From FORwiki

The FOR-LEARN guide lists the following Creativity Methods: Brainstorming, Mindmapping, Conversational analysis, Utopian writing, Science fiction.

Contents 1 The FOR-LEARN Guide to Creativity Methods 1.1 Brainstorming 1.1.1 Main characteristics 1.1.2 When is this method appropriate?

The FOR-LEARN Guide to Creativity Methods

This is a summary of the article on the Scenario Building method from the FOR-LEARN guide. To read the full article go here.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a method of eliciting ideas without judgment or filtering. It is often used in the early stages of futures workshops and in many other contexts. It involves encouraging wild and unconstrained suggestions and listing ideas as they emerge.

Main characteristics

Brainstorming is actually more of a technique or tool rather than a method per se. It is widely used in any method involving group thinking. The main objective of brainstorming is to elicit ideas from a group of people. Used in a structured way, this technique can be highly effective way of moving participants out of conflict and towards consensus. Brainstorming is founded on the principle that the quantity of ideas increases their quality. This technique has the following basic components:

• Generating as many creative solutions as possible to tackle a problem
• Setting time limits
• Listing every idea presented without comment or evaluation - deferring the judgment of ideas improves the volume of participant input and consequently the value and encourage creativity
• All opinions are equal
• Subsequently, grouping ideas to reduce redundancy, allow for related ideas to be brought together
• Evaluating or assigning priorities to the ideas

When is this method appropriate?

This is a useful and very widely used technique to extract the most creative thinking out of expert committees and consultation management groups. It can be used every time when large quantity of information is generated before problem solving, decision making, or planning - and in scenario analysis. Brainstorming helps participants to move into a working group mode, by "breaking the ice" and allowing unusual ideas to be expressed.