of a common vision, imagine playing chess without a chessboard.
How difficult would it be to remember all the moves in your head?
You move a pawn. Your opponent moves a pawn. You move your
knight. Your opponent moves her bishop. Already it would be
getting difficult to remember the board and plan the next move.
How about 10 moves from now? Nearly impossible, right? There
is a reason why the generals in those old war movies moved the
plastic pieces around on the big map. They wanted everyone to be
looking at the same view of reality. The map provides a rich tool
for clarifications, discussions, disagreements, and strategies.
The point here is that with a brain dump, teams can create a
unified vision of their project in less than an hour. This process
compares favorably with the countless hours taken up in traditional
meetings, where a group sits around a conference table and talks
endlessly.
Also, the brain-dump process is simple. Propose a topic, check
to make sure that participants understand and agree that it’s the
“right” one, then turn the group loose for 10 minutes with their
markers and stickies. Encourage them to put at least 10 ideas on
the wall (one per minute). Ideally, each idea should have a noun
and a verb. Example: If you are brainstorming a topic like com-
pany morale, don’t write a one-word note like “happy.” (Yes, it
would be nice if everyone were happy, but the idea by itself doesn’t
really give direction.) Better to write, “Shorten the work week” or
“Balance family and work.” Also, instruct participants to write
one or two ideas that are ridiculous. These ideas are great to loosen
up the group and get them laughing. (Remember Harrison Owen’s
advice: If it’s not fun, it’s not working!) And sometimes it’s the
goofy ideas that lead to the breakthroughs.
Here’s a brief digression on the importance of goofy ideas. A
colleague at Interaction Associates tells of a brainstorming session
in which the group was trying to raise money for a charity. All the
usual fundraising ideas had been rounded up and then, as a joke,
a man called out, “Rob a bank.” The group laughed. Silly idea.“T” Is for Tools and Techniques 20714-25 ware 207 1/19/01, 1:16 PM