Having faciliated a few idea generation workshops recently, I realized that - 'brainstorming', a commonly used tool as it is, hadn't been well utilized by many people. To start with, it hasn't been realized that there are actually way more than only one type of brainstorming tools. So, here I'd like to share a summary of typical brainstorming tools and the approperiate circumstances of using them.
最近组织了几场头脑风暴的研讨会，我才发现这个常用的工具其实并没有被许多人很好地使用。首先，很多人可能并不知道，头脑风暴其实有很多种不同种形式。所以，我决定发一篇文章来总结一下常见的头脑风暴工具以及它们的适用情景。
1. Open-brainstorming/开放式头脑风暴
How does it work?/如何使用
A group of people, guided by a facilitator, speak up their ideas one by one focusing on a given topic, and typically the facilitator will write down each idea on a Post-it, stick them on a whiteboard, and categorize them.
一组参与者在引导员的带领下，就某个主题一个接一个说出他们的想法，引导员会把这些想法分别写在便签纸上，然后贴在白板上，最后进行分类。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: quick, easy, inspiration from other's ideas, no replication.
优点：快，方便，相互启发，没有重复。
Cons: interference by other's thoughts, missing ideas from quite menbers, unnecessary discussions.
缺点：相互影响思路，可能漏掉内向成员的想法，不必要的讨论。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) All team members are comfortable with speaking up.
所有参与者都习惯说出自己的想法。
2) Sufficient ideas exist for a given topic.
就一个主题，大家有足够多的想法。
2. Closed-brainstorming/闭合式头脑风暴
How does it work?/如何使用
A group of people, guided by a facilitator, write down each of their ideas about a certain topic on a Post-it, and stick them up on a whiteboard. Likewise, the facilitator would categorize the Post-it, and usually romovel of same ideas is needed.
一组参与者在引导员的带领下，就一个主题在便签纸上分别写出他们的想法，并贴在白板上。和前面相似，引导员会想这些便签纸分类整理，并拿掉那些重复的。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: shy members friendly, no interference.
优点：内向成员友好，没有相互影响。
Cons: idea replication, no inspiration.
缺点：重复，没有相互启发。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) Team members are not fimiliar with each other.
参与者之间不太熟悉。
2) Team members have diffrent levels of experience or authority (eg, a senior director and an intern happen to be in the same brainshorming workshop) 参与者的经验和级别差距较大，比如一场头脑风暴的参与者既有高级总监又有实习生。
To be noted: it is always a good practice to conbine the advantages of these 2 tools by using closed-brainstorming first and then use open-brainstorming to add on.
一个好的经验是：把这两个工具有机结合起来，先用闭合式头脑风暴收集尽可能多的独立想法，然后再加一轮开放式的头脑风暴让大家相互启发。
3. Brain-writing /静默式头脑风暴
How does it work?/如何使用
A piece of blank paper is handed out to each member, everyone writes down his/her ideas on the blank paper within a given time and pass is to the next person clockwise or anticlockwise when the time is up. Everyone keeps writing on and passing the papers following a given rhythm till a full circle is complete.
发一张白纸给每个参与者，每个人在给定时间内把自己的想法写在这张纸上，时间到了以后把纸传给下一个人，顺时针或逆时针。在新的纸上继续写，并按照一个给定的节拍时间继续往下传，直到转完一圈。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: efficient, inspiration from other's ideas, limited replication, shy members friendly, limited interference(which combines the pros of previous two).
优点：效率高，相互启发，较少重复，内向成员友好，较少相互影响（结合了前面两种的优点）
Cons: difficult to visualize and categorize the ideas afterwards, hard to facilitate in a big group, clear handwriting is required.
缺点：写完之后不太好展示和整理，不适合较大团队，对书写要求较高。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) A small group with 4-6 members.4-6人的小团队。
2) No whiteboard or brown paper available.没有白板或相关工具。
3) Under time pressure.时间紧。
4. Anti-solusion brainstorming/逆向头脑风暴
How does it work?/如何使用
A group of people, guided by a facilitator, brainstorm on the opposite of the focused topic first, for eample, if the real focus is how to improve the sertisfication of a restaurant, then brainstorm on how to damage the sertisfication first. Then, organize the oppsite ideas, pick out the valuable ones and switch them to positive solutions.
一组参与者在引导员的带领下，就实际主题的反面进行头脑风暴，比如，如果真正的主题是：如何提高某餐厅满意度，那么就先对如何降低餐厅满意度进行头脑风暴。然后，整理这些反面的想法，挑选那些有价值的，把他们转化成正面的。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: it helps when a positve brainstorming goes to a dead end.
优点：在正向头脑风暴挖掘不出什么的时候的确可能有用。
Cons: the discussion would easily go wild if questions aren't asked appropriatly, only a small proportion of those opposite ideas would turn out helpful.
缺点：反向讨论可能会一发不可收，生成的反向想法里往往只有很小一部分有价值。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) Negative vibe with a lot of killer phrases.讨论气氛很消极。
2) Those positive ways have been tried and don't work. 已试过正向头脑风暴但没有足够多结果。
3) Don't use it unless you have to. 不是不得已，尽量不要用。
How does it work?/如何使用
This is a idea sharing method for big groups. Participants are evenly splitted into different tables to discuss about a certain topic. They switch tables periodically and get introduced to the previous discussion at their new table by a 'table host'.
这是一个针对较多参与者的想法交流方式。就一个给定的主题，大家被平均分到不同的桌子进行讨论。每隔一段时间换一次桌，每张桌子的“桌主”会对这一桌之前讨论的结果进行介绍。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: most possible ideas would be heard, good for socializing.
优点：会听到最多的想法，很好的社交机会。
Cons: it takes long, sufficient preparation is needed.
缺点：花费时间较久，准备工作较多。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) Big conference with people from different background.很多不同背景的人参加的大会上。
2) Top management team.管理层团队。
6. Mindmapping/思维导图
How does it work?/如何使用
Well, I bet everyone who has clicked on this articls know what a mindmap is, I just mention it here so you wouldn't forget it is also a way of brainstorming, a solo way.
相信点开这篇文章的人都知道思维导图，在这里提到它只是为了提醒大家它也是一种头脑风暴的方式，一个人的头脑风暴。
Pros & cons/优缺点
Pros: no interruption at all, no facilitation needed...of course.
优点：完全没有相互影响，不需要引导...废话。
Cons: limited to your own thoughts.
缺点：局限于一个人的想法。
When to be used?/什么时候用
1) when you are alone...lol 当你只有一个人的时候，哈哈。
So, my dear future brainstorming masters, now I hope you have a better understanding of brainstorming after going through all the techniques above. The bottomline is to practice and really understand the strength of each of them so you can be flexible with them. Remember, a real master is always well prepared for all different kinds of scenarios.
好了，未来的头脑风暴大师们，希望你们看了这些工具后对头脑风暴能有一个更好的理解。重点在于，通过实际联系真正明白不同工具的优势并能够灵活使用他们。请记住，真正的大师总是会准备好应对各种不同情况。
Feel free to spread this article or 'like the author' if think it helpful. For detailed procedures and tips of the brainstorming techniques mentioned, please leave a comment to let me know what you r interested. I'll write a followup article to explain the one which is asked the most:)
作者简介：Nadya Liu。90后精益六西格玛从业者。ASQ 认证黑带, TÜV认证黑带。跨国公司持续改进项目经理。六西格玛双语讲师、引导师。100+场次国内外授课经验。（她的公众号：NadyasPlanet）
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