Focus Your Brainstorming With a Starburst! When you’re considering a new product or service, or designing a new process with your team, you might start by brainstorming ideas. But how do you know you’ve covered every area you need to – and how original is the outcome really likely to be? This is where Starbursting can help. It’s a way of focusing your team’s thinking by generating questions instead of answers. Starbursting is based on a series of questions that push es people to think wider and further than they might otherwise do. In fact, it’ll likely stimulate more ideas than brainstorming. Here’s how. Step 1. Set up a six-pointed star, labeled Who, What, When, Where, How , and Why. Step 2. Pick one point and ask yourself as many questions as you can from that perspective. Add them all to the star. Step 3. Work round the other points of the star, asking as many questions for each as you can. Avoid trying to answer them right now as that  might break the flow of creativity. Step 4. Finally, look for connections between different areas. For example, “Who has experience of similar projects?” might prompt the question, “What skills gaps do we need to cover?” You might find that you need more sessions to fully investigate every angle. In fact, you’ll likely be bursting with ideas! © 2022 Mind Tools by Emerald Works Ltd.