Based on A Harvard Business Review Webinar featuring
Tony McCaffrey, June 24, 2014
Have you ever been disappointed in how a brainstorming session went? The problem isn’t the facilitator or the participants but the method. The reality: Brainstorming doesn’t work. The ideas of introverts are squelched, and rarely does anyone emerge feeling clarity about the way forward.
The good news is that there is another model for problem solving and idea generation that avoids the drawbacks of brainstorming; it is called BrainSwarming. When BrainSwarming, people work in silence, collaboratively fleshing out a structured graph as they build off of each other’s ideas. BrainSwarming can yield better ideas faster and more reliably than brainstorming.
The method is versatile, able to spur innovative thinking in product development, marketing and advertising, engineering, or any other area of business.
Tony McCaffrey explained how BrainSwarming generates ideas efficiently and quickly to solve problems and spur innovation.
There is a better idea-generation model than brainstorming: “BrainSwarming.”
Typically when groups need an innovative solution fast, they brainstorm. But even with a roomful of smart people, more often than not the output is disappointing. That’s because brainstorming doesn’t work. After 65 years of scientific testing, there is plentiful evidence that brainstorming is no more effective at generating more or better ideas than people working alone, McCaffrey said.
Also per McCaffrey, the core problem with brainstorming is the talking. It is inefficient for everyone to be spilling ideas simultaneously. Extroverts drown out introverts despite a facilitator’s best efforts. The conversation digresses. Ideas are critiqued, which generates debate. Interpersonal politics come into play. Those hesitant to enter the fray don’t contribute. Amid the unstructured chatter, it is tough to keep in mind the ideas that were on-target and worth thinking more about.
A new model for problem solving and innovation has emerged from the study of three phenomena:
1) ants’ problem-solving activity; 2) human social and cognitive psychology; and 3) artificial intelligence. BrainSwarming, said McCaffrey, keeps what is good about brainstorming and avoids the bad.
CONTRIBUTORS
Tony McCaffrey
Innovation Researcher and Expert
Angelia Herrin (Moderator)
Editor for Research and Special Projects, Harvard Business Review
“Common to all BrainSwarming sessions is silence and a graph.”
– Tony McCaffrey
Here’s how BrainSwarming works: the process is conducted in silence, so there is no critiquing of ideas, removing any fear of judgment and reluctance to contribute. No dominant voices drown out the rest. (In fact, introverts frequently shine since they often excel at observing others, and thinking about others’ ideas is key to BrainSwarming.) Moreover, people needn’t work simultaneously but can do the work when the time suits them.
In BrainSwarming, participants build off of each other's ideas, adding sticky notes on a white board (a physical or virtual one). As people add ideas, a graph takes shape, a visualization of the creative process unfolding. Unlike in brainstorming, there is no need to remember the ideas suggested; they are right there on the graph, accessible to all.
The beauty of BrainSwarming isn’t just that it beats brainstorming; it also:
BrainSwarm participants collaboratively build out a structured diagram of their ideas.
Here’s how the building out of the BrainSwarm graph actually works:
Figure 1
It is easy to see which process is more likely to yield great ideas.
How the process works in practice to yield solutions is best understood by example:
Figure 2
As the graph is built out from top and bottom, solutions become apparent.
Figure 3
The categories to use depend on the nature of the problem being explored.
“BrainSwarming can solve any problem that has a goal.”
– Tony McCaffrey
While the graph build-out phase occurs in silence, it is important for participants to talk together about the results afterwards. That might be after the contributions slow down or stop or after the allotted time is up. Then people vote or use some other method to evaluate the ideas generated.
BrainSwarming is widely applicable to all types of business problems requiring innovative thinking.
The BrainSwarming idea-generation model can be adapted to solve any problem with a goal, including problems of technology or engineering, marketing or advertising, strategic planning, or new product development.
For example, McCaffrey described how the method was used to discover new uses for the foil bags that hold juice. The innovation developed out of the seemingly obvious observation that as containers the bags might be full or empty. Empty foil bags may show up on supermarket shelves next to the resealable plastic bags sometime in the near future.
BrainSwarming can even be used to coordinate different business process styles (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, TRIZ, and Theory of Constraints).
Tony McCaffrey
Innovation Researcher and Expert
Tony McCaffrey (tony@innovationaccelerator.com ) focuses on bringing science to the art of innovation. He researches and develops innovation tools at Innovation Accelerator, Inc. With a doctorate in cognitive psychology and a master’s degree in computer science, Tony combines insights from both fields to produce effective tools to enhance both individual and group innovation. BrainSwarming is the latest tool to emerge from his research and will soon become an online platform for remote group work.
Follow him @DrTonyMcCaffrey.
Angelia Herrin (Moderator)
Editor for Research and Special Projects, Harvard Business Review
Angelia Herrin is Editor for Research and Special Projects at Harvard Business Review. At Harvard Business Review, Herrin oversaw the re-launch of the management newsletter line and established the conference and virtual seminar division for Harvard Business Review. More recently, she created a new series to deliver customized programs and products to organizations and associations.
Prior to coming to Harvard Business Review, Herrin was the vice president for content at womenConnect.com, a website focused on women business owners and executives.
Herrin’s journalism experience spans twenty years, primarily with Knight- Ridder newspapers and USA Today. At Knight- Ridder, she covered Congress, as well as the 1988 presidential elections. At USA Today, she worked as Washington editor, heading the 1996 election coverage. She won the John S. Knight Fellowship in Professional Journalism at Stanford University in 1989–90.
The information contained in this summary reflects BullsEye Resources, Inc.’s subjective condensed summarization of the applicable conference session. There may be material errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the reporting of the substance of the session. In no way does BullsEye Resources or Harvard Business Review assume any responsibility for any information provided or any decisions made based upon the information provided in this document.
© 2014 Harvard Business School Publishing. Created for Harvard Business Review by BullsEye Resources www.bullseyeresources.com
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