Electronic brainstorming (EBS) allows working groups to generate an abundance of ideas anonymously. Our experience with electronic brainstorming in several settings has shown it to be useful for large and small groups, for a variety of topics, for groups that meet face to face and for those that are dispersed, whether throughout a building or around the world. This evidence suggests that electronic brainstorming is a better way to generate ideas than both traditional brainstorming and nominal groups (individuals working alone).
Traditional brainstorming has been used for several decades. Whether formal or informal, the process is the same: think of as many ideas as you can and say them out loud; leave the evaluation of the ideas until later; build on and combine others’ ideas; be as imaginative as possible — the wilder the ideas the better. Sometimes brainstorming works just like that. When it does, ideas flow freely from an interplay that may never have occurred if the group hadn’t brainstormed together. Unfortunately, what often happens is quite different.
Two problems have plagued traditional brainstorming: production blocking and evaluation apprehension. Production blocking happens when we have an idea, but someone else is talking. When it’s our turn, we’ve forgotten the idea, we think our idea is redundant or not that good, or, particularly if the group is large or dominated by talkative people, we lose... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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