Brainstorming Techniques – Play The Devils Advocate

One of the important methods to derive a great idea or to check its viability is by passing it through tough tests. Brainstorming is an important technique that gives the team an opportunity to generate and test various ideas. It starts by introducing a concept followed by dissecting its bits and pieces. It is important to have an appropriate mix of team that shares credibility in evaluating and assessing the various parts of the idea. People with varied experience give a good thrust to exercise because you have a summation of thought process that work towards the common goal.

The process work well when different thought processes helps you evaluate the different parts of idea. A conflicting argument gives you an opportunity to asses the sanity of the proposed feature. But if the group is in a total agreement then the whole process loses its meaning. This is the reason that we do have the quality checks, assessment, and even ethical hacking that work towards validating the performance of any idea or feature.

Brainstorming is all together a different process but it is marred by inefficiencies. The problem can be in terms of composition or skill set of the group. Sometimes it is too difficult to extract the desired outcome which eventually results in inefficiencies. This is the reason that there is a need to play the role of devil advocate. Let’s look at it more from holistic viewpoint.

What happens when you participate in a brainstorming session?

1) You present your viewpoint just like others do.

2) The good points get accepted and the bad gets rejected

3) In the end you have what all feel is the best way to go.

But what happens if

1) People don’t participate willingly.

2) Selected people dominate the group

3) There is more noise than constructive discussion

In such cases the end result is disaster

1) The exercises losses it meaning

2) The end result is prone to inefficiencies

3) There is a lot of time that got wasted

This situation demands the need for playing the role of Devils Advocate. This role involves

1) Taking the wrong or the weak side.

2) Finding arguments and points that support the weak side

3) Finding loopholes in the opposite or right side in order to make ones own argument strong.

This approach rocks because

1) You seriously look for loopholes

2) While brainstorming the undiscovered bad points gets exposed.

3) It exposes the weakness of the strong points.

So if you strongly believe to open your own business and feel passionately about it.

Hold On. Play the devils advocate first.

It is always advisable to look for negatives before you get fascinated by positives.

Playing devil advocate role is important technique in brainstorming. Ask for volunteers if the discussion is not going in a right path. Validate, validate and validate more before you are sure that there is nothing that holds the true water in negating your concept. It takes courage to defy your own idea but the rewards are just amazing. Go for healthy discussions as it is the best way forward.

Photo Credit- Colodio