Brainstorming tools

Posted by Larry_in_Bangkok
Dec 8, 2021 at 02:36 PM

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
> ... any outliner should help brainstorm like a pen to paper. I am reminded of the app Brainstorm,

Thank you, Stephen Zeoli for your post.
A little confusion is usually a productive way to advance understanding on any topic.

I could have / should have made it more clear:
pencil and paper, outliner, mind-mapper, note-taker—it doesn’t matter at all what “recording method” is used.

What matters is having a friend or colleague standing next to you, asking questions which suggest new vectors to the topic.
Not a “brain dump” of what one already knows, not word association either, but a “helper” to nudge thinking in new directions or into new dimensions.

>...works for me is writing about the subject, and turning it into a conversation

Perfect.
You have created an imaginary brainstorming partner.
Probably you refine and enhance that “partner” in your mind, as your conversation moves along.
That seems to be brainstorming at its best.

Now, what if we had software to do that?

A sort of software like that already exists, and I use it often (several times a week) and have been using for about 10 years.
But it is very rough and crude and limited in scope to only one application: on-line shopping.
Generalized, it is not.
A program that could be used on a wide range of problems or questions would be valuable.

A good example of software that leans in that direction is HyperPlan, created by Andy Brice (a veteran poster here).
His brilliant concept of “connections” shows ideas in active ways.
But the user must supply those connections.
Now if something like that were possible “outside the box” of existing entries, what a program that would be!

Alas, I’m learning from this topic so far that general brainstorming software probably does not exist yet.