Human-Centered Design: From Synthesis to Creative Ideas

1. 00:07Hi everyone! In this video we talk about how to facilitate a
2. 00:10brainstorming session. Meaning what is your role and what are
3. 00:13your tasks when you want to guide and motivate a team through
4. 00:16idea generation?
5. 00:20So, to have a brainstorming session, you need a team. So keep your
6. 00:23eyes open for some colleagues, family members, or some friends
7. 00:26that you can assemble for a brainstorming session.
8. 00:29This will be part of your second task in the assignment.
9. 00:36But before your team comes in, you will need to set up the space.
10. 00:40Fancy and atmospheric workspaces like here are great for
11. 00:44brainstorming sessions. But you can easily set up your own office,
12. 00:47your living room, or even a green spot in the park into a creative
13. 00:50workspace as well. Make sure that it's a space where the team can
14. 00:54stand up, move around freely, and has a surface where they can
15. 00:57collect their ideas. We also recommend that it's a space where your team
16. 01:01can be loud and a bit noisy. Because if they feel like they
17. 01:05would disturb some colleagues, they might feel uncomfortable
18. 01:07to have these crazy and wild ideas. We also recommend
19. 01:12that you take sticky notes with you and big pens to write on them.
20. 01:16You might also want to take a watch with you
21. 01:19or a phone so you can track the time. Put your "How Might We" questions down.
22. 01:24You can either also write them on a post-it
23. 01:27or on a big sheet of paper,
24. 01:30or if you have a surface in the back that you can directly
25. 01:33write on, just use a big pen and write on it.
26. 01:39As a brainstorming facilitator you should be aware of what we
27. 01:42call the brainstorming mindsets or principles.
28. 01:46We use them to set the tone of a brainstorming session.
29. 01:49Team members who are constantly blocking each other, or
30. 01:52are negative about everything, or are talking of over each other
31. 01:56can destroy any brainstorming session. This is why it's important
32. 01:59that you communicate these mindsets at the beginning of each session
33. 02:02and also step in if you see that the team members are
34. 02:05violating any of these rules. Let us shortly go through these mindsets:
35. 02:09Defer judgment: A good idea may grow from something
36. 02:13that seems silly or impossible in the beginning.
37. 02:16Don't judge ideas immediately! You want to make everybody feel
38. 02:19comfortable to speak their mind and share their ideas.
39. 02:22Encourage wild ideas: Allow those crazy and weird ideas to flow.
40. 02:26This is your chance to think about solutions without the constraints
41. 02:30of technology or financial resources. This may lead to very new creative ideas.
42. 02:34Stay focused on the topic: Yes, your ideas
43. 02:38should be wild, but keep the overall topic and problem you're designing for
44. 02:41in mind and gently guide your team back to it if needed.
45. 02:44Otherwise you might just drift off too far.
46. 02:48Build on the ideas of others: Listen carefully to the ideas
47. 02:52of your team. Do they inspire you? Maybe you can expand one?
48. 02:56Building on the ideas of others is not only a lot of fun but it
49. 03:00really helps to keep those creative thoughts going.
50. 03:03One conversation at a time: Be mindful of one another.
51. 03:07Listen to the ideas of your team members and give them time
52. 03:09to finish their explanations. You cannot build on each others' ideas
53. 03:12if everyone is talking at the same time.
54. 03:16Be visual: Doing a quick sketch, scribble or doodle of your idea
55. 03:19helps the team to understand the idea better.
56. 03:22Refute the thought that visualization is reserved for those who can draw!
57. 03:25Everyone can be visual.
58. 03:30Go for quantity: I know, we usually value quality over quantity in life.
59. 03:33But in the case of brainstorming we are turning this principle around.
60. 03:36Aim to push for as many ideas as possible, quickly!
61. 03:40Coming up with many ideas in a short amount of time helps to
62. 03:43not overthink or judge. We want to get into a flow mode in brainstorming.
63. 03:48The first fifty ideas might be great, then you have ten boring ones
64. 03:51then twenty which are kind of weird, and then twenty amazing ones again.
65. 03:55Just don't give up immediately.
66. 03:58You really want to have a big pool of ideas so that you can select
67. 04:01the best ones from this pool at the end.
68. 04:04We put these seven mindsets or principles on seven big posters for you.
69. 04:08And you can print them out if you want and put them
70. 04:11up in the space where you do your brainstorming.
71. 04:18When your team comes in for brainstorming, try to put them into
72. 04:21a collaborative mindset. Remind them of the brainstorming principles
73. 04:23and the "How Might We" question. Now it's on you to propose
74. 04:28some techniques for brainstorming. We introduced some of them
75. 04:31in our brainstorming techniques video
76. 04:33and we usually recommend to start with a round of silent brainstorming
77. 04:37so your team members can get all these ideas out that they already
78. 04:41have in their heads. Set a timeframe for each technique.
79. 04:45This helps to keep the tension and the energy high
80. 04:47instead of dwelling on the formulation of one idea for too long.
81. 04:50Remind the team to write their ideas down on the sticky notes.
82. 04:56One idea per sticky note. And you should use clear and capital letters
83. 05:02on the sticky notes. Any idea that's not on a sticky note
84. 05:06will get lost during the brainstorming session.
85. 05:10After you used a couple of brainstorming techniques
86. 05:14it's time to cluster, so ask a team to look at the ideas again.
87. 05:18Which ones belong together? Which have the same topic?
88. 05:21Making these connections will further help your team to
89. 05:25build on the ideas of others.- Try to sense the atmosphere and the mood in your team.
90. 05:29Does your team have a flow or do they feel a bit stuck?
91. 05:33Maybe they need a mental perspective change.
92. 05:37Do they need to calm down or psych up a bit?
93. 05:40Try to choose the brainstorming techniques accordingly.
94. 05:43After you generated a lot of ideas, it's time for idea selection
95. 05:46and we will explain some idea selection techniques in our next video.

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