Tuesday, October 05, 2021
Conventional brainstorming doesn’t work. Try the 6-3-5 method
www.fastcompany.com: I have written several times before about the perils of traditional brainstorming. Getting people together in a group to throw out ideas leads to what is called “productivity loss from brainstorming:” Individuals working together using rules of brainstorming come up with fewer ideas (and fewer good ideas) than the same number of people with the same expertise working alone.
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6 comments:
I want to read these studies where people explore topics that I at first don’t expect to hear from scientific studies, but there really are so many wild studies that go into pretty much any topic. I feel like I’d like to have more discussions about these, explicitly defining ways people work together well and collaborate, when it seems like there is some literature on the subject, some of it research based that would probably be helpful to go into. I also find it interesting the way these articles tend to talk a bit about the problem that is created by the way we something is currently done, but then provide just one solution, one here that seems very time gated and more could be done to separate out these solo brainstorming times, and push that one forward instead of going more in depth into how to address the issue so solutions can be developed and used for a larger variety of situations.
I have never heard of divergence or convergence as terms in creative problem solving, and I think they do a lot to define the ways in which people can create together. The 6-3-5 solution seems like a great way to find more creative and more effective solutions to problems, but I am a little bit confused by the specificity of the process. To me, the important part of this process seems to be giving adequate space and time for divergence, and letting convergence happen slowly and thoughtfully to prevent group-think. This is a very admirable goal to have, but I don’t see why it’s necessary for there to be exactly 6 individuals with 3 ideas each. This process can just as easily be done with any amount of individuals and any amount of ideas, as long as the time frame of the project allows for it. I’d like to learn more about the 6-3-5 process specifically, but in general, savoring divergence in problem solving is something I will definitely apply to my day-to-day group collaborations.
This article makes a good point in that you never want to prevent a good idea from making its way to the brainstorming list. Therefore, I agree that it is important to allow members of a team to think of their own idea first without hearing about how anyone else interpreted the prompt. This way, you can maximize the scope of this group of ideas and then build on that as a team. The author of this article mentions that it is important for your pool of people you are brainstorming with have a variety of backgrounds which I think is vital when you want to make sure your brainstorming covers all areas of thought. This brainstorming method can apply to the theatre industry when you have members on a design/production team that must work together to make a show come to life. However, to my understanding, a director typically brings a concept to the team and they build off of that. You can still apply this method to those situations, it just may result differently because the designers would need to stay in parameters made by the director.
I particularly like how each person develops the ideas of another, and adds onto it, so by the end of the cycle it is no longer that original person's design, it is everyone's collaboration. I would be interested to learn more, with examples, about the ideas between what a group comes up with working together and with this brainstorming format. It makes sense that in the group brainstorming process the idea creation is linear in a way while the 6-3-5 format is almost like a pyramid. However, my one question that I often encounter is how to handle a brainstorm if someone doesn’t have an initial idea. I’m one of those people who often struggles to have a main idea at first in a brainstorm, but is able to build off people really well in groups. I wonder how that would be addressed in this format. I would be interested to use this way of brainstorming as it seems like an effective design process.
I think that good brainstorming is an important part of building a strong idea, taking different points of views and experimenting with the approach to the problem helps the process. I cannot list the number of times that my friends, peers, and I have reached a standstill when thinking of ideas for group projects. That’s why I think the 6-3-5 is the idealistic approach to brainstorming, where the individuality and focus of the ideas are kept but are built on by the group. The convergent way of thinking focuses on finding the best solution from already established ideas. It’s interesting for me to discover this process because I do a lot of projects in Design and Production. These are skills that I would want to attempt to implement in my future group projects. I always like hearing other ideas and I find that while the process described in the article may be slower, the outcome of ideas from this way of brainstorming seems to be much more effective generally better. Almost every job in life requires some degree of brainstorming before it can be completed, and for some of the bigger ones I think this is an effective solution, that should boost the creative process
I think I like this concept for brainstorming. I like that it involves an entire group of people who are forced to get their hands dirty and actually think about their solution to a problem. This article had a lot to say about how neurotypical people do better in classic brainstorming activities. I agree with this statement but the 6-3-5 method seems like it would work for everyone, not just neurodivergent individuals. I think this concept is really important to consider when evaluating how to work together as a group. How can I serve this group better? Brainstorming should come from everyone's ideas and work together to create the best solution. This way no one feels unheard or marginalized. The 6-3-5 method seems like the best way to allow everyone in a group to be able to voice their opinion without feeling buried by those who typically talk more. I feel that this technique will build some of the strongest ideas because of how the entire group has to work together. I will definitely be trying this method next time I have a group project.
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