In the world of management, where we can put the brain storming technique?

Give a problem to your employees and ask them to evaluate it, solve it and document it.

I believe brainstorming is a continuous process in project management but it is essential in cross-functional, less specialized efforts.

To new product development Brainstorming techniques work best when the collaboration employs participants from varied specialties gathering to develop a less complex product. When new products will be highly technical, a better way to develop them is for specialists to do their work in private and collaborate through ‘nominal’ groups.

Brain-storming by cross functional teams may be the best format to use to help develop the initial aspects of the business continuity plan and business continuity management system; but that business continuity strategies should be planned by business continuity specialists

many brains put together surely comes out with fantastic ideas which WORKS so its good to Brian storm 

Storm your brain even if the company is enjoying a good time .. it'll always help to come up with something.

its an effective technique in decision making, often talked about but rarely applied. mostly confused with informal exchange of ideas

I see that we can put it where we want to involve a group in looking for and evaluating alternatives.

While facing tough situation in making business decisions, where different deparments are involved, it is always good to have a brainstorming session with the people who has the knowledge and expertise to provide suggestions, in order to reach to an effective solution, for the benefit of the ultimate goal. 

This way, obstacles can be traced and removed easily, as inputs will be pouring in from various sources.  Brainstorming itself suggests the need for creative thinking in a particular situation, which is why it is necessary to think from different aspects. 

It is no wonder there is an old saying, which states, 'Two heads are better than one.'

You often get the best results by combining individual and group brainstorming, and by managing the process according to the "rules" below. By doing this, you can get people to focus on the issue without interruption, you maximize the number of ideas that you can generate, and you get that great feeling of team bonding that comes with a well-run brainstorming session!

To run a group brainstorming session effectively, follow these steps.

Step1: Prepare the Group

First, set up a comfortable meeting environment   for the session. Make sure that the room is well-lit and that you have the tools, resources, and refreshments that you need.

How much information or preparation does your team need in order to brainstorm solutions to your problem? Remember that prep is important, but too much can limit – or even destroy – the freewheeling nature of a brainstorming session.

Consider who will attend the meeting. A room full of like-minded people won't generate as many creative ideas as a diverse group, so try to include people from a wide range of disciplines, and include people who have a variety of different thinking styles.

When everyone is gathered, appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session. This person shouldn't necessarily be the team manager – it's hard to record and contribute at the same time. Post notes where everyone can see them, such as on flip charts or whiteboards; or use a computer with a data projector.

If people aren't used to working together, consider using an appropriate warm-up exercise, or an icebreaker  .

Step2: Present the Problem

Clearly define the problem that you want to solve, and lay out any criteria that you must meet. Make it clear that that the meeting's objective is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Give people plenty of quiet time at the start of the session to write down as many of their own ideas as they can. Then, ask them to share their ideas, while giving everyone a fair opportunity to contribute.

Step3: Guide the Discussion

Once everyone has shared their ideas, start a group discussion to develop other people's ideas, and use them to create new ideas. Building on others' ideas is one of the most valuable aspects of group brainstorming.

Encourage everyone to contribute and to develop ideas, including the quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.

As the group facilitator, you should share ideas if you have them, but spend your time and energy supporting your team and guiding the discussion. Stick to one conversation at a time, and refocus the group if people become sidetracked.

Although you're guiding the discussion, remember to let everyone have fun while brainstorming. Welcome creativity, and encourage your team to come up with as many ideas as possible, regardless of whether they're practical or impractical. Use thought experiments such as Provocation   or Random Input   to generate some unexpected ideas.

Don't follow one train of thought for too long. Make sure that you generate a good number of different ideas, and explore individual ideas in detail. If a team member needs to "tune out" to explore an idea alone, allow them the freedom to do this.

Also, if the brainstorming session is lengthy, take plenty of breaks so that people can continue to concentrate.

If you're not getting enough good quality ideas, try using the approaches below to increase the number of ideas that you generate:

• The Stepladder Technique   – This improves the contribution of quieter group members by introducing one person at a time.
• Brainwriting   – This is a written approach that you can use to encourage all individuals to generate and develop ideas.
• Online Brainstorming (also known as Brain-netting)   – An electronic method of brainstorming, this uses a document stored on a central server, or on a Cloud-based system.
• Crawford's Slip Writing Approach   – You can use this approach to get plenty of ideas from all participants, and to get a view of each idea's popularity.

These techniques help you in specific brainstorming situations:

• Reverse Brainstorming   – This is used to improve a product or service.
• Starbursting   – Starbursting helps you develop questions that you need to ask to evaluate a proposal.
• Charette Procedure   – This helps you brainstorm with large groups of people. (Conventional brainstorming becomes increasingly ineffective when more than10 or12 people are involved.)
• Round-Robin Brainstorming   – You can use this approach to get people to contribute ideas without being influenced by others.
• Rolestorming   – This technique encourages group members to take on other people's identities while brainstorming, thereby reducing their inhibitions.

After your individual or group brainstorming session, you'll have a lot of ideas. Although it might seem hard to sort through these ideas to find the best ones, analyzing these ideas is an important next step, and you can use several tools to do this.

Use Affinity Diagrams   to organize ideas and find common themes.

Grid Analysis   and Paired Comparison Analysis   will help you choose between different options. You can also use the Six Thinking Hats   technique to look at ideas from different perspectives; and Nominal Group Technique   and Multi-Voting   can help you choose between options as a team, particularly where the differences between options are quite subjective.

This is the quality of a manger how would he utlize this technique for generating ideas and solutions. The best way is to;

·         Once there is some new project or event arrived then manager must ask the team to be at one forum.

·         Brief them about the projects or issues.

·         Ask everyone to share their input and ideas to deal with cost effective solutions.

·         Give them some time to think and then revert.

One best solution has been proposed then implements it, in case of problems during the implementation phase then keeps sharing the reports and yes at end acknowledge the team and encourages such brainstorming so that more solutions are generated.

Creative thinking

brain storming technique helps in finding workable ideas and then putting them into action for win win situation.