Brainstorming methods that will make your project way easier
Are you trying to come up with some brainstorming techniques that you can use with your project team to solve issues?
As a project manager of over 20+ years, I’ve learned some go-to brainstorming techniques that I could not live without in project management.
Here’s a breakdown of some of them…
Future state mapping
I love this technique. You may not have heard of it, because it’s not usually a brainstorming technique; it’s a tool used in operational excellence (lean six sigma) when looking to make a process more efficient.
What you do is map out current ways of working and then come together as a team to brainstorm how waste can be eliminated to create the future state.
Why do I use this as a brainstorming technique?
I don’t necessarily follow the pathway that I would if I was using it as a lean activity to make a process more efficient… When brainstorming, I use it for idea generation. On a lot of projects, there’s something that you want to come to fruition but you need a map of how it’s going to look. This borrows from future state mapping and puts it in a project context to really understand how it works and all the moving parts.
SCAMPER technique
SCAMPER is an acronym. Here’s what it stands for:
S = Substitute, C = Combine, A = Adapt, M = Modify, P = Put it to another use, E = Eliminate, R = Reverse
With this technique, you take one idea or concept and brainstorm it by looking at it in all these different ways – the SCAMPER ways.
More brainstorming techniques
I have several other brainstorming techniques that are great for project management. Check out my latest YouTube video to learn some brainstorming ideas for your projects!
If you want more step-by-step guides on all things project management, check out my SLAY Project Management online course where I take you through all the steps of successfully managing a project – including documentation – from start to close. You’ll get every template you will need, along with detailed video instructions on how to use them.
Adriana Girdler, PMP | Creator of Slay Project Management™
