brainstorming make your engineering team more creative?

It’s a little bit of both! Which is kind of fun and also kind of a caution. We can learn a lot from working on creative endeavors in a team environment. However, we shouldn’t rely on brainstorming alone to drive group creativity. The Osbourn method is outdated and can leave valuable team contributions in the dust. Think twice before you roll out the metaphorical whiteboard and give people time to develop their own ideas, independently.

Your teams and your creative work will thank you.

More about the power of independent creative thinking next week, with special guest, Melissa Arnette Elliott. That’s Missy Elliott, to you.

Sources: How intermittent breaks in interaction improve collective intelligence - pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1802407115

Who produces better ideas? Individuals or teams? - dlibrary.stanford.edu/questions/who-produce..

The 4 Types of Brainstorming - theedadvocate.org/the-4-types-of-brainstorm..

Alternatives to Brainstorming (And why you need them) - readytrainingonline.com/articles/alternativ..

Why group brainstorming is a waste of time - hbr.org/2015/03/why-group-brainstorming-is-..

The art of greenlight brainstorming- medium.com/life-the-labs/the-art-of-green-l..