Beyond the Brainstorm

As a critical phase of any innovation project, ideation brings the generative

possibilities to life. While there are similarities with traditional brainstorming,
there are also some key differences. Lets explore both.
Both brainstorming and ideation are processes invented to create new
valuable ideas, perspectives, concepts, and insights, and both are methods
for envisioning new frameworks and systemic problem solving.
Both can be useful in every type of business, in the non-profit world, and in
the public and social sectors. Both fall in the category of creative processes,
though in fact they both are creative and scientific, just not linear.
Ideation and brainstorming share some ground rules (generate as many ideas
as possible, do not classify them at this stage as good or bad, one
conversation at a time, for example). They share some exercises, such as
Worst Idea Ever, leaving your day-job role out of the room, clustering, and
more. They share many similar rules, courtesies, tactics, exercises, methods,
and objectives.
Ideation, however, is not merely an eloquent variation of time-tested
brainstorming. While brainstorming uses a variety of exercises to unlock new
thinking about old subjectsand follows a trajectory of immersion,
incubation, and insight generation ideation is more visionary in nature,
seeking to see and discern solutions for problems that are not yet defined in
many cases.
Ideation also uses a variety of methods to reframe the fundamental mental
model of a subjectthink of seeing the same thing from different lensesin
order to see it anew. The concept of Sprints also stimulates the ideation
session and also helps focus the intended scope within the parameters of a
set time. Many of these sprints have built-in methods of building on other
ideas and concepts inherent in the process.