Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more freely and they suggest as many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted down and those ideas are not criticized and after brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated.The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Advertising executive Alex F. Osborn began developing methods for creative problem-solving in 1939. He was frustrated by employees’ inability to develop creative ideas individually for ad campaigns. In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by employees. He first termed the process as organized ideation and was later dubbed by participants as 'brainstorm sessions', taking the concept after the use of 'the brain to storm a problem.' During the period when Osborn made his concept, he started writing on creative thinking, and the first notable book where he mentioned the term brainstorming is 'How to Think Up' in 1942. Osborn outlined his method in the 1948 book Your Creative Power in chapter 33, 'How to Organize a Squad to Create Ideas'. One of Osborne's key recommendations was for all the members of the brainstorming group to be provided with a clear statement of the problem to be addressed prior to the actual brainstorming session. He also explained that the guiding principle is that the problem should be simple and narrowed down to a single target. Here, brainstorming is not believed to be effective in complex problems because of a change in opinion over the desirability of restructuring such problems. While the process can address the problems in such a situation, tackling all of them may not be feasible. Osborn claimed that two principles contribute to 'ideative efficacy,' these being: