Brain Storming is the worst. Brain Writing is a bit better
Facilitating a brain storm is easy right?
Tell people to write ideas on stickies. Group them. Discuss. Dot-vote. Done.
Wrong! What I've seen too often is: Write. Group. Discuss one idea. Run out of time. Forget about follow-up.
You know you've failed at brain storming when... You need to make a decision right now, because the meeting is out of time.
Here's three reasons brain storming fails:
- 🙊 Discussing ideas one by one means only one idea is improved at a time
- 📣 The loudest voice in the room dominates the discussion
- 📒 Cryptic messages on stickies mean ideas aren't captured
Here's a different technique called "brain writing" that I enjoy: