[offsky]

When I was at IDEO I ran and participated in many wonderfully productive brainstorms that produced great ideas that could not have occurred otherwise. Later, at another job I tried to run a brainstorm with people who had never been in a brainstorm and it was a disaster. Like all skills, it takes practice to learn how to defer judgement and build on the ideas of others and to not be afraid to throw out a silly idea. Some of our best ideas at IDEO were silly ideas that someone else built upon to transform into a great idea. After some experience, my new group started having good brainstorms. You need some creative people who are comfortable around each other and you need to practice.