requirements for project management
john cena
Brainstorming.pptx
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GCIS 514
Requirements and Project Management
Brainstorming
Richard Lamb, MS
Brainstorming
Brainstorming
Used to generate and refine ideas
Explore edges of ‘the box’
refine system definition
Idea
Generation
Idea
Organization/
Synthesis
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Brainstorming
To invent new way of doing things or when much is unknown
When there are few or too many ideas
Early on in a project particularly when:
Terrain is uncertain
There is little expertise for the type of applications
Innovation is important (e.g., novel system)
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Brainstorming
Two main activities:
The Storm: Generating as many ideas as possible (quantity, not quality) – wild is good!
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Brainstorming
Two main activities:
The Calm: Filtering out of ideas (combine, clarify, prioritize, improve…) to keep the best one(s) – may require some voting strategy
Roles: scribe, moderator (may also provoke), participants
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Brainstorming – Objectives
Hear ideas from everyone, especially unconventional ideas
Keep the tone informal and non-judgemental
Keep the number of participants “reasonable“ – if too many, consider a “playoff “-type filtering and invite back the most creative to multiple sessions
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Brainstorming – Objectives
Encourage creativity
Choose good, provocative project name.
Choose good, provocative problem statement
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Brainstorming – Objectives
Encourage creativity
Get a room without distractions, but with good acoustics, whiteboards, coloured pens, provide coffee/donuts/pizza
Provide appropriate props/mock-ups
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Brainstorming – Roles
Scribe
Write down all ideas (may also contribute)
May ask clarifying questions during first phase but without criticizing
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Brainstorming – Roles
Moderator/Leader
Cannot be the scribe
Two schools of thought: traffic cop or agent provocateur
Traffic cop – enforces "rules of order", but does not throw his/her weight around otherwise
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Brainstorming – Roles
Moderator/Leader
Agent provocateur – traffic cop plus more of a leadership role, comes prepared with wild ideas and throws them out as discussion wanes
May also explicitly look for variations and combinations of other suggestions
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Brainstorming – Participants
Virtually any stakeholder, e.g.
Developers
Domain experts
End-users
Clients
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Brainstorming – Participants
Virtually any stakeholder, e.g.
“Ideas-people” – a company may have a special team of people
Chair or participate in brainstorming sessions
Not necessarily further involved with the project
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Brainstorming – The Storm
Goal is to generate as many ideas as possible
Quantity, not quality, is the goal at this stage
Look to combine or vary ideas already suggested
No criticism or debate is permitted – do not want to inhibit participants
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Brainstorming – The Storm
Participants understand nothing they say will be held against them later on
Scribe writes down all ideas where everyone can see
e.g., whiteboard, paper taped to wall
Ideas do not leave the room
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Brainstorming – The Storm
Wild is good
Feel free to be gloriously wrong
Participants should NOT censor themselves or take too long to consider whether an idea is practical or not – let yourself go!
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Brainstorming – The Calm
Go over the list of ideas and explain them more clearly
Categorize into "maybe" and "no" by pre-agreed consensus method
Informal consensus
50% + 1 vote vs. “clear majority”
Does anyone have veto power?
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Brainstorming – The Calm
Be careful about time and people
Meetings (especially if creative or technical in nature) tend to lose focus after 90 to 120 minutes – take breaks or reconvene later
Be careful not to offend participants
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Brainstorming – The Calm
Review, consolidate, combine, clarify, improve
Rank the list by priority somehow
Choose the winning idea(s)
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Brainstorming – Eliminating Ideas
There are some common ways to eliminate some ideas
Blending ideas
Unify similar ideas but be aware not to force fit everything into one idea
Give each participant $100 to spend on the ideas
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Brainstorming – Eliminating Ideas
Apply acceptance criteria prepared prior to meeting
Eliminate the ideas that do not meet the criteria
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Brainstorming – Eliminating Ideas
Apply acceptance criteria prepared prior to meeting
Various ranking or scoring methods
Assign points for criteria met, possibly use a weighted formula
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Brainstorming – Eliminating Ideas
Apply acceptance criteria prepared prior to meeting
Vote with threshold or campaign speeches
Possibly select top k for voting treatment
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Brainstorming – Voting on Ideas
Voting with threshold
Each person is allowed to vote up to n times
Keep those ideas with more than m votes
Have multiple rounds with smaller n and m
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Brainstorming – Voting on Ideas
Voting with campaign speeches
Each person is allowed to vote up to j < n times
Keep those ideas with at least one vote
Have someone who did not vote for an idea defend it for the next round
Have multiple rounds with smaller j
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Brainstorming – Tool Support
With many good ideas, some outrageous and even farfetched, brainstorming can be really fun!
Creates a great environment that stimulates people and motivates them to perform well!
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Brainstorming – Tool Support
Can be done by email, but a good moderator/leader is needed to
Prevent flamers to come into play
Prevent race conditions due to the asynchronous communication medium
Be careful not to go into too much detail
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Brainstorming – Tool Support
Collaboration tools are also possible
TWiki and many other more appropriate tools such as BrainStorm and IdeaFisher
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Brainstorming
Advantages:
Ideas generated anonymously
Eliminates typical group dynamics
Everyone has equal opportunity to contribute ideas
Encourages speaking in group settings
Large quantities of ideas generated in short timeframe
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Brainstorming: General Guidelines:
Clearly stated questions
How can we improve…?
What are the problems or issues with … ?
Begin after each group member understands the question
Designated group facilitator
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Brainstorming: General Guidelines:
Timed brainstorming
Usually limited to 45-60 minutes
NO TALKING during timed session
Not even to clarify; field questions
Provide “sticky notes” (ideal), index cards, or cuts of paper
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Brainstorming: General Guidelines:
One idea per sticky
Rule :: one verb & one noun minimum per sticky
EX: fire boss
schedule more vacation days
increase wage
Group sticky or notes on a large surface
blackboard ……… walls
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Brainstorming: General Guidelines:
Organize and re-organize “like ideas” into areas
Discussion permitted during organizing process
Themes of “like ideas” emerge
Become headings or labels for columns
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Storyboards
Pictures ... imagery
To show/describe users walking through a ‘to-be’ process
Passive storyboards tell a story
Active storyboards show a moving vision
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Storyboards
Pictures ... imagery
Interactive storyboards help the user experience the system
High cost/benefit ratio –
Don’t invest too much
Interactive is best
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Storyboards: Options
| Passive | Active | Interactive | |
| Screen shots | Slideshow | Live demo | |
| Business rules | Animation | Interactive presentation | Prototyping |
| Output reports | Simulation | ||
| Complexity and Cost |
Seeking:
WHO acts
WHAT happens
HOW it happens
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