Five Steps for more Effective Implementation of Brainstorming in Value Engineering Studies

The Value Engineering (VE) literature presented two contradicting opinions regarding the usefulness of Brainstorming in VE Studies. In one hand, some VE books presented Brainstorming as the ideal creativity technique to be used in VE studies. On the other hand, some VE researchers and professionals are recommending other techniques, which they believe are more useful than Brainstorming. This contradiction might lead some Value Engineers to question the effectiveness of Brainstorming. However, all creativity techniques have advantages and disadvantages. This contradiction should encourage Value Engineers to enhance the usefulness of Brainstorming. The objective of this paper is to investigate the necessary steps for more effective implementation of Brainstorming in VE studies. This was met by identifying several recommendations that were collected by reviewing the blocks of creativity, limitations of Brainstorming, advantages of utilizing other creativity techniques. The paper incorporated and presented these recommendations in a five-step procedure that will help in enhancing the effectiveness of implementing Brainstorming in VE studies.