T.G.I.M.

Every Monday I look forward to the Globe and Mail's Monday Morning Manager.  Some days are quite engaging and one tidbit today caught my attention.

The headline is "The Eureka-moment myth, and nine more." One of the myths listed is quite relevant: the brainstorming myth.  It states that if you put people in a room, creative ideas will be "unearthed."

I imagine that we can all think of examples when a brainstorming meeting has been a failure. In fact, in my experience, preparation is often the key element that needs to occur before the meeting in order for ideas to come forward.  We call it R & D (Research and Duplicate).

The Globe and Mail article confirms this, and emphasises that creativity is a process, not a moment.  New ideas do not come through a flash of insight as suggested by Archimedes and his Eureka moment (myth number 1 in the article).  New ideas "incubate in our subconscious as we connect disparate notions."  And although the discovery may come in a flash, we have actually been processing the idea for some time.

The following steps are given to ensure your brainstorming meeting is fruitful:

1. You must do the research
2. THEN you can brainstorm
3. Converge on the best idea
4. Test it (a.k.a. pilot project)
5. Lastly, get it into the marketplace

 Good to know we're on the right track for MakerSpaces.