A brainstorming session is a structured creative exercise that helps teams generate a wide range of ideas before narrowing down to the most promising options. The core principle is simple: separate divergent thinking (generating ideas) from convergent thinking (evaluating ideas). When these two modes are mixed, criticism kills creativity before it has a chance to develop.
Effective ideation sessions follow a clear arc. First, the facilitator frames the challenge with a well-crafted "How might we..." question. Then participants generate ideas independently through silent writing, sketching, or structured techniques like Crazy Eights. Only after the generation phase is complete does the group shift to clustering, discussing, and voting on the strongest concepts. Once the top ideas are identified, a follow-up decision review meeting can help the team evaluate them rigorously.
Sessions typically run for 60 to 90 minutes, though shorter 30-minute versions work well for tightly scoped challenges. The key is to create an environment where participants feel safe to propose unconventional ideas without fear of immediate judgement. Some of the most valuable innovations start as seemingly impractical suggestions that, when refined, become breakthrough solutions.
Brainstorming sessions are most productive when the problem space is open-ended and multiple valid solutions could exist. They are less effective for problems with a single correct answer. Schedule an ideation session in these situations:
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Facilitator | Frames the challenge, manages time, enforces the "no judgement" rule during divergence, and guides the convergence phase with structured voting. |
| Domain Expert | Provides context on constraints, feasibility, and prior attempts. Helps ground wild ideas in practical reality during the evaluation phase. |
| Creative Contributors | Generate ideas from diverse perspectives. Ideally, include people from different disciplines, seniority levels, and functional areas. |
| Decision Maker | Attends to understand the full range of options and provide direction on which ideas to pursue. May use veto votes sparingly. |
| Note-taker / Documenter | Photographs or digitises all ideas, captures voting results, and documents next steps in a shared location. |
Aim for 4-8 participants. Smaller groups generate fewer ideas, while larger groups require more facilitation overhead and can inhibit quieter voices.
| Duration | Activity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 min | Warm-up exercise | A quick creative exercise to shift the group into ideation mode. Try "100 uses for a paperclip" or a rapid sketching challenge. |
| 5 min | Frame the challenge | Present the "How might we..." question, share relevant user insights or data, and clarify scope and constraints. |
| 15 min | Silent ideation | Each participant writes or sketches ideas independently. Use Crazy Eights (8 ideas in 8 minutes) or sticky notes (one idea per note). |
| 15 min | Share and cluster | Participants present their ideas briefly (30 seconds each). Group similar ideas into clusters on a shared board. |
| 10 min | Build and remix | Encourage "yes, and..." thinking. Combine ideas from different clusters. Generate new variations inspired by what others shared. |
| 10 min | Dot voting | Each participant gets 3-5 dot votes to place on their favourite ideas. Votes can be stacked on a single idea if desired. |
| 10 min | Discuss top ideas | Review the highest-voted concepts. Discuss feasibility, impact, and open questions for each. |
| 5 min | Next steps | Decide which ideas to prototype, research further, or park. Assign owners and set deadlines for follow-up. |
A product team at a fintech company is tasked with generating feature ideas for a new mobile app targeted at small business owners. The product manager frames the challenge as: "How might we help sole traders manage their cash flow without needing accounting expertise?"
After a quick warm-up exercise, the group of six, including a designer, two engineers, a customer support lead, a marketing manager, and the product manager, spends 12 minutes in silent ideation using the Crazy Eights technique. Each person sketches eight rough concepts on a folded sheet of paper, producing 48 raw ideas across the group.
During the share-and-cluster phase, several themes emerge: automated invoice reminders, visual cash flow forecasting, photo-based receipt capture, and "smart alerts" that warn when expenses are outpacing revenue. The group builds on each other's ideas during the remix round. The customer support lead combines the invoice reminder concept with a suggestion from engineering to auto-generate follow-up messages based on payment history. After dot voting, the top three concepts are visual cash flow forecasting (8 votes), smart expense alerts (6 votes), and automated invoice chasing (5 votes). The team agrees to create low-fidelity prototypes for each within the next sprint and schedule user testing the following week. Use Meeting Planner to coordinate the follow-up sessions with the right participants.