In this article, we’ll break down how to run a brainstorm that actually delivers results. You’ll learn the core rules, walk through each stage of the process, and get a tour of the most popular variations of the method. There’s also a detailed checklist at the end to help you organize your next session.
- What Is Brainstorming and What Is It Good For?
- The Core Rules of Brainstorming
- How to Run a Brainstorm: Step by Step
- Types of Brainstorming
- The Pros and Cons of Brainstorming
- Checklist
What Is Brainstorming and What Is It Good For?
Let’s start with a definition:
In plain terms: you get a group of people together and give them permission to say anything — even the wildest, most far-fetched ideas imaginable.
Say your team needs to figure out how to drive more foot traffic to a coffee shop. Here’s what a brainstorm for that might look like:
The defining feature of brainstorming is the separation of idea generation from evaluation. During the generation phase, no one critiques anyone else’s suggestions. That freedom is what allows people to stop worrying about sounding foolish and actually let their imagination run wild. Once the ideas stop flowing, the group shifts into analysis mode and identifies the most promising options.
Brainstorming was invented by Alex Osborn, an American advertising executive. As VP and co-owner of the major ad agency BBDO, he noticed that employees would hold back new ideas in meetings — afraid of being shot down by colleagues.
To fix that, Osborn designed a new format for group work — one that strictly separated generating ideas from judging them. He called it “brainstorming” and laid out the full method in his 1953 book Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving.
The book became a bestseller, and brainstorming quickly spread far beyond the ad industry. Today it’s used across virtually every field:
- In marketing — for planning campaigns, developing positioning, and building brand identity.
- In business and management — for product development, solving organizational challenges, process optimization, and strategic planning.
- In education — to develop creative thinking in students.
- In design and engineering — for concept generation, UX problem-solving, and finding unconventional solutions.
- In creative work — for developing scripts, storylines, artistic concepts, musical ideas, and new forms of expression.
The goal of brainstorming is to rapidly collect a large volume of ideas and break out of habitual thinking patterns. It works especially well when you can bring together people with different backgrounds and skill sets.
The Core Rules of Brainstorming
For a brainstorm to actually work, a few ground rules need to be in place. These aren’t just formalities — they create the conditions that allow people to think more freely and creatively.
Rule #1: Zero Criticism
This is the most important rule. During the idea generation phase, all criticism is off-limits — obvious criticism (“that’s ridiculous!”), subtle criticism (eye rolls, smirks, skeptical looks), and even backhanded positivity (“not bad, but...”).
When people fear their idea will be criticized, they start filtering their thoughts before they even say them out loud. The result:
- Potentially valuable ideas never get voiced.
- Fear of judgment pushes people toward safer, more conventional thinking.
- Creative block can set in — participants get so focused on saying the “right” thing that they freeze up entirely.
During the generation phase, only positive reactions are welcome: nods, encouraging sounds, enthusiastic agreement. This creates psychological safety — an environment where people feel comfortable enough to suggest even the most unexpected ideas.
Rule #2: Encourage Wild Ideas
Beyond banning external criticism, it’s equally important to silence the inner critic. Participants should let their imagination run free without worrying about whether an idea is actually feasible. Outlandish, impractical, weird, even ridiculous ideas are all fair game.
For example, a team brainstorming ways to boost sales at a bookstore might come up with:
- Build a teleportation system that delivers books straight from the shelf to a reader’s home.
- Hire famous authors to work as sales associates on weekends.
- Turn the shelves into a giant labyrinth with an escape-room-style quest.
- Open a pop-up location on the International Space Station.
It might seem like generating obviously unrealistic ideas is a waste of time. But these wild swings often become stepping stones to innovative, actually viable solutions. The teleportation idea might spark the concept of a same-day local delivery service. The labyrinth idea might evolve into an immersive, gamified store layout.
The facilitator’s job here is to actively encourage this kind of thinking — to make it clear that going off the rails is not just allowed, it’s the point.
Rule #3: Quantity Over Quality
Another core principle: more is more. During the generation phase, the goal is maximum volume, not maximum polish. Think of it like panning for gold — the more material you sift through, the better your odds of finding something valuable.
The most common mistake is spending too long on each idea, trying to make it really good before saying it out loud. Instead, the goal is to fire off ideas rapidly — raw, incomplete, even obvious ones are fine. They can be developed later during the evaluation phase.
One useful tactic: set a quantitative target. Something like “let’s hit 100 ideas in 30 minutes.” That kind of concrete goal gets people out of their heads and into rapid-fire mode.
In practice, the best ideas often show up toward the end of a session — after the obvious stuff has been cleared out and people start thinking in less predictable ways.
Rule #4: Build on Each Other’s Ideas
Participants don’t just pitch their own ideas — they can also develop, refine, and combine ideas from others. Add detail to someone else’s suggestion, merge two ideas into one, or use an idea as a launch pad for something new. For example:
This is how brainstorming creates synergy — where the final output is genuinely better than the sum of individual ideas. Just remember: building on ideas is not the same as evaluating them. Save the judgment for the next phase.
Rule #5: Take Turns
In a group brainstorm, everyone takes turns sharing ideas in a round-robin format. This ensures that every voice gets heard — not just the loudest people in the room.
If someone doesn’t have an idea when their turn comes, they simply say “pass” and the turn moves on. They’ll get another shot in the next round — and often, hearing what others say sparks something new.
This structure prevents the most common pitfalls of group work: a few dominant voices crowding everyone else out, side conversations, and loss of focus. It also sets a steady rhythm that keeps the energy up.
Rule #6: Capture Everything
Every idea gets written down. Usually this is handled by a designated note-taker, who records suggestions verbatim — no editing, no paraphrasing, no filtering.
In a traditional in-person session, ideas go up on a whiteboard or flip chart where everyone can see the growing list. This matters for two reasons: it helps avoid repetition, and seeing existing ideas often sparks new ones.
Today, teams have a lot more options — especially for remote sessions:
No idea should fall through the cracks — even one that seems weak or weird. Any idea can be developed further, or it might point the group toward something better.
How to Run a Brainstorm: Step by Step
A successful brainstorm isn’t a free-for-all — it’s a structured process with distinct phases. Each phase has its own objectives, and participants play specific roles.
Once roles are assigned and everyone knows what they’re doing, you’re ready to move through the phases.
Phase 1: Prep
Good preparation is what separates a productive session from a frustrating one. This is where you handle logistics and set the group up for success.
What to do:
- Define the problem clearly. It should be specific and understandable to everyone in the room.
- Book the right space — ideally open, well-lit, and set up so participants can sit in a circle and see each other. For remote teams, pick a platform everyone’s comfortable with.
- Gather your materials: whiteboard or flip chart, markers, sticky notes, and any tech you’ll need (screen share, virtual whiteboard, etc.).
- Assemble a balanced group. You want people who know the problem well and people who don’t — fresh eyes often see what experts miss.
- Run a quick briefing. Make sure everyone understands the rules, their role, and the agenda.
Good prep sets the right tone and prevents technical hiccups from derailing the creative process.
Phase 2: Idea Generation
This is the main event — and the most energetic part of the session. Participants pitch ideas for solving the problem at hand. This phase typically runs 15–40 minutes depending on the complexity of the problem and how engaged the group is.
Before diving into the main problem, run a short warm-up (5–10 minutes). Give the group a simple, preferably fun challenge that has nothing to do with the real topic. The goal is to loosen people up and get them into a creative headspace. Some warm-up prompts:
- Come up with unusual uses for a paper clip.
- Invent new ice cream flavors.
- Think of alternative uses for an old laptop.
- Describe jobs that don’t exist yet but should.
After the warm-up, the main generation begins. All the rules from the previous section apply: no criticism, wild ideas encouraged, round-robin turns, and so on.
The facilitator actively manages the session — keeping the energy up, reminding people of the rules, and asking prompting questions when ideas start to dry up. Some go-to prompts:
- How would a kid solve this?
- What if we had an unlimited budget?
- How would a different industry approach this?
- What would nature do?
- How could we solve this using only digital tools?
- How would this have been done 100 years ago?
- What would this look like in the future?
- What if we did the opposite?
The phase wraps up when one of three things happens: time runs out, you’ve hit your target number of ideas, or the flow of ideas has naturally dried up and can’t be restarted.
Phase 3: Analysis and Evaluation
Now the group shifts gears — from creative free-for-all to clear-headed analysis. This is where critical thinking is not just allowed but required. The goal is to identify the most promising ideas from the full list.
The analysis usually unfolds in a few steps:
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Group the ideas. If the session was about driving more restaurant traffic, you might cluster ideas into categories like “marketing,” “promotions and discounts,” “menu changes,” and so on.
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Filter out anything unrealistic or off-topic. Suggestions like “open a location on the moon” or “give everyone a free meal” can be set aside as economically unworkable.
That said — don’t be too quick to cut. Even a wild idea often contains a kernel worth keeping. Before you discard something, try to “land” it first:
- Open a location on the moon → Create an immersive space-themed interior design
- Give everyone a free meal → Launch a loyalty program where every 10th visit is on the house
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Evaluate the remaining ideas against agreed-upon criteria. Common ones include:
- Cost to implement (high / medium / low)
- Time to launch (a week? six months?)
- Potential impact (5% more customers vs. 30%?)
- Complexity (can we do this with existing resources, or do we need more?)
A multi-criteria scoring matrix works well here.
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Flesh out the top contenders. If “create an Instagram-worthy photo spot” makes the cut, now’s the time to get specific: where in the space? what’s the concept? how do we light it? This is also when the evaluators/experts weigh in on feasibility.
Phase 4: Choosing What to Act On
In the final phase, the group selects the best ideas to actually move forward with. Usually you’re picking 3–5 of the most promising options.
For each chosen idea, draft a brief summary:
- What the idea actually is
- What resources it requires
- What steps are needed to execute it
- A realistic timeline
- What success looks like
- Who owns the implementation
At this point, the brainstorm is complete — the team moves into execution. Save everything from the session. Ideas that don’t make the cut today might be exactly what you need six months from now.
Types of Brainstorming
Since Osborn introduced the original method, dozens of variations have emerged. Each one addresses a specific limitation of the classic format or adapts it for a particular context. Here’s a quick rundown of the most popular ones.
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Classic brainstorming. The original format. Its biggest strength is live group interaction — ideas are spoken aloud, and inspiration often comes directly from what someone else just said. Unlike its variations, classic brainstorming bets on group synergy and spontaneity.
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Reverse brainstorming. Instead of asking “how do we solve this problem?” the group asks “how could we make this problem as bad as possible?” For example, instead of “how do we increase sales?” the team tackles “how do we guarantee we lose every customer?” The inversion breaks people out of habitual thinking and often leads to surprisingly original solutions.
Once you have your list of “ways to make it worse,” you simply flip each one into a positive action:
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Brainwriting. In this version, participants write their ideas down instead of saying them out loud. Everyone gets a sheet and spends a few minutes writing their ideas. Sheets then get passed around the table, and each person builds on what the previous person wrote.
This format removes a lot of the psychological barriers that come with classic brainstorming. Introverts, in particular, tend to thrive here — they can formulate their thoughts without the pressure of speaking in front of a group.
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The 6-3-5 Method. A more structured take on brainwriting. The numbers say it all: 6 participants, 3 ideas, 5 minutes. Each person writes three ideas on their sheet, then passes it to the next person, who adds three more — building on or modifying what’s already there. The process repeats until every sheet has gone full circle. Total output: 108 ideas.
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The Disney Method. The group runs through three rounds of discussion, each with a defined role:
🌈 Dreamers. Generate the boldest ideas possible — no limits.
🛠️ Realists. Figure out how to actually make those ideas happen.
🔍 Critics. Find the weak spots and figure out how to address them.
The method is great for striking a balance between creative ambition and practical execution.
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Shadow brainstorming. Alongside the main group, there’s a second group of observers who watch the session in silence. They note not just the ideas themselves, but what’s happening in the room: which comments spark breakthroughs, where the group gets stuck, which approaches seem to unlock momentum.
After the session, the observers share their observations and add their own ideas. This format is especially valuable for team development: observers gain a lot from watching the process, and their outside perspective often surfaces things the active participants missed.
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Solo brainstorming. One person generates ideas on their own, following the same core rules: write everything down without judging it, aim for volume over polish, and develop ideas as they come. Two popular formats:
- Timed: Set a specific window — say, 15 or 30 minutes — and generate as many ideas as possible.
- The 100 Ideas method: Set a target number (usually 50 or 100) and don’t stop until you hit it.
For example:
The upside of solo brainstorming: you can do it anywhere, anytime, without coordinating a group. The downside: you lose the group synergy that comes from different perspectives colliding in real time. It’s best used as a complement to group brainstorming — or as a fallback when getting everyone together isn’t realistic.
Download the Brainstorming Checklist
The Pros and Cons of Brainstorming
Like any method, brainstorming has real strengths and real limitations. Understanding both helps you know when to reach for it — and when to use something else.
Like any method, brainstorming has real strengths and real limitations. Understanding both helps you know when to reach for it — and when to use something else.
What brainstorming does well:
✅ Rapidly generates a large, diverse pool of ideas
✅ Gets everyone on the team invested in solving the problem
✅ Breaks people out of default thinking patterns
✅ Brings together different types of expertise and creative perspectives
✅ Builds creative confidence across the team
✅ Strengthens team cohesion and communication
Where brainstorming falls short:
❌ Produces a lot of noise that has to be filtered out
❌ Requires solid facilitation — a poorly run session can be worse than no session
❌ Outcomes depend heavily on group composition and energy on the day
❌ Groupthink can take hold — people start self-censoring to fit in with the group
❌ Not suited for narrow technical problems that require deep domain expertise
❌ Doesn’t guarantee you’ll land on the optimal solution
In short: skip the brainstorm when you’re dealing with a highly technical problem that needs precise analysis, when there’s only one correct answer, or when you’re genuinely short on time. But when you need creative solutions to a well-defined problem — and you have a team with varied backgrounds — brainstorming remains one of the best tools available.
Checklist
Running a team brainstorm well means keeping track of a lot of moving parts: the space, the materials, the warm-up questions, the timing. To make it easier, we’ve put together a detailed checklist that covers every phase — from prep to post-session analysis. Download it and adapt it to your needs.
Download the Brainstorming Checklist
