Brainstorming is broken

re: Brainstorming is broken

Tony Kim — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:53:10 GMT

Thanks Tony for your honest feedback. The purpose of this post is to help those that have been exposed to negative brainstorming meetings. Highly creative and productive meetings shoudln't feel controlling but liberating. If you experience quality brainstorms that produce the creativity needed then that's great! Maybe you can share one or two practical steps that have helped you and your team unleash creativity. Thanks again for the feedback!

re: Brainstorming is broken

Tony Novelli — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:16:05 GMT

My brother forwarded a link to this post, and I find it very interesting. I disagree with most of it and find it discouraging that there seems such a defined expectation of brainstorming sessions. What are they for? Are they planning sessions? Combining the two is what usually creates the problems described, and our overall exposure to badly run process that does this gives us a drive for results and a deference for freer thinking and feeling. This absolutely kills the chance for tapping the hidden potential such process are usually intended to optimize. I wrote a longer response to his repost which I will have to trim to fit your format and as a more direct response to you. Best, TN

re: Brainstorming is broken

Francis — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:05:58 GMT

Wow. You've written some pretty powerful stuff ~ most of which I actually agree with. The only point I would add is that I believe the person facilitating a brainstorming session is the catalyst for the creative energy that gets everyone going and I'm not always sure that the most "creative" people are necessarily good at being good facilitators. Its very important to be able to strategically introduce the concept for the brainstorming session and to know how to get contributions from everyone invited. Everyone may not have the same level of creativity, but everyone might have something to offer that can contribute to the completion and implementation of any good idea. Just my thoughts. :-)

re: Brainstorming is broken

Tony Kim — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:04:00 GMT

Thanks Dawn for your comments. I will praying for your retreat and for some amazing brainstorming!

re: Brainstorming is broken

Dawn Swan — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:42:31 GMT

This article is so incredibly helpful to me and very timely as our Creative Team is going away this Thursday for our first ever "Production Retreat." Our goal is to plan all of the message series for the next year. I totally resonate with what you've said here and can see in the past two years how I've made many of the mistakes you described. This article has helped me better prepare my team for this retreat. Thank you!

re: Brainstorming is broken

Dennis Salvatier — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:51:38 GMT

I agree with your comment. I see your point of view. I think that it's a matter of getting together the right people and not just people who feel like they belong in that meeting. I honestly believe it comes down to three people tops. Two people to bounce ideas back and forth and one to referee. When you start getting a commitee together is when the brainstorming process is wasted. Research is key. You can't come in empty handed.

re: Brainstorming is broken

Peter — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:09 GMT

I read your note on BStormin..thought it was really well thought out...and although bot all are Brain stormers..some can learn to do it better too. But it can be a challenge if there are not enough people are connecting...good thoughts... keep it up!

re: Brainstorming is broken

Bru — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:31:07 GMT

AGREE-- but beware, you're going to get some opposition from the makers of those wall-sized Post-It boards. They love 2-hour brainstorming sessions where each group uses 10-12 sheets of paper each, most of which ends up under somebody's desk a week later with nary a good idea to be found.

re: Brainstorming is broken

MacGyver — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:48:29 GMT

TK...you are so right on this...2 thoughts. 1) What if brainstorming never stops personally and brainstorming meetings became the "report" of your personal brainstorming? You are so right on when feel compelled to turn on and off creativity for a meeting...for me it comes out of nowhere or after tons of research and digging. 2) I think insecurity plays a big hinderance to brainstorming by defending bad ideas or not sharing ideas. Reference your entry on hard conversations to explain further... Thanks for leading!

re: Brainstorming is broken

Ted Evans — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:58:13 GMT

For some reason brainstorming and effective collaboration are topics I am very passionate about. I think I get excited about them because it represents accessing buried potential that would otherwise never be tapped into. Thanks for this article Tony - you hit on some key areas I have experienced myself while I've led brainstorming sessions and they will either make or break the outcome. There are three areas I focus on while leading a meeting like this 1. Get the right people in the room. You need optimists that are big picture thinkers. People that focus or obsess about details should be kept out of the room because they will most definatly lead the group down a rabbit hole. 2. Understand that there is an established and effective brainstorming process and stay with it. 3. Define the problem you are trying to solve. Mamy people brainstorm to get ideas without clearly defining what problem is they are trying to solve. You know you've had a successful brainstorming when as the leader you end up pleasantly surprised with ideas and solutions you never anticipated having and the energy in the room is on fire!

re: Brainstorming is broken

rickEy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:49:01 GMT

I do agree. You need the right team of people that are dedicated to do the brain storming. i learned this the hard way. if only you could have written this 2 years ago!! But now, i have 2 different teams that work on 2 different things and those groupd are way more effective separate than together.

re: Brainstorming is broken

chuck suong — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:05:13 GMT

Good stuff, Tony. well, any situation where there's too many chefs in the kitchen will more often than not create unhealthy tension, confusion and diluted focus. i animate for a living and i can tell you that if i do not quickly pinpoint the man who's calling the shots, i generally get nothing done. mind you i will listen to what others would have to say but I will generally pick out a few things that will contribute to my ultimate goal and that's it (if there is any that is). i will not change my DIRECTION as a whole unless the lead animator / creative director in charge asks me to. do you know how many depts. that have NOTHING to do w/ animation chime in on a daily basis as if they're experts in my field? if i had a penny for every person, well....you get the picture. at first there's the initial reaction of frustration and a feeling of 'what the heck are you talking about?" over the years though, i've learned to be more gracious and open-minded about it. art as everyone knows is such a subjective thing. yet is so VISIBLE that everyone feels compelled to react, over-react, or just input. that's the power / vulnerability of our respective disciplines. that common thread. as for choosing people for "brain chasing" depends on what your leanings are for that particular campaign. it's like a record producer or arranger, right? who will best fit to make these tunes shine? i wholeheartedly agree w/ you on that one. that's how i approach my job as well. .it's never the same formula but i do have a palette of animators, characters, movies, actors and archetypes in mind when i start to animate. for better or worse, hope this helps tony. as for your 'critics' article, i am still thinking about that one. perhaps a phone chat would better suffice. take care. chooch