Unleashing Innovation: Brainwriting for Data Engineers — but not just for them
- Brainwriting, a collaborative ideation method, is growing in popularity as it encourages creativity and diverse perspectives that are essential for finding innovative solutions to complex problems and staying competitive.
- Brainwriting helps to develop diverse and innovative ideas by minimizing groupthink and amplifying the quieter voices in the team.
Introduction
Brainwriting is a new method for data engineers to come up with ideas. Instead of speaking out loud, as in traditional brainstorming, everyone writes down their thoughts quietly. This helps everyone, even the quieter team members, to share their ideas without getting nervous. If the teams concentrate on writing down as many ideas as possible, they can quickly come up with many different solutions to a problem. Later, they can look at all the ideas together, pick out the best ones and consider how they can implement them. Brainwriting helps teams to work better together and find intelligent solutions more quickly.
In this article, we explore how data engineers (and others) can use brainwriting to encourage innovation and drive transformative change in their projects.
Limits of Brainstorming
Brainstorming often fails because of group dynamics and behaviors that are common in organizations. Most of these problems relate to group behaviors that almost always occur in companies, start-ups or team situations.. For example [How to Use Brainwriting for Rapid Idea Generation]:
- Large groups have a difficult time staying focused and attentive (someone is talking at the front of the room, leading participants to think: I’ve already had my say, so I might as well check my email!)
- Strong personalities take the floor at the start of the meeting and maintain control of the creative process (Jane will either squelch or take credit for my idea, so why pitch it?)
- The first ideas suggested become the focus of discussion, making it difficult to propose new, innovative ideas (We’ve already come to consensus, so why pitch another idea?)
- Self-censorship based on others’ responses to earlier suggestions (I could tell that no one liked Bill’s idea, so they’ll hate mine too.)
- The process can take a long time (With so many people participating in the brainstorming process, it can take several meetings to finally come to an agreed-upon solution.)
- Shy, anxious group members tend to resist participation (I don’t want to embarrass myself; it’s safest to just keep my mouth shut.)
- People are too busy thinking to listen or vice versa (I want to get my idea completely sorted out before I say anything — but whoops, the meeting just ended!)
- Group members are frustrated when their own ideas are “taken” by another person (I was just going to say that!)
- Politics can take a front seat (What does the boss want to hear?)
Understanding Brainwriting: A Paradigm Shift in Idea Generation
Brainwriting differs from traditional brainstorming sessions where participants verbally share their ideas in the group. Unlike brainstorming, which can be dominated by vocal participants and inhibit contributions from introverted team members, brainwriting ensures equal participation and reduces social anxiety.
In a brainwriting session, participants silently write down their ideas in response to a prompt or problem statement and share their papers for others to build on. This process continues until all ideas have been shared and consolidated for further exploration.
How-to Brainwrite: A Step-by-Step Guide
Implementing brainwriting in data engineering projects requires a structured approach to ensure optimal outcomes. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how data engineers can effectively leverage brainwriting to unleash innovation:
1. Define the Problem Statement
Clearly articulate the problem or challenge that necessitates innovative solutions in your project. Ensure that the problem statement is concise, specific, and actionable, providing a clear direction for brainstorming.
Example: “How can data engineering help marketers to better personalize their emails?”
2. Establish Ground Rules
Set guidelines for the brainwriting session, including the duration of each round, the number of ideas to be generated per round, and the method of idea sharing.
How to: 6–3–5 Brainwriting: The idea behind 6–3–5 Brainwriting is to have 6 participants write down 3 ideas on a worksheet in a 5 minute timebox, hence the name. After each participant takes a turn jotting down the 3 ideas, they pass the on to either contribute to the existing idea, or start anew. After 6 rounds, 108 ideas are generated in 30 minutes.
Communicate these ground rules to all participants to ensure a structured and efficient brainstorming process.
3. Select Participants
Assemble a diverse team of data engineers, data scientists, analysts and stakeholders who are directly involved with the problem being addressed and bring different perspectives and expertise to the brainstormin session. Ensure that participants are familiar with the problem and the objectives of the brainwriting exercise.
4. Prepare Materials
Provide each participant with worksheets of paper or digital documents where they can write down their ideas.
Make sure the worksheets are prepared in advance. Once you’ve selected a topic down to a problem statement, write this at the top of your worksheet. This is the worksheet consisting of a grid where the heading of the columns are Idea 1, Idea 2 and Idea 3 with rows (# of rows per person — if there are 6 people, there are 6 rows, if there are 5 people, there are 5 rows) identifying who has contributed to the suggestion. For the worksheet, you may also create a grid with square sticky notes put on a 3 x 6 grid worksheet.
[How to: 6–3–5 Brainwriting]
Ensure that pens, pencils, or digital writing tools are readily available for participants to use during the brainwriting session.
Download the 6–3–5 Brainwriting PDF Worksheet for free to use in your session [How to Use Brainwriting for Rapid Idea Generation]
5. Conduct the Brainwriting Session
Start the session by introducing the problem statement and reiterating the ground rules and objectives of the brainwriting exercise. Set a timer for each round, allowing participants a specified amount of time (e.g., 5–10 minutes) to generate ideas silently. Encourage participants to write down as many ideas as possible within the allotted time frame, emphasizing quantity over quality during the brainstorming phase.
The 5 minute timebox can start at this point. Each participant completes the first row and writes down the first ideas working in silence. This can be a drawing, a note, etc- however the team member prefers.
[How to: 6–3–5 Brainwriting]
Remind participants to refrain from discussing or critiquing ideas during the brainwriting process, maintaining a silent and focused atmosphere.
6. Rotate and Build on Ideas
After each round, instruct participants to pass their written ideas to the person sitting next to them or to a designated facilitator. Upon receiving a new set of ideas, participants should review the existing contributions and build upon them by adding new insights, perspectives, or enhancements.
When the 5 minutes ends, the worksheet is passed to the person on the right. The 5 minute time box starts anew, and the next participant can either become inspired by the idea on the sheet, contribute to them by integrating or completing the idea, or may decide to ignore them and start anew.
The process goes on until all 6 rounds of the worksheet are filled in (e.g. all 6 people have contributed.)
[How to: 6–3–5 Brainwriting]
7. Consolidate and Evaluate Ideas
Once all rounds are completed, gather the accumulated ideas and consolidate them into a central repository, such as a whiteboard, flip chart, or digital document.
After the team removed duplications, the worksheets were handed back to the participants. For the analysis, the team members examined their sheets and identified the top 3 ideas by putting a “+” sign by each one, then they passed the sheet to the person on the right, who then repeated the process, identifying the top choices for the group, then a quick and final round of dot-voting occurred.
[How to: 6–3–5 Brainwriting]
Facilitate a collaborative discussion where participants evaluate and prioritize the ideas based on relevance, feasibility, and potential impact on the data engineering project.
Identify key themes, patterns, or recurring concepts emerging from the brainstorming session to inform subsequent decision-making and implementation strategies.
8. Follow-up and Implementation
Document the outcomes of the brainwriting session, including the prioritized ideas, action items, and next steps for implementation. Assign responsibilities and timelines for executing the selected ideas, ensuring accountability and alignment with project goals.
Schedule follow-up meetings or checkpoints to track progress, address challenges, and iterate on the implementation of innovative solutions derived from the brainwriting exercise.
The Benefits of Brainwriting
Enhanced Idea Generation: Brainwriting facilitates rapid idea generation by allowing participants to contribute their thoughts simultaneously and without interruption. In the dynamic field of data science, where innovation drives progress, the ability to generate a multitude of ideas efficiently is invaluable.
Diverse Perspectives: By encouraging all team members to contribute their ideas anonymously, brainwriting promotes inclusivity and diversity of thought. Data engineers, data scientists, analysts and stakeholders come from different backgrounds and have unique insights that can drive innovation when they have the opportunity to express themselves freely.
Reduced Groupthink: Traditional brainstorming sessions can lead to groupthink — a phenomenon where conformity stifles creativity and critical thinking. Brainwriting mitigates this risk by allowing participants to express their ideas independently, encouraging a wider range of solutions and viewpoints.
Improved Focus and Clarity: As there are no verbal distractions, participants can concentrate fully on formulating their ideas concisely during brainwriting. This clarity of thought improves the quality of the contributions and simplifies the subsequent evaluation process.
Conclusion
The limitations of traditional brainstorming are well documented, highlighting the need for alternative approaches. Brainwriting emerges as a transformative method of idea generation that eliminates common pitfalls such as group dynamics and individual inhibitions. By encouraging the involvement of everyone, supporting different perspectives and curbing groupthink, brainwriting unleashes the full creative potential of teams. The structured process ensures focused brainstorming, leading to greater clarity and a wealth of innovative ideas.
As data engineers become increasingly engaged in innovation, brainwriting as an ideation tool can unleash new possibilities and drive transformative change. Let’s seize the opportunity to use brainwriting to advance our industry with breakthrough solutions and technological advancements.
