Structured Brainstorming

There are a few physical props required for structured brainstorming  

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  

In the remainder of this section, we examine what is meant by each of these steps and why they are so ordered. 

During the problem definition stage, discussion is permitted but care should be taken to avoid bickering and needless debate. Once a suitable, succinct problem statement has been created, it is time for generation of alternatives to begin. 

If tlie problem is sufficiently difficult and more than one session is required, 

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The team uses its judgment and experience to find credible causes. Structured brainstorming may employ tools such as what if and five whys. 

Intuitive techniques rely on the experience and knowledge of the people involved to identify causes. Brainstorming utilizes intuitive techniques, while structured brainstorming utilizes a combination of intuitive and deductive techniques. 

Checklists may also be used to supplement other tools for example, checklists on human factors may be used in conjunction with logic trees. Similarly, checklists may be used in combination with structured brainstorming tools such as What If/Checklist and Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Analysis.(P It is also a good practice to apply a tool like the 5-Whys to the root causes identified from the checklist to verify whether they are truly root causes. 

Checklists may also be used in combination with structured brainstorming tools, such as What If/Checklist Analysis. 

The beauty of structured brainstorming is in its ruthless separation of the creative and critical components of the process, as well as its prevention of the leader-follower group dynamic. Practiced regularly, it can help boost die quantity and quality of the solutions created by any group with which you are associated. 

Apply structured brainstorming to the problem of finding engaging employment. 

Form three or more teams consisting of three or more individuals each. Select a current problem facing your organization and have each team solve the same problem using the structured brainstorming protocol. After the solutions are complete, convene a meeting of all teams and compare and contrast the selected solutions. 

Select a problem that was recently solved in your organization by traditional, unstructured means. Perform structured brainstorming on the same problem, individually or in a group. As much as possible, ignore the previous solution. Compare and contrast the solutions derived by structured and unstructured means. 

Cause and effect diagrams, which are produced after group discussions on the problem, or its effect, involve the production of detailed check lists and a structured brainstorming (see Section C, 1.8.3). Following this process the diagram will become very complex and has the appearance of the skeleton of a fish hence they are often called fishbone diagrams. 

One effective systematic method, a variation on which will be outlined further in this book, is the SWIFT or Structured What-If Technique. SWIFT is a systems-based risk identification technique that employs structured brainstorming, using pre-developed guidewords or headings in combination with prompts elicited from participants (which often begin with the phrases What if... or How could... ), to examine risks and hazards at a systems or subsystems level [1]. The technique was originally developed as a simpler alternative to HAZOP (see Sect. 13.6.2). 

Structured brainstorming Time consuming and has large Works well for... 

AHAZOP is a structured brainstorming meeting, set up to identify potential undesirable events that may create hazards or operability problems, i.e. risks to personal safety and potential damage to assets, the environment and the reputation. The identified hazards, along with any actions for further investigation, and other relevant supporting information are recorded on HAZOP worksheets. 

Structured What if Technique (SWIFT) SWIFT is a systematic team based study to identify risks and hazards (lEC/ISO 31010, 2009). It employs structured brainstorming and forms an alternative to hazard and operability studies technique (Card et al., 2012, lEC/ISO 31010, 2009). 

What-if analysis is a systematic approach to HA that asks What if this, that or some other event might occur in order to identify every conceivable hazard and HCFs. What-if analysis is a structured brainstorming method of... 

In this section we give a brief description of three commonly used methods of safety analysis Fault Tree Analysis, Event Tree Analysis and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis. Those are the methods which, in our opinion, can mostly benefit fix)m being extended with more formal semantics. We do not cover here Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) which is a "structured brainstorm" - type method with the main stress on managerial aspects. However, as HAZOP may make use of FTA, ETA and/or FMEA, it can also benefit firom the proposed approach. 

A team-based structured brainstorming technique for identification of hazards before they arise. HAZOP starts with a deviation from normal system operation and examines how that deviation might occur and the consequences should such a deviation occur. 

A structured brainstorming technique developed for the marine industry. 

Structured brainstorming considers individual items and procedures, using a set of guide words as prompts. 

High level structured brainstorming technique that originated from the process/manufacturing industry. 

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