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Brainstorming tools
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Posted by Larry_in_Bangkok
Dec 8, 2021 at 09:21 AM
Where to begin?
How to begin?
Where to go next?
And then what?
This post was inspired by steveylang’s comment (on a different thread):
>nothing beats the appeal of a freshly
>sharpened pencil and blank page for thinking through an idea.
What is the software equivalent of that pencil and blank page?
The software equivalent of a friend or colleague who asks, again and again, “What about ... ?”
Already plenty of outliners, note takers, mind mappers and DEVONthinkers for organizing ideas which already exist.
I searched AlternativeTo.net
A “first page search” brought up lots of impressive-sounding promises trying to sell the same old mind mapping software and team collaboration software.
But nothing at all in that quick search about software for generating new ideas.
For “teasing” ideas out of one’s brain.
For inspiring thinking in new directions.
I’ve done brainstorming often and watched it being done by others.
Sometimes works in surprising and valuable ways.
Sometimes minimal results.
But, overall, certainly worth time invested.
Software specifically for brainstorming new ideas would be a “force multiplier”.
Any?
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 8, 2021 at 09:51 AM
Brainstorming is a great activity, but as multiple studies have shown, brainstorming around a table – especially in corporate groups – is not always productive.
More productive, it appears, is brainstorming at remote, i.e. setting several people the same problem and asking them to come up with ideas BEFORE discussing the latter. This approach can (but doesn’t necessarily) remove inhibitions associated with status, “pleasing the boss”, non-confrontational vs. confrontational personalities, etc. etc.
We use brainstorming a lot in our creative writing/transcreation work, but always by gathering ideas first, then processing them as a team.
And no, I’ve not so far come across any tool that actively galvanises this process. Tools we use include whiteboarding and videoconferencing software, or simply sketches produced on any number of sketch-friendly apps (including Apple Notes!).
There are, however, idea-stimulating tools around. I’m struggling to remember any names, because frankly, whenever I’ve tested such a tool, the approach has seemed to me either (a) too constraining / over-structured or (b) too bullsh*t-ridden or (c) a mixture of both.
One of the best tips I can give is making sure the thing you’re brainstorming about is as clearly defined as possible. When people start blue-sky thinking, they tend to get quite excited and can rapidly zoom off at a tangent/all sorts of tangents. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it isn’t good, either.
So it’s really, really important (and I speak as someone who regularly deals with multilingual/multicultural teams in many different countries) to make sure the basic parameters of the “problem” are defined as clearly as possible.
I’ve tried writing my own briefsheets for this, with all kinds of definitions and fields. But once again, this isn’t something that’s easy to standardise. We now use a number of bullet points as the starting point for writing briefs, simply to remind us of things that MUST be mentioned – but these are very much general guides and not set in stone.
To paraphrase a finding from a totally different industry: while a car with AI-driven driver assistance systems may be safer to drive, a car without a human in it is positively dangerous… and there’s no likelihood that this will change anytime soon, due to the fundamental AI issue of “mapping”.
You could say the same of brainstorming. At the end of the day, the human brain is capable of lateral thinking that far exceeds AI capacities. Although AI can be very helpful in coming up with ideas that may not occur to a human at all.
Posted by Larry_in_Bangkok
Dec 8, 2021 at 10:30 AM
MadaboutDana wrote:
> ...helpful in coming up with ideas that may not occur to a human at all.
<
Thank you, Madabout for that post.
Good example of brainstorming in action!
Not looking for software to come up with ideas, but rather to come up with *questions*.
Humans are already an infinite source of ideas.
Oreo cookies wants to sell more cookies:
- What about increasing?
=>
Oreo “Double Stuffed” cookies
Condom maker wants to sell more condoms:
- What about flavor?
=> Cherry flavor condoms
Henry Ford wants to sell more Model A cars:
- What about color?
=> Cars that used to come only in black, now come in colors.
Airline wants to increase profits.
- What about bigger?
=> First class seating, bigger seats at a higher price, for the same trip.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 8, 2021 at 11:39 AM
Ah, the famous “first, you must ask the right question” conundrum (cf. “I, Robot” – the film, not the original Asimov book)
You could, of course, use brainstorming precisely to come up with the “right question”.
All the examples you mention show classic “thinking laterally/outside the box” solutions, no matter how humdrum they appear to us today.
The multi-billion-dollar marketing industry is predicated on asking the right questions – and suggesting that So-and-So Inc. has the right answers.
Other people (notably online influencers) appear to have a knack for spotting interesting questions swirling in the fractal chaos of human relations.
You might find it instructive to read/listen to this interview with a highly successful TikTok influencer. Or not. I found it both interesting and amusing: https://www.theverge.com/22807858/tiktok-influencer-microsoft-excel-instagram-decoder-podcast
Posted by Franz Grieser
Dec 8, 2021 at 12:08 PM
The only software tool that I know of is no longer availabe: It was called Ideafisher, developed by Marsh Fisher who also wrote an interesting book on idea creation. A few years ago, a company called Thoughtoffice took over, renamed the software - and seems to have abandoned it. Their website is no longer online, though that may simply be a configuration error. Nevertheless, they have failed to answer an email that I sent a few months ago.