A better brainstorm

Studies on creativity reveal time and again that when we both understand and agree upon a list of constraints, we become more creative. Not only does creative freedom not work, it doesn’t exist. (If I told you to write anything you want, your brain naturally installs some constraints to grapple with the project: where to write, when, about what, in what style, for how long, and so on. We can’t function without constraints. The real issue is we often don’t know them or agree upon them.)

So rather than try to come up with ideas in a room with your team, here’s a better plan: put a prompt on the board (like a question), and ask everyone to write down as many ideas as possible within 60 seconds. Then go around the room and list the ideas out loud, finding and discussing commonalities and outliers.

By using some simple constraints, you can come up with more ideas and more effective ideas — quantity and quality — together.