Reverse Brainstorming Template

What is the Reverse Brainstorming template?

Combine brainstorming and reversal techniques to build on the natural human urge to see more problems than solutions. Make your meeting or workshop more exhaustive by creating the main statement for your session and then looking at the ways that could cause your plan to fail. Write down notes together with your entire team or work individually on this part of the exercise.

After the ideation part is over, take a look at the notes and start putting them in a positive light to achieve the opposite effect. Use your creativity and generate more innovative solutions that are customer-oriented and can fill in the gaps within your product. Implement them swiftly if what you’re left with turns out to be a great collection of significant ideas.

What are the benefits of the Reverse Brainstorming template?

Thanks to the Reverse Brainstorming template, you can:

• Mix the brainstorming and reversal techniques to solve more problems your team or organization face.
• Reverse your mindset by first identifying the problem and then finding solutions you haven’t thought of before.
• Extend the brainstorming session by looking at the positive and negative aspects to develop more creative ideas.
• Find direct solutions to your problem by discovering hidden faults or hiccups in the processes or product.
• Streamline the process of discovery by raising issues or problems that may be invisible to managers but are significant roadblocks.

How to use the Reverse Brainstorming template in a few steps?

1. Open the Reverse Brainstorming template on a new board or add it to an already existing one.
2. Invite your team to the board by sending an email invitation or sharing the board URL.
3. Define the problem or challenge statement in the text block. It can also be in the form of a question.
4. Reverse your statement from a positive to a negative one. For instance, if you ask yourself how to improve your customer experience, turn it around to ideate how to make your customer experience worse.
5. Brainstorm ideas with the entire team and make notes with examples on sticky notes. 
6. Reverse all of your creative ideas. Take the negative notes and write them down as positive comments and suggestions.
7. Analyze the results and choose the best ideas. Prioritize them and turn them into actionable Jira items with two clicks.

**This template has been inspired by MindTools.