Information Technology Reference
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the basis on which the group develops its solution strategy. This method initially emphasizes
the quantity of ideas generated, leaving the assessment of quality to a later stage. This
method is used to uncover ideas without being constrained, as the outcome is not permanent.
Brainstorming also allows individuals or groups to capture all of their thoughts.
Individual Brainstorming
While most brainstorming-related techniques are designed for group use, individuals
can also perform brainstorming. Individual brainstorming may produce a greater number of
ideas than group brainstorming, as less time is generally spent on developing ideas in depth
(Mullen, Johnson, & Salas, 1991; Stroebe & Diehl, 1994). Development of individual ideas
may also be thwarted from the individual running up against problems they cannot solve on
their own.
One individual creativity technique is SoloBrainstorming (SBS), originally proposed by
one of the authors (Aurum, 1997). This technique uses a form of brainstorming and is
especially suited to environments where sentential analysis is appropriate or where informa-
tion sources are document based (e.g., reports, abstracts, testimonies, interview transcripts,
Web publications). The SBS technique (as shown in Figure 1) requires the individual to
adhere to a formal protocol (procedure), where a series of documents are examined (“reading”
stage), and then edited (“editing” stage). The editing stage consists of the following
activities: typing a summary of each document; making lateral comments and links (e.g.,
making connections between documents; noting ideas as they occur); and nominating issues
to be followed up. The ultimate aim in a SBS session is to determine a sufficient set of issues.
As applications of the SBS protocol have been computer-based, all issues are automatically
available in electronic form for further analysis.
Figure 1. Overview of the SBS technique (adapted from Aurum et al., 2001)
