Many of us might have participated in quite a few brainstorming sessions.
How many of us understand why we are part of such sessions? How many of us ‘understand the essence’ of such sessions? How many of us actually enjoy such sessions? Oh you think you have never been called for any of such sessions before, No worries!
Being able to participate, truly, in brainstorming is about promoting oneself from ‘DAY DREAMERS’ or ‘JUST DOERS’ to ‘THINKERS AND DOERS’.
In software world it is,moving up the value chain, promoting oneself from ‘PROFESSIONALS’ to ‘INTELLIGENT PROFESSIONALS’.
Interested...continue to read!
What is brainstorming all about?
Brainstorming is dreaming up, thinking, suggesting, coming up with, and finally devising.
In simplest terms it is ‘giving shape’ to an abstract idea, or ‘giving shape’ to not so well defined problem or requirement.
It is a process of evaluating and confirming if the ‘idea or notion’ could be brought into reality. In many ways it is an exercise to bring focus and to seek commitment from key participants.
The process involves in evaluating the ‘idea or notion’ as viable (makes sense or no), if viable how it could be made possible, identify what all constraints needs to be tackled, what could be the best approach, what are the key aspects that needs to be resolved for each of the approaches etc.
In short it is about ‘how best the idea could be brought to reality, if at all’.
For instance say there is a holiday on some Friday, which gives 3 days off.
FIRST THE IDEA - Can we go somewhere hiking, trekking, site seeing or simply can we make use of this opportunity in some collective, constructive or fun activity? It is very important that someone is able to see this as an opportunity which can be leveraged.
IDEA PRESENTATION - The idea is then thrown in front of some ‘subject matter experts’ or enthusiastic people. If the idea is appreciated or acknowledged then it will be taken forward by some of the enthusiasts.This is the first but most crucial step where success about the idea is envisioned.
IDEA CONCEPTUALIZATION - Then the enthusiasts do some research and try to come up with suggestions, probable alternatives - these alternatives, options are discussed between enthusiasts as and when they can catch each other. The best part is no one speaks about 'who will do what' but things are just done to the best ability of every individual!
CONCEPT FORMULATION - A few options are shortlisted and a more focused research is initiated, which includes for each option, identification of associated challenges and corresponding mitigation alternatives, probable logistic, commute, stay, food options and expected range of per person cost. This is about time when the concept is also presented to a larger audience, just to get a feel of the overall number who could finally join. There is another set of discussions where a final destination is identified, all the associated challenges are taken care or mitigation plan is discussed, along with the entire logistics plan, plus quite accurate projections on cost. By this time the people from larger audience also revert back and confirm their participation.
CONCEPT FINALIZATION - Now everything is in consensus and the key members believe that the idea could be brought to reality. The target is identified, how to reach the target is also known, all associated challenges are mitigated or have a mitigation plan, rough number of people, along with approximate cost is also known. In simple words now the abstract idea has ‘a definite shape’, the objective has a definite focus and members are committed or committed members have been identified. This entire process from 'The IDEA to CONCEPT FINALIZATION' is what is called as brainstorming.
EXECUTION PLAN - Now the ‘What and How’ has been broadly agreed upon so what remains is ‘who all, who, and when’.This is what we call as execution planning and subsequently the actual execution follows – concept realization!
Since our topic is brainstorming let us quickly conclude some key aspects regarding brainstorming in business world.
Why or when am I called in brainstorming session?
Prerequisites of brainstorming
Well the prerequisites are quite simple, the objectives or idea needs to be spelled out clearly – ‘We have 3 days off can we make use of this opportunity in a constructive and meaningful way’. The important aspect is actually to understand the idea. Individual people need to start dreaming, thinking and coming up with suggestions, in many ways acknowledging the idea and commiting oneself to the cause.
The actual process
One cannot call a discussion as brainstorming until there are differences of opinion – the fun is how to resolve those and make the entire exercise as productive rather than counter productive – this is in ‘true sense’ what is called as collective wisdom.
Making the most of the opportunity could be a better choice BUT off course you can decide otherwise!!
How many of us understand why we are part of such sessions? How many of us ‘understand the essence’ of such sessions? How many of us actually enjoy such sessions? Oh you think you have never been called for any of such sessions before, No worries!
Being able to participate, truly, in brainstorming is about promoting oneself from ‘DAY DREAMERS’ or ‘JUST DOERS’ to ‘THINKERS AND DOERS’.
In software world it is,moving up the value chain, promoting oneself from ‘PROFESSIONALS’ to ‘INTELLIGENT PROFESSIONALS’.
Interested...continue to read!
What is brainstorming all about?
Brainstorming is dreaming up, thinking, suggesting, coming up with, and finally devising.
In simplest terms it is ‘giving shape’ to an abstract idea, or ‘giving shape’ to not so well defined problem or requirement.
It is a process of evaluating and confirming if the ‘idea or notion’ could be brought into reality. In many ways it is an exercise to bring focus and to seek commitment from key participants.
The process involves in evaluating the ‘idea or notion’ as viable (makes sense or no), if viable how it could be made possible, identify what all constraints needs to be tackled, what could be the best approach, what are the key aspects that needs to be resolved for each of the approaches etc.
In short it is about ‘how best the idea could be brought to reality, if at all’.
For instance say there is a holiday on some Friday, which gives 3 days off.
FIRST THE IDEA - Can we go somewhere hiking, trekking, site seeing or simply can we make use of this opportunity in some collective, constructive or fun activity? It is very important that someone is able to see this as an opportunity which can be leveraged.
IDEA PRESENTATION - The idea is then thrown in front of some ‘subject matter experts’ or enthusiastic people. If the idea is appreciated or acknowledged then it will be taken forward by some of the enthusiasts.This is the first but most crucial step where success about the idea is envisioned.
IDEA CONCEPTUALIZATION - Then the enthusiasts do some research and try to come up with suggestions, probable alternatives - these alternatives, options are discussed between enthusiasts as and when they can catch each other. The best part is no one speaks about 'who will do what' but things are just done to the best ability of every individual!
CONCEPT FORMULATION - A few options are shortlisted and a more focused research is initiated, which includes for each option, identification of associated challenges and corresponding mitigation alternatives, probable logistic, commute, stay, food options and expected range of per person cost. This is about time when the concept is also presented to a larger audience, just to get a feel of the overall number who could finally join. There is another set of discussions where a final destination is identified, all the associated challenges are taken care or mitigation plan is discussed, along with the entire logistics plan, plus quite accurate projections on cost. By this time the people from larger audience also revert back and confirm their participation.
CONCEPT FINALIZATION - Now everything is in consensus and the key members believe that the idea could be brought to reality. The target is identified, how to reach the target is also known, all associated challenges are mitigated or have a mitigation plan, rough number of people, along with approximate cost is also known. In simple words now the abstract idea has ‘a definite shape’, the objective has a definite focus and members are committed or committed members have been identified. This entire process from 'The IDEA to CONCEPT FINALIZATION' is what is called as brainstorming.
EXECUTION PLAN - Now the ‘What and How’ has been broadly agreed upon so what remains is ‘who all, who, and when’.This is what we call as execution planning and subsequently the actual execution follows – concept realization!
Since our topic is brainstorming let us quickly conclude some key aspects regarding brainstorming in business world.
Why or when am I called in brainstorming session?
- Frst and foremost your seniors believe that you are a subject matter expert in some desired areas.
- Your senior believes that you would contribute in your area and thus help reassure that idea could be converted to reality.
- Your seniors believe that within your areas you would help identify the challenges and also come up with possible mitigation for those challenges.
- In short your senior believes that you are or can be a ‘THINK TANK’ who can help provide ‘A definite shape’ to the idea.
- The biggest question however is 'Do you believe?'
Prerequisites of brainstorming
Well the prerequisites are quite simple, the objectives or idea needs to be spelled out clearly – ‘We have 3 days off can we make use of this opportunity in a constructive and meaningful way’. The important aspect is actually to understand the idea. Individual people need to start dreaming, thinking and coming up with suggestions, in many ways acknowledging the idea and commiting oneself to the cause.
The actual process
- It is definitely not a process where seniors or someone would help you understand the exact requirements – BUT it is a process of deriving or coming up with possible requirements itself by suggesting your thoughts on what makes sense and what does not, what would be apt to meet the objective.
- It is about discovering various challenges ‘POC’ and working on the same to help make the belief stronger or to derive alternative approaches – anything or to find ways to make it happen.
- These sessions are not by any means ‘status meetings’ where everyone would come to provide status and then expect the seniors to give next set of tasks.
- Actually it is a cohesive group of enthusiast (no senior or junior) who likes to give shape to the idea. So it is not a story of 4 blind people and the elephant BUT it is about few people who see a possibility and wants to work towards it so that others including themselves can believe what they had envisioned and thus everyone could enjoy the same.
One cannot call a discussion as brainstorming until there are differences of opinion – the fun is how to resolve those and make the entire exercise as productive rather than counter productive – this is in ‘true sense’ what is called as collective wisdom.
Making the most of the opportunity could be a better choice BUT off course you can decide otherwise!!
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