Brainstorming with a structure: five phases that keep sessions productive

Brainstorms are at their best when they balance creativity with productivity. Participants should feel free to share ambitious ideas, yet still leave with concrete next steps. In practice, many sessions fail at one end or the other. Part of the problem is treating the brainstorm as a standalone meeting rather than a process with clear phases before, during, and after the core ideation activity.

The following five phases, drawn from facilitation practices used at Figma, offer a framework for running brainstorms that generate ideas and turn them into action.

1. Do the groundwork before anyone joins

A brainstorm begins well before the session itself. Preparation determines whether participants feel equipped to contribute or end up wondering why they were invited. A short checklist covers the essentials:

  • Set the context: Make sure invitees know why they are there and how they can contribute. A message in Slack or notes in the calendar invitation is enough.
  • Share reading materials: Send a pre-read, brief, or design file in advance so everyone arrives aligned on the problem.
  • Organize pre-meetings: Preview ideas with key collaborators to get early feedback. This gives you a head start on addressing concerns and helps stakeholders feel involved in the process. As one facilitator notes, pre-meetings with different stakeholders can be useful, but only if used sparingly.

2. Set the tone and expectations up front

The facilitator shapes whether participants feel open to sharing. A few deliberate moves at the start of the session can create the right environment:

  • Start with an icebreaker: A quick activity, such as drawing an animal or making collaborator cards, gets the group into a creative mindset from the beginning.
  • Co-create rules of engagement: Discuss expectations together. Is it okay to be on Slack, or should everyone give their full attention? Shared agreements make people feel included.
  • Manage expectations: Be clear about the goal of the brainstorm. Having too many great ideas is a good problem, but as one facilitator puts it, be upfront and say, "We're not going to use all the ideas."

3. Generate ideas with structure

Rather than starting from a blank canvas, facilitators can lean on templates that provide a starting point. Templates act as recipes, adjustable to the team's goals and the material at hand.

Once the session is set up, several techniques help keep the group on track:

  • Lower the barrier to entry: Give participants a prompt, such as one starting with "How might we..." or begin with a small exercise. For example, in a session where participants sketch UI patterns, asking them to draw a circle, square, and triangle first reminds them they have the basic skills to participate.
  • Find a north star: Create shared understanding of what the brainstorm aims to solve and what should come out of it. A simple statement like "We want to solve for X and come away with Y" gives the team focus and shows how their work contributes.
  • Reward wild ideas: A small, silly prize—stickers, a selfie stick, a gift card—can keep the energy up and encourage moonshot thinking.

4. Converge on outcomes and owners

A common reason people avoid brainstorms is the difficulty of moving from generative thinking to tactical next steps. Diverging to produce many ideas is only half the work; the session must also converge on the ideas worth pursuing. These steps help bridge that gap:

  • Dig deeper: Push on each other's suggestions and refine them together. As one facilitator says, "You don't have to take the idea at face value."
  • Assess ideas against outcomes: Evaluate each idea against the north star defined at the start. Tools like an Impact vs. Effort matrix help teams quickly prioritize high-impact projects.
  • Assign owners: Be explicit about next steps and who owns what. Progress is easier when there are direct responsible individuals (DRIs) for each part of the workstream.

5. Follow up so the work sticks

The work doesn't end when the session does. Consolidating and synthesizing input is essential—someone should be able to revisit the file weeks later and understand where the team landed. Beyond cleaning up the workspace, communicate results and next steps to the wider team:

  • Establish a shared understanding: Make sure everyone is aligned, whether that means taking five minutes at the end of the session or scheduling a separate follow-up meeting. As one facilitator puts it, "If one person is not on the bus, you figure out how to bring them back on."
  • Create a visual artifact: Map the ideas you plan to execute. When developing a project plan, you can use a Gantt chart or anchor ideas to an existing framework like a 2x2 matrix or user journey.
  • Share outcomes: Circulate the results with participants and anyone else who needs visibility. Follow-up notes go a long way in keeping everyone on the same page.

Not every brainstorm needs this level of structure. For quick feedback, a lightweight session in a shared whiteboard may be enough. But for broader problems requiring more people and time, these five phases offer a path from moonshot ideas to tangible outcomes. As one practitioner advises, "You don't need to reinvent the wheel"—templates and pre-built activities can handle much of the setup.