Brainstorming Case

The best approach for brainstorming entails everyone taking turns voicing their opinions and ideas in turn, followed by a discussion regarding these ideas. Ideally, everyone contributes their ideas while someone writes them down, until the point where a sufficient number of ideas have been gathered. From that point onward, the group goes through every idea listed and voices their opinions on the pros and cons of each idea as well as why they feel a certain invention is or is not a top product innovation of the past 41 years. As a group we felt that this approach would work best and therefore use it for our own brainstorming procedure. For the first hour of our meeting every member shouted out every product innovation that came to mind, while one member was writing all of these products down. We then proceeded to decide on the best ideas by process of each member choosing two ideas from the list and defending them. In discussing each idea, each member takes turns to express his or her thoughts on the matter. This way, ideas are heard and elaborated on. For example, if someone has an idea, the other members could like it or disagree with it, understand it and see its flaws, or lead their train of thought in a different direction. Taking turns gives every member the opportunity to voice their opinion, and comment or criticize certain ideas. If there was no structure within our discussion, it would cause chaos and everyone would not have an equal opportunity to contribute.

The set-up of our meetings proved to be difficult at times due to the conflicting schedules within our group. For example, two members are free at a certain time, but the other members are not free at that certain time, and vice versa. When we did actually meet, some members were available all day while others had to leave after an hour or so. We made the most out of our meetings together, and to accommodate for those members who had to leave early, we made a Google Doc so that every member could contribute their ideas on this page. The next step in our set-up process was to figure out our team dynamics. Every member has their strengths and weaknesses, and in order for the group to work optimally, we must let every member work to their strengths. For example, one of our members told us that he has weak English skills, thus he would contribute more towards the brainstorming aspect and thinking of a new innovation. Secondly, we established roles in our group, in terms of who is responsible for writing the ideas down, organizing the meetings, facilitating, and mediating. By establishing roles and figuring out our team dynamics, this provides structure to our group, allowing our meetings to be as efficient as possible with everyone working towards the same common goal.

In terms of challenges and obstacles, a re-occurring question in our discussion was, "was that invented in the last 41 years?" This question impeded our brainstorming process, as many