We strive to make Goal Nabber the best smart way to reach goals. That is why, we update and expand functionalities often. The user interface has to be intuitive for new users and experts. Also, the build in intelligence has to make tasks easier and faster for the users. Adding more colors to enhance visual is also part of that.
Some of the many features available (Click image to try them)
This applies to many of the features. This includes:
Brainstorming : The end results is a long list of ideas grouped by themes. In addition to a long list if ideas, you may also have many groups. With more colors to enhance visual, it becomes easier to see the groups on a crowded map.
Mindmaps: You’ll probably have a multitude of branches and sub branches. When it becomes dense, you will appreciate more colors to enhance visual. The additonal contrast and variety will make it easier to navigate and reorganize where needed.
Action plans and Kanban boards: Although simplicity is usually desired, granularity is often needed to manage progress. Technically, monochrome or shades could be sufficient. However, it is so much more fun with more colors to enhance visual. Instead of 100%, you can aim for the GOLD GOAL. The colors on the Board match the graph. You will save time aligning and interperting the information.
There are more examples. You can discover when you will be using Goal Nabber.
The feedback and requests, submitted by our users and interested people, are essential for us. Every month, we offer a few free subscription rewards to thank people for their suggestions and contribution. We hope that you will be one of those rewarded by contacting us with yor suggestion.
You can brainstorm and organize ideas using a mind map . It’s a powerful way to capture, organize thoughts to work with. In practice, we’re doing that all the time for personal purposes (e.g. shopping list) and professional objectives. Some examples of this type of exercise are taking notes, building an action plan, preparing the work breakdown structure (WBS) of a project or a root cause analysis. There are endless possibilities to apply mind mapping.
Collect the ideas with mind map
One of the guiding principals of brainstorming is to build on previous ideas. Our minds works that same way. When thinking of an object, person or matter, we automatically associate thousands of other thoughts to it. This is what people do when they add an item to an existing ones. By navigating through the map, participants are getting familiar with existing items. And at the same time, they are generating new associations and ideas. There is no constraint as to where ideas are added. It can be an additional branch or a new layer. The benefits of this technique include completeness, stakeholder buy in, and knowledge gained by the team.
If you are organizing your own thoughts, you won’t need someone else’s inputs. However, you will have cases where your information is partial and incomplete. The best results are the ones that cover all aspects. The best way to achieve this is by including people with diverse perspectives. Participants should have diverse points of views through their background, organization, expertise, objectives or other relevant criteria.
There are other advantages to getting people involved. By navigating through the items, the team increases their knowledge and insight of the matter at hand. Through their contribution, their understanding and buy in is greater. This will likely lead to better results and save time on upcoming efforts.
Organize the ideas
As ideas are input by association of thoughts, they are likely to be duplicates, overlaps or more oddities. You’re likely to need to make changes before reaching a satisfactory result. To remedy this, there are several possibilities. You can move an item or a whole branch to a new location. In Goal Nabber, that’s a simple drag and drop. To make labels more comprehensible, you can modify them. If you are sure that an item or branch is no longer required, you can delete it.
Present as a mind map or fishbone diagram
Not everyone has the same affinity for all types of diagrams. Nor is one type of diagram suited for all purposes. It could also depend on the context. A fishbone diagram is well suited for a root cause analysis. A Mind map is easier to work with. A disk can provide a dimension of sections and sub section. To have the right format for the desired purpose, different types of diagrams / tools are available. You and your team can use the one they see as being the best fit.
Fully integrated with other Goal Nabber Features
As per all Goal Nabber features, the above outcome, either fully or partially, can be used in other Goal Nabber Huddles (or features). If you have a subscription, you will benefit of advanced functionalities to increase your productivity. For example, the background AI examines the context to provide meaningful suggestions. Or, functionalities that make it easier to integrate with many other applications. If you don’t have a subscription, you should compare the time you currently spend and could save, the cumulated cost of other tools to Goal Nabber. We’re so convinced it of the added value of Goal Nabber that we will offer one year for free when you show us why not.
Find out more
To find our more, we believe that the best way is to try yourself. You can do that by using Goal Nabber (click here). To know more about Goal Nabber, contact us and we will follow up.
Brainstorm sessions are sometimes perceived as the fallback action. Meaning, we don’t know what else to do. Which highlights key strengths, Brainstorming opens new perspectives and gets people insights through participation.
Usefulness
Before listing out use cases, let’s look at the steps that a
Brainstorm session goes through. The starting point is a question. To get more
then Yes/No, it must be an open question that will trigger participants
thoughts and imagination. It requires a team of participants. They will
contribute to the brainstorm by submitting as many ideas as possible. When this
is completed, the ideas are sorted into groups or categories. Although these resulting
groups lead into the following step, we’ll consider this the end of the
brainstorm.
In meeting room: Useful but not ideal
To understand the usefulness of brainstorming, let’s loop
back on the above:
It enables to get insight into a question or problem.
It enables, if not already done, to identify stakeholders. Best results are obtained when participants have a diverse perspective. That includes experts and novices. That can also be different roles such as users, operators, testers, managers, suppliers, customers or others. Eventually, an outsider, with no knowledge of the area, could think out of the box.
It’s an opportunity to have some fun while working. After all a good laugh brings people closer. A good way to fit in some team building with generating new ideas.
While organizing the many ideas that were put forward, the participants dialog to build knowledge. They will gain clarification on several points. Each individual will learn about other’s perspective. They will build an overall understanding. And, most importantly, they will provide potential answers to the question.
Getting to use cases, there is the obvious general domain of
Creative problem Solving.
It is a method to gain insight or clarification on a problem statement, a
project scope. I can be used to build lists such as influencing factors,
requirements, potential solutions, criteria or constraints. In the earlier
stages of a project, the safe zone contributes to building a closer team, and
increasing participants acceptance.
Brainstorm Ground rules
Osborn had two principles that contribute to idea generation efficiency: Defer judgement, Reach for quantity. From these principals, four ground rules are deducted:
Aim for Quantity – Quality comes in later
Withhold criticism – The evaluation is later
Welcome wild ideas – Wild ideas are new ones
Combine and improve ideas – Expand to generate new ideas
You can extend these ground rules if you see a need. For example, everyone must find a gazillion ideas. Simply bare in mind, too many or strict rules will influence creativity.
Brainstorm Pitfalls and Advice
There are many pitfalls and opportunities to get the most out of a Brainstorm session. Here is a shortlist of the most meaningful ones:
Trying to address multiple questions at a time
A Y/N question and a broad question are two extremes to avoid. By aiming to get too tackle too much, the result will also be broader. And, you might not answer anything at all. While preparing and presenting the question to participant, the SMART technique (i.e. Simple Measurable Achievable Relevant Timely) can be helpful to refine the question. No need to aim for perfection, it is about setting a direction versus dictating an outcome. That would hinder the creativity. For the team to start, it is important that the challenge is generally understood and accepted. This can be achieved through open discussion and adjustments.
Team with single perspective
If we looked at stars for the first time without any scientific knowledge. We’d probably all describe bright spots moving in the night sky. Through history, people with different ideas and perspective have influenced that initial perception. When identifying participants, the team should ideally cover all perspective of the object. There are likely to be constraints such as sizes, availability, interest. Look for a compromise then avoids the single sided view.
Intimidated participants
A common example is a manager in the room. Some people may hesite to express themselves freely. There are the ground rules of criticism, participation and respect. Creating a safe environment is essential. The brainstorming in Goal Nabber uses anonymity to minimize that effect. Also, it allows for wild out of the box ideas to come out. The chat room offers the possibility to ask questions (with respect). Breaching barriers should be a way to generate new ideas.
Monopoly of speech time
If a person is capturing what others are saying, there are a few inconveniences. Firstly, ideas can only come one at a time. Secondly, speech time could be monopolized. Third, a new line of thought and ideas may be cut off. Brain writing can be effective for such situation. The limitation is that participants still need to pay attention to new ideas in order to build on them. To balance the collective and individual contribution, Goal Nabber shows the question and image with a word map of the collective ideas. The word map changes real time with newly submitted ideas. Participants are using their own device to submit their ideas. They are also able to scroll the submitted ideas freely.
Bias
Bias has several causes. Our information is usually partial because of availability or sampling. Our objectives and people that we want to please (e.g. boss, customer) are influencing our actions. And, there are many more factors that can influence our perception and reasoning. Nothing will beat seeing it with your own eyes. Gemba’s, or Go See sessions, play an important role in Lean Six Sigma. In a meeting room or conference call, you will rely on memory. That’s not ideal. Actual observation is the best approach. By using Goal Nabber on a mobile device, the participants can observe “out in the field” and submit ideas/notes live. Ideas are closer to reality. And, the inputs are collected together immediately with no extra effort.
Apply best practices
Try Goal Nabber
To conclude, the above advice applies even if you’re not using Goal Nabber. Goal Nabber makes it easier to apply. That way, you can focus on the more important aspects, and the desired results. If you’re not already using Goal Nabber, you can begin with a free trial:
