ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the more popular forms of brainstorming. These include classical brainstorming, wildest idea variant, round-robin brainstorming, Gordon-Little variant, trigger method, brainwriting and brainlining. The chapter examines limitations of brainstorming as a method. Brainstorming is perhaps the most popular of the creative problem-solving techniques. It essentially encourages people to work within existing paradigms, though the introduction of wild ideas may on occasion lead to paradigm stretching by moving the thought processes of participants away from the problem in hand. It is a technique that should appeal to most participants irrespective of whether they are essentially divergent or convergent thinkers. Brainstorming is used most frequently to generate as many solutions to a particular problem as possible because quantity is favoured over quality. The client is invited to indicate the most useful redefinitions, and redefinitions continue focusing on what the client has indicated as a fruitful direction.
