In Defense of Brainstorming

A semi-respectful response to people who love to trash it

In the past few years I have noticed a curious trend in the media — one I can no longer ignore — and that is the appearance of seriously derisive articles about brainstorming by self-declared pundits and freelance writers.

Citing selected research on the subject and paying brief homage to Alex Osborne, the father of brainstorming, they make bold assertions about the ineffectiveness of the method, often claiming that “it does not work” and making grand declarations like “people are more creative away from the crowd” and “over 50 years of research shows that people often reach irrational decisions in a group.”

While the previous two quotes do have some degree of truth associated with them, likening a brainstorm session to a “crowd” is not only a poor choice of metaphors, it is patently untrue.

And while many irrational decisions have been made in groups since the beginning of time, to assume that irrational decisions will necessarily be made in a brainstorming session is only more proof that the writers of the recent spate of anti-brainstorming screeds have…