1. Understanding what brainstorming is and what you can expect from it

Brainstorming is the best-known and most widely-used creativity technique, but it's also the most misused. It's often reduced to a few minutes of uncontrolled delirium or writing a few words on Post-it® notes. In reality, it requires a great deal of discipline.

Brainstorming is based on three principles:

• Defer judgment: as the imagination develops more freely in the absence of judgment, all censorship is forbidden during brainstorming: no phrases such as "it won't work, it's impossible, it's too expensive...", or even "I have doubts, I don't think it's a good idea...". All ideas are good in principle, even the strangest ones! But rest assured, if the judgment is deferred, it is not suppressed: in the end, when the ideas have to be selected and further developed, there will be a judgment.

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