1. How often do you brainstorm?<p>2. Do you do it for work or for fun?<p>3. Do you do it by yourself or with others?<p>4. What brainstorming techniques do you employ?
I just think. I first strive to understand a concept, and then I put myself in the shoes of the actors affected by the concept. It evolves in my mental vision, and abstractions flutter around, interact, and connect in appropriate places. Eventually I have a pretty complete Vision in the abstract, the interesting implementation details mostly worked out and the uninteresting details glossed over.<p>This is often most effective in the course of a shower, kinda my meditation time under the water, allowing my mind to drift and play with interesting problems. However, I use the same approach for problems at the workplace or pretty much any problem I encounter in life.<p>I believe less in random brainstorms and more in looking at the big picture. Also, I do not mind trying things out, even if they seem improbable, just to see if they work anyway. There is a certain limit to dreaming about things. I balance the practical with my problem-solving.
My boss likes to "brainstorm", I don't. These meetings are usually filled with half-baked plans that tend to break later on and me after a few weeks left fixing the mess.<p>I rather tend to take a philosopher's walk and think things through. Then I try to forget about it and work on something else for a while so that the plan develops.
Rarely, usually only when I'm stuck on a problem or before I begin long-term planning for a website. It's usually both work and fun. By myself. No techniques, just a fat sharpie marker and lots of blank scrap paper. Sometimes I tape up pages to the wall around my desk to help visualize ideas.