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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ideation skills are super important for effective team work [andrewxhill.com]. Collaborative ideation is the process where you tell me an idea, I try to identify any weakness or missing piece, augment the idea and hand it back to you. I have a good friend that I love to ideate with. We often will grab beers and just start riffing on startup ideas, technology ideas, or any crazy ideas. Single threads can pass through many topics and often aren’t bound to any objective, so it is more brain gymnastics than anything else.

One time we had a third person with us that didn’t have much experience collaborating this way. Instead, everytime he would suggest an idea, we would polish it one way or another and pitch it back to keep building the idea. But he started to get sooo frustrated. Finally he came out and said what he was feeling. He felt like we were “stealing” his ideas and just “repeating” back what he already said. So instead of falling into the rhythm of ideation, he setup something of an idea blockade. I kid you not, the night ended with him being escorted out of the bar. Lesson(s) learned.

Idea Averaging

There is another, less obvious, type of behavior that can at times negate the value of good ideas. It is something I call, Idea Averaging. Here is how it goes,

        1. I have an idea.
        2. I pitch my idea to the group
        3. Someone comes back and says, “Great idea, but what if you did it this way?”
        4. I decide we can just do both ideas at the same time.

What I’ve just done is averaged our ideas. Instead of giving the two options a throrough and objective review to select the best way forward, I’ve averaged them. Now, you might be thinking, “Hey, sometimes both ideas are better together”. Sure, they are, but to make them work together takes that polish step of the ideation where you actually will blend and create a new, third idea.

What are the best brainstorming methods Soylentils have seen in their careers?

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