Better brainstorming and mind-mapping: Best practices, tools and more

So many brainstorms start with enormous potential and end with frustration.

Why?

They aren't focused enough. Too few of the ideas are practical or actionable. A few strong voices dominated.

In last Friday's CMO Coffee Talk session, we focused on best practices for more effective brainstorms in part using mind-mapping strategies to increase clarity, focus and innovation as a result.

Below are highlights from the chat in both sessions. If you're in the CMO Slack community, you'll find more detailed resources and best practices for mind-mapping in the #Swipe-File channel.

If you are a B2B CMO or head of marketing and want to join a community of ~1500 of your peers, let me know!

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Has anyone found a really effective way to “brainstorm” or mind map virtually?

We use Mural. Post-it note style, then we can move them around to categorize.

Yeah we use Google Jamboard but it feels hard

We’ve used Miro and Figma (figjam) - both good

I miss the experience of standing up and picking the magic eraser or whiteboard pen because that sparks others to do the same thing.

Its also as a facilitator easier to see the vibe and help draw people out in person

Great online tool for this stuff is groupmap - a little more focused to the job than Miro, which is also great...

We did a big zoom with zoom rooms focused on themes that people rotated to with a common facilitator in each…in concert with Jambord to capture

I’ve relied heavily on Lucidchart for Post-it exercises [3 different cross-company projects] with virtual teams/participants.

MindMeister for mind mapping.

+1 MindMeister. Pretty flexible and non-distracting.

When picking a scribe, make sure it’s not always a woman on the team.?Unconscious bias tends to make that the situation.?I rotate scribing amongst levels and gender.

If there are power differentials in the brainstorming group, it’s a good idea to have ideas thrown into a pool anonymously to be considered

I assign scribes. If I ask for volunteers, it is usually a woman who volunteers.

If I do think of ideas, it's always submit in advance and then they're all mixed up and presented to the group

We did a good brainstorm re: what do we stand for as a company to assist in 3-year strategic planning. Like, when we talk about being a “great place to work" what does that really mean?

I recommend breaking into "chunks" and time-box each chunk to a few minutes.

We just had a brainstorming session and used Jamboard (in Google aps). simple to use, good for virtual.

I usually do a 15 min time slot but if the convo fades after 6 min then you need to move on

I feel like you have to plan time as the facilitator to go and regroup and bring stuff back

We've printed posters of the mind map and lined hallways so folks can contemplate them.?They end up with really good edits over a week or 2.

I also like to mix up the parts of the brain you are using and the mix of people (small groups) to break the energy.??I also like to have people pass the first round from break out to the next group to BUILD on to the thoughts of others.

We JUST did an improv exercise at our RKO and it was magic. I have an improv background too but as an "adult."

You just can't tell people it's improv because they get nervous they'll have to be funny. I call it a communications workshop

I am a big fan of Mural with time limits especially with remote teams

The anon angle captures input from introverts

“How might we.." is such a powerful phrase.

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Games-Creating-Breakthrough-Collaborative/dp/0321437292 (old book but used in some sessions with PMs)

agree on Muro - used it extensively with Q2 roadmapping/ideation

I think trust within the team is key - keeping the ideation part of brainstorming SEPARATE from evaluation so inhibitions don’t stop people from participating. I like to start these meetings off with “Silly ideas only” which really loosens people up to contribute.

LucidChart is another tool that helps drive virtual white boarding like that.

the trick is to have participants contribute to the prep white board/ play with the tool

If it's a big project, very worth the investment to bring in a neutral facilitator.

I agree with "neutral" person, but who is the loop on what you are trying to do.

https://www.design-thinking-playbook.com/playbook-en?lang=en

Our Chief of Staff is a great facilitator but the Mural has to be well designed in advance

Best tip I've heard it to spend at least as much time planning as you are spending in the actual meeting. Think of the value of the people in the room..

Important to frame the problems correctly and process for problem analysis

I think framing the problem is what hit me. If that is not right the sessions just can’t work

And think about who absolutely needs to be in the room to solve that problem...if someone in the room cannot take an action item, they should not be in the room

+1 to framing.?Not just to brainstorming but we use it in our LT meetings for every key discussion.?Each must have a frame.?Game changing.

I'm all about digital note taking, brainstorming only works for me if I write it with ink or pencil

I love the “RAISE" framework: Research, Analysis, Insight, Strategy and Execution…in that order

I think the key piece is to keep framing it in alignment with the go to market strategy. You should be investing and divesting and prioritizing

you have to show them that if you uncover something that is more important than what they are doing now, you will take the other thing off their to do list

Strategy/leadership = deciding what Not to do…..

if you have power differentials in the room, get input anonymously or via IM/text

You certainly will have some who are introverted, from less verbal cultures: to maximize their input, also you IM/Text anonymous input