Brainstorming may be a fun and helpful way to weed out crazy ideas from viable ones, or to bring discipline into a rowdy bunch of debating people. At first, brainstorming may seem like one of the most unstructured, creative, and wild disciplines around. While it may not have as deep of theoretical foundations as many other management fields, as in most artistic disciplines, better results are achieved when a set of rules is followed. This book does precisely that: it offers guidance in a field that can easily stray into the wild.

The book covers all aspects of brainstorming, from analysis of its strengths and weaknesses to practical advice on the best practices to conduct a brainstorming session. It also details the dangers that may lurk hidden in a seemingly easygoing activity, and the all-important task of summarizing contributions and turning ideas into data.

In addition, the author presents different, lesser-known forms of brainstorming: brainwriting, where people put down ideas in writing and then collect them in a final document, and braindrawing, where the visual arts are used to get to the same results. Each of these techniques is explained in a separate chapter, and each chapter is organized in the same way so as to highlight the similarities between these techniques. Each chapter offers an introduction; situations where the technique is most appropriate; a section on best procedures and practical advice; variations and extensions to the basic technique; issues and caveats; and a final section on how to gather and summarize collected data. Each chapter ends with its own set of references and recommended reading.

A quick and effortless read, this book can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the topic. No particular background is required: readers with technical, managerial, or even literary backgrounds can equally appreciate it. It may even help in situations not connected with a corporate or professional environment such as, for example, in planning a vacation.

The only caveat I might suggest is not taking brainstorming as a comprehensive, self-enclosed method. It is useful for first phases of decision-making, but it must be followed by other, more formal tools of analysis.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads