Today I worked with a small team of colleagues on an all-day brainstorming session. And it was a lot of work.
One of the most difficult things about brainstorming is that you don’t really know where you will end up. Yes, there are general guidelines, ground rules, agreed upon paths, to be sure.
Yet by definition, you don’t know, going in, which ideas are going to evolve into something exciting, which are going to be controversial, and which might just turn into a sinkhole, leading to argument, confusion and mutual incomprehension.
But it’s always worth it. Even the bad parts are good, because what you are really doing is learning a map of each others’ minds. So not only are you generating ideas together, but you are steadily improving your ability to work together.
In the long run, that can be the most valuable part.