Group brainwriting technique

Group brainwriting with sharing ideas

In this version new ideas are shared for additional stimulation. It is deal for groups that prefer to discuss through writing.

Procedure Steps

1. Each person writes a problem at the top of the page.
2. Participants write ideas on their own sheet of paper (It is possible to use the special lined brainwriting sheet).
3.   After 10 minutes the sheets are passed on to the next person, who adds more ideas, using the existing ideas as stimuli and a trigger for their own ideas. The person receiving an paper then can do one of five things:
• Each person adds one idea.
• Each person adds one row of ideas (usually four or five).
• Each person adds as many ideas as they like.
• Each person adds comments.
• Each person  modifies  the other’s idea.
The sheets are passed around until they are filled up. You can then add more sheets or stop when a page is full.
4. At the end of a set period of time the ideas are collected, organized into groups, and evaluated.

Advantages

• It is useful when everyone has different problems that they want to solve.
• It is particularly useful with a group of people who are somewhat reticent and would be unlikely to offer many ideas in an open group session.
• It  works well with large groups – there is no real limit to the group size.
• It can speed things up because everyone is offering ideas all of the time
• It also helps that all ideas are visible and can be easily scanned to trigger new ideas.