Brainstorming And Ideation Overview

Brainstorming Approach March 4, 2008

Goals for today
Define innovation and ideation – what’s the relationship between them
Look at different types of ideation
Review a best practices approach for ideation
Answer your questions about ideation and how we can help

Definition of Innovation
Innovation has as many definitions as there are people in the room
We often use the word assuming other people have the same definition
It’s critical that everyone has the same definition for good communication

OVO’s Definition
Innovation is people putting ideas into valuable action
Innovation is not just “creativity”
Innovation is not just idea generation
Innovation requires putting ideas into action – developing new products and services
Those new products and services need to drive value for the business

Your Definition
What’s the common definition of innovation for Your Firm?
Should the focus be on disruptive or radical ideas, or incremental change, or both?
Should the innovators consider ideas that may become new products and services, new processes, new strategies/business models?
Who should be involved? How broadly is the innovation capability distributed? Internal only? Channels? Partners? Customers?

Innovation and ideation
Brainstorming or Ideation ≠ Innovation
Think of innovation as a business process
Generating ideas happens first
Then capturing and evaluating the ideas
Then prototyping or market validation
Then transfer the ideas to new product development
Then the ideas are launched
All of these steps are included in an innovation process
Ideation is most relevant in the first phases

Define brainstorming and ideation
Brainstorming is the generation of ideas, in a face to face setting
However, ideation can take place in a distributed fashion:
Distributed ideation, when the participants are available at the same time
“ Asynchronous” ideation or idea jams are generation events for distributed team members that last for several days or weeks

Forms
Brainstorm – usually conducted with less than 15 people, in a room, writing ideas on a flip chart
Ideation – usually conducted online, in a distributed fashion.
Live
Or as an Idea Jam

Live Distributed Ideation
A team forms and generates ideas, but they interact in a distributed basis.
For example, individuals from London, Raleigh and Palo Alto can all “meet” to submit ideas online at the same time
The same rules apply as in a face to face event

Idea Jam – Distributed ideation
A team forms and generates ideas, but in a distributed fashion. Individuals can “check in” and submit ideas and “check out” over a period of days or weeks
Same rules apply, just a longer timeframe

Other techniques
Mind Mapping – good visual technique typically used on an individual basis
Brainwriting – writing down ideas and passing them around rather than open dialog and discussion

When to use each approach
Brainstorming
When the participants are co-located or can easily meet face to face
When the topics are more strategic and less breadth of perspective is necessary
When time is of the essence
When the subject is fairly specific
When the topic is proprietary or sensitive

Live Framed Challenge
When the participants are easy to identify but distributed
When time is of the essence
When you need to incorporate more points of view
When you want to include a partner or third party virtually

Idea Jam
When you need a broad audience or perspective
When the challenge or opportunity is less time sensitive
To encourage broad involvement or engagement
To incorporate more partners or consumers
When the topic or subject requires more thoughtful investigation

Ideation Best practices
Planning
“ Framing” the problem or opportunity
Follow best practice ideation “rules”
Facilitation
Communications
Evaluation criteria / ranking or voting methods
Action after the event

Best Practices - Planning
Three phases
Pre-work
Defining the topic
Identifying the participants
Establishing goals and timeframes
Ideation Event
Post-event
Ranking/evaluating
Taking action
Follow up communication

Best Practices - Framing
Many ideation events are ineffective because there’s no clear problem or opportunity that all the participants agree on
We recommend a close “framing” of the problem, challenge or opportunity
First, define the topic as a POTT
Then, develop a framing document and other background detail

Framing Problem/Opportunity/Trend/Threat
POTT stands for
Problem
Opportunity
Trend
Threat
What is your topic, and where does it fall within the framework?

Framing Document
Goal: ensures that everyone who participates understands the goal of the brainstorm and the topic.
The framing document provides context so everyone starts from the same “page”.
The framing document also establishes scope , so the team knows what’s valuable and what’s expected

Framing
Ideation is often unsatisfactory because the participants don’t understand the opportunity or problem
Framing the problem, providing background and scope, helps set the stage and get everyone on the “same page”
It indicates the types of ideas that will fulfill the challenge and keeps people within certain guidelines

Brainstorming Rules
There are accepted best practice rules for ideation:
Every idea is a good idea
The ideas belong to the group, not to an individual
Generate a lot of ideas
Don’t worry about duplicates
Encourage “wild” or strange ideas
Don’t judge ideas as they are being generated
Offer ideas and solutions, not problems or barriers

Facilitation
An ideation event, like any good meeting, requires excellent facilitation
To encourage participation
Subtly redirect the conversation
To add ideas that may be controversial
To ask the “stupid” question
To elicit further thoughts or feedback from all participants

Facilitation
Just like any well-run meeting, an event has a meeting facilitator who plans and conducts the event
Given the requirements of good facilitation, it is not easy for a person who has a “stake” in the idea or outcome to manage a brainstorm
Internal or external consultants can offer objectivity and encourage dialog when it would be difficult for internal resources

Communications
Alert the team a week or two in advance of the event
Send a framing document several days before the event starts
Continue to communicate effectively during the event
Follow up to thank the participants and demonstrate action on the ideas

Timeframes
Live brainstorm – from 30 minutes to two days, depending on framing and subject
Live ideation– generally no more than 2 to 3 hours
Idea Jam – 10 days or less

Categorize/Group
Once the idea generation is complete, it makes sense to have the team
Provide more details about an idea where necessary
Categorize the ideas
Group ideas that are redundant or similar

Evaluation Criteria
Determine how you’ll rank or evaluate the ideas before the event begins
Voting
“ Straight” voting
Preference voting
Ranking
Evaluation
Who does this, and what’s the process and timeframe?

Best Practices Recap
Planning
“ Framing” the problem or opportunity
Follow best practice ideation “rules”
Facilitation
Communications
Evaluation criteria / ranking or voting methods
Action after the event

Who to invite
When considering who to invite to a an ideation event, include:
Those immediately involved in the problem or opportunity
A broad cross-section of business functions – marketing, sales, customer support, etc
People within the channel
Customers
Experts

Other items to consider
On-site versus off-site
How focused are your participants on their “day job”
Inviting customers and partners
Concerns about expectations
Inviting experts
Sometimes helpful to invite “experts” to participate

About OVO
OVO is a consulting and software development firm helping our clients build sustainable innovation capabilities.
We work primarily with large, distributed organizations that seek to make innovation a consistent, repeatable capability
Our clients include many Fortune 500 companies and mid-sized ones as well

OVO Capabilities
We help firms Innovate on Purpose™ by defining strategic goals and implementing consistent processes
Our capabilities include:
Facilitated Ideation
Innovation Process definition
Definition of roles and responsibilities
Assisting with culture, communication
Defining innovation metrics

About Me
Jeffrey Phillips
One of the lead consultants from OVO
Active in a number of innovation projects for Fortune 500 firms
Author of the just published book – Make us more Innovative
Author of the Innovate on Purpose blog and numerous magazine articles and white papers on innovation

Wrap Up
Contact Us
By phone: 919-848-8675
By email: [email_address]
Web: www.ovoinnovation.com

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Brainstorming And Ideation Overview

by Jeffrey Phillips

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