I love the part in David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” book when he talks about the typical method of idea generation, particularly in corporate settings. This is where the boss comes in (and maybe that’s you!) and says “Here’s the problem…any good ideas?” I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me over the course of my career.
Ideas are easy. Good ideas are harder. Well developed ideas…now that takes real work. As Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” (Bonus - Edison also said “Hell, there are no rules here - we are trying to accomplish something!” I love that quote!)
I use a number of techniques to manage effective brainstorming sessions, either for groups or just to flesh out my own ideas. Some of the most effective have been:
1) Six Thinking Hats (Google it)
2) Timed and Isolated Brainstorming
3) Guided Q&A
4) Mindmapping
Mindmapping, I find to be the most effective for personal exploration. One caveat is that I would not use it for everyday idea generation since you can spend hours developing wonderful mind maps for things that you’ll never use. I do find the technique useful for generating maps of complicated tasks that your are intent on finishing.
Although there are some really great tools for mindmapping out there that you can purchase, I found a free, open-source tool that works well. Especially if you are a student, or you just want to try out the technique.
The tool is called FreeMind, and you can get it here:
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Enjoy,
Dan
