Four steps to productive remote brainstorming sessions

Brainstorming is an activity widely used by teams to generate ideas and find a resolution to a specific problem. Let's see how we can make brainstorming sessions more productive.

What is brainstorming?

Most of us know brainstorming is a group activity that helps us come up with a conclusion for a problem by gathering a list of ideas. We probably also have done it at least a couple of times either in school or workplace. However, participants in brainstorming sessions can easily lose focus and even make the problem more complicated if they do not conduct it strategically. Today, we will share with you some tips that can help your brainstorming sessions be more effective.

Enhance Creative Thinking Environment

Not everyone is comfortable with sharing their ideas from the beginning. Create as many opportunities as possible for people on the team to share their thoughts. It could be sharing ideas on improving the working culture, opinions on the meeting that was just held, or feedback on a new feature design that was created. A team culture of sharing and listening without judgment will help team members be more comfortable speaking their minds. The team should strive to listen to and consider all unusual ideas and opinions.

Have a clear goal to achieve

You can't start a brainstorming session if you don't have a specific goal. Are you trying to decide on the topic for your next newsletter? Are you trying to come up with a more efficient process for the team retrospective? Everyone participating in the brainstorming session should have a very clear understanding of the problem to be solved before the activity starts. When setting the final goal, at least two aspects should be considered. What should be the final output of the session, and how should the final decisions be made. For instance, we can set the final output as "coming up with two new features to design for the next sprint" while the final decisions will be made by "voting".

Select the right tools

When we do brainstorming in a physical room, we usually have a giant whiteboard, markers, and sticky notes. However, we have none of those things when we are doing brainstorming online, so a virtual white-boarding tool is essential. Allo is one such tool, allowing you to organize ideas and thoughts easily online. You can try Allo on either your computer, iPad, or mobile. The experience will be as if you are brainstorming in a physical room with a physical whiteboard, markers, and sticky notes.