Brainstorming is a technique that encourages individual team members to free themselves from any inhibitions and constraints and to generate as many creative ideas about a situation as possible. Brainstorming is generally useful for generating ideas.

According to Alex Osborn, brainstorming is "a conference technique by which a group attempts to find a solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by its members."

Brainstorming is a process designed to obtain the maximum number of ideas relating to a specific area of interest. Brainstorming occurs during a fixed period of time dedicated to generating a large number of ideas regardless of their initial perceived worth. Brainstorming is the free association of different ideas to form new ideas and concepts. Also, brainstorming is a part of problem solving which involves the creation of new ideas by suspending judgment.

from Power et al. (1986)
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