Brainstorming sessions

The focus will depend on the overall objectives of the audit. A good way to approach this is by conducting a brainstorming session with operators and environmental specialists. 

Often, the walkthrough and analysis of the process flow sheets lead to an early identification of P2 and waste-reduction opportunities. By studying the process flow sheets and information gathered from the walkthrough, and by conducting brainstorming sessions with team members, the team will be able to identify sources... 

Leading a brainstorming session takes practice. Try for a fast pace and be sensitive to participants move on to another question as soon as you sense that ideas are becoming forced. 

The number of relevant facts accumulated in an accident investigation is usually limited. Further investigation usually cannot uncover additional facts. A deeper analysis of the facts, however, often leads to new conclusions and recommendations. This deeper analysis is, for example, similar to a brainstorming session to develop new applications for a common house brick. New and interesting applications will continue to surface. 

As a class, hold a brainstorming session to create a list of catalysts that are used in industries and... 

Notice the number of questions and the amount of possible essay material this student was able to generate. Some of the questions are more relevant to the assignment than others ( when was TV invented probably wont be relevant, for example). But clearly, this student has many ideas to work with. In the next lesson, you ll learn how to use a brainstorming session like this to develop a thesis and organize your essay ideas. 

The speculation phase Once the pertinent information and issues have been reviewed and the important functions of each process and project step identified, the team is encouraged to speculate on alternative methods to perform each function and to solve each major project issue. Brainstorming sessions within a creative environment encourage the team to strive for new and innovative ideas. 

This step involves the planning of creative brainstorming sessions by the project team to generate as many initial options as possible. 

This book is rooted in an informal discussion with three researchers. Dr Alatzne Carlosena, Dr Monica Felipe and Dr Maria Jesus Cal, after they had some problems measuring antimony in soils and sediments by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. While we reviewed the results and debated possible problems, much like in a brainstorming session, I realized that some of their difficulties were highly similar to those found in molecular spectrometry (mid-IR spectroscopy, where I had some experience), namely a lack of peak reproducibility, noise, uncontrollable amounts of concomitants, possible matrix interferences, etc. 

Form a team of three or more and choose one individual whose career choices will be examined during a brainstorming session. Try to find alternative career paths or emphases that will help the individual to grow. This exercise can be repeated for each group member. 

With proper props and a scribe in place, the structured brainstorming session can begin. In its normal course it follows six steps in the following order ... 

Solutions are only good and bad in relation to criteria that they satisfy or don t, and in this step of tlie brainstorming session a set of criteria for judging the alternative solutions is generated and selected. During discussion of the mess, many criteria typically get mentioned, so the first part of this phase is to collect candidate criteria by reviewing the mess. Additional criteria can and should be added to the list. As widi the other creative portions of the procedure, this first pass at generating criteria should avoid criticism and be inclusive. Thereafter a second pass should be made to ensure that each included criterion is essential to project success. If controversy arises, it is still best to err on the side of inclusion. In the final debate, spurious criteria will usually be discounted. 

This task helps the team to analyze the drivers for pollution prevention and to develop the criteria necessary to screen the options generated during the brainstorming session. 

If a person cannot be found in the business who can facilitate a brainstorming session, then a consultant, possibly someone at the local university or college, will be needed. 

Our Chemical Development group in Bristol-Myers had earlier held many brainstorming sessions to find a solution to the problem. The solution came from a reading of Russian literature12 describing the conversion of TMSNH to TMSChCNH-... 

It is a group activity, optimally between five to ten people. At least two-thirds of the people invited to the brainstorming session should have ideally a variety of experience obtained in different fields. Preferably an experienced, neutral facilitator should run the session, whose job is to record the ideas on a flip chart, electronic white board or other appropriate technology and to stimulate and orchestrate the flow of ideas from the participants. For somebody inexperienced in facilitating a brainstorming session there are some guidelines to be followed. 

It is important to work quickly and to use key words, and not phrases and draw the images in colour to highlight the new nodes. Using this methodology the mind forms associations almost instantaneously. Mind maps have great creative potential when used as part of a brainstorming session. 

In this section, the heuristics are often presented as questions rather than as affirmative rules. The rules are then often obvious answers to the questions, and, hence, often no explanation is necessary nor is any provided. However, if an elaboration or clarification is needed, this is provided immediately following the question. The question format of presenting the heuristics is very useful, for instance, in brainstorming sessions during process evaluation and design. 

The true What-If analysis is considered a brainstorming session. Personnel familiar with the facility discuss aspects in a random fashion whatever comes to mind. Most What-If reviews are therefore akin to a the definition of a What-If/Checklist concept to overcome this handicap. 

The typical What-If review is a basic brainstorming session, all sorts of topics may be randomly addressed as they come to mind. Combined with a checklist format, the review may become simple questions to answer. 

Figure 7-13 shows a set of new ideas that has come up in a brainstorming session. For some of them we only have a vague idea of whether they might work. Others are probably nonsense. 

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