Office brainstorming sessions are a good thing, at least, they are when they work.
Sadly, most of the time they fail.
This is because most of the time it has a lot more to do with group dynamics, than it does with creative thinking. Politics and all that…
It’s actually pretty hard being creative, with a roomful of people watching you, everybody trying to be creative, trying to come up with THE winning idea.
Secondly, often when people call a brainstorming session, they’re not trying to get people to think differently, they’re trying to extract a preordained (and often arbitrary) short term result from their team.
I’m not saying brainstorming sessions are a bad thing. I’m just saying they’re like romantic first dates i.e. they’re fun if you keep an open mind, and don’t let your expectations run away from you.
