Define Topics

Trends are presented to stakeholders including potential brainstorming participants to align on topics. Then, brainstorming meetings are scheduled with topics shared out. Participants can form ideas in advance, so when we brainstorm everyone can combine, evolve and develop solutions collaboratively.

Writing Brainstorming Topics:

One way to prepare a brainstorming topic is to rewrite the trends into “how might we…” statements. For example:

Trend: New users struggle with understanding how and when to use their machines’ buttons.

“How might we make it intuitive for new users to understand how and when to use the buttons on their machine?”

The Brainstorm

During a brainstorm, innovators should work together to link main ideas to supporting ones, as this can be the foundation of a larger concept. As the team works though ideas, facilitators should ensure the focus remains on solving for user research trends.

Checklist

Preparation

Brainstorming leads prepare necessary materials, then organize brainstorming meetings.

Guidelines and Pace

Facilitators establish guidelines for the brainstorm, and ensure each topic can be covered within the available time.

Capture

Results should be captured in a shared folder so ideas can be easily added to templates and presentations to be reviewed or referenced globally.