How to Choose the Best Idea After Brainstorming
I had a rather interesting email in my inbox this morning when I woke up.
- “Mitesh, for me coming up with ideas is easy. I can brainstorm ideas naturally, but my largest downfall is knowing when to stop and how to choose the best idea. Any insight in this matter would be much appreciated.”
Well my friend, I am going to try and answer your question through my personal trial and error.
Lets start by clearing up a few things. When brainstorming it is important to not ridicule an idea or become “Negative Nancy” for lack of a better term. An idea is an idea, no matter how ridiculous it may sound. One idea may spark a more relevant idea.
With the culmination of all your ideas, start by categorizing them. I tend to use three categories.
- Best Choice
- Probable
- No Way
Best Choice:
Nine out of ten times you will always have an idea that you fall in love with. But that doesn’t mean it is the best idea. However, at this point in time you are allowed to put these types of ideas in this pile.
Probable:
These are the more reasonable ideas. They work, but are not necessarily the best. You can also call these types of ideas, the “safe” ones.
No Way:
These are the ideas you probably won’t want to share with anyone, and are just god-awful.
Now The Trick
While you may have an idea of what the best concept is, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best idea. When we concept we pride ourselves on how good the idea is. In doing so we forget the main purpose.
- Which idea solves the problem most effectively?
Get Feedback
If you want the most brutal honest assessment get feedback and don’t be afraid of it being negative. Feedback can only make your ideas better and more polished. When an outside perspective sees your idea, they view it from a different light. Let that fresh perspective make the same piles, Best Choice, Probable, No Way. If you both agree then it looks like you have a winner. If there is some dispute discuss why the idea is in that particular category. That discussion can only improve your ideas or justify a better solution.
Long story short, collaboration is the key to picking the best idea hands down.
Happy Collaboration
Mitesh Solanki
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December 29th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Hi Mitesh,
Thank you for this post — I like your choice of Best Choice / Probable / No Way for categorizing your brainstorm ideas.
I guess the only caveat to getting feedback is to be discerning in whom you ask for that feedback. Not everyone is qualified to evaluate and give you worthwhile feedback, unless they are working in the same niche and have as good or better knowledge about it than you do.
Also worth noting that when you ask for criticism, you get it! So I like your suggestion of getting them to categorize ideas in the same way you have, to see where the winner lies.
Cheers,
Wily
March 5th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Pls give Me Best Catagory idea