Page 141 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

I u problem is identified.
Participants, sitting in a circle, write down their ideas for solving the
problem.
3. After a specified period, participants pass their ideas on to the next
person in the circle.
4. This person then piggybacks on the original solutions to develop new
ones, writing them on the same piece of paper.
5. Three or more iterations occur.
6. Ideas are read aloud, written on a white board, or discussed and evalu-
ated in some other way.

6713. BRAINWRITING POOL

This is one of the techniques developed at the Battelle Insti-
tute in Frankfurt, Germany. A group of six to eight people
sitting around a table write down their ideas about a given
problem. As soon as a participant has written down four
ideas, that person may put his or her paper in the middle of
the table. However, people are allowed to continue writing
down their ideas without being obliged to pass their papers
to the center. When participants run out of ideas they ex-
change their paper for one from the middle of the table and
produce new ideas by piggybacking on the ideas listed there.
Eventually all participants should exchange their paper for
one of those in the brain pool.

The session should go on for about half an hour. 15

This method gives participants freedom to continue with
their own thoughts rather than forcing them to add to the
thoughts of others.

SUMMARY OF STEPS

1. The problem is identified.
2. A group of six to eight people, sitting around a table, write their solu-

tions to the problem on a piece of paper.
3. After writing down at least four ideas, each person places his or her

piece of paper in the center of the table.
4. When participants run out of ideas, they may choose one of the slips of

paper from the center of the table and piggyback on those ideas to cre-
ate new ones.
5. Eventually every participant should exchange his or her piece of paper
for one in the center of the table.

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