Brainstorm map that leads to a decision

Open the Brainstorm template

The Brainstorm template is one of the 13 starters Canvasola ships with, filed under brainstorming in the gallery. It arrives as a root called Problem Statement with four branches: Ideas — Quantity, Clusters, Top 3 Picks and Next Steps. The first branch holds three children, Obvious, Wild and Borrowed, and the rest arrive empty.

The three children are the actual instructions, because the point of a brainstorm is volume rather than quality. Obvious is what everybody already said, Wild is what nobody would dare say, and Borrowed is what another field does well. Keeping them apart stops the obvious answers from crowding out the useful ones.

Everything after that branch is the part a brainstorm usually skips. The template already has a place for clustering, a place for the shortlist and a place for next steps, so the work is filling them in rather than inventing a structure. The brainstorming template page shows the starter on its own.

• Four branches, and only Ideas — Quantity arrives with children
• Obvious, Wild and Borrowed are three different kinds of idea
• Volume first, judgment later
• The last three branches are where a brainstorm usually stops

Note: Choosing a template replaces the open map, so keep any existing work in another workspace tab before you start.

Separate ideas from judging them

The fastest way to end a brainstorm early is to let the room start ranking ideas while they are still arriving. The template resists that, because Clusters and Top 3 Picks sit apart from Ideas — Quantity, and you can leave them empty for the first half hour.

Layers make the separation physical. The 2D layer tabs scope the map to one layer, and a map holds up to 8 layers, so put the raw ideas on a layer called Ideas and move to a second layer for the scoring. The shortcut cheat sheet has the keys, including 3 for the 3D stack and 2 to edit a layer in 2D.

Color does the same job more cheaply. The 8-color palette plus a recent colors row gives you one color for raw ideas and another for the ones that survived, and the difference is visible from across the room. Keep it to two colors, because a palette of ten colors means nothing to the next person.

• Leave Clusters and Top 3 Picks empty during the first half hour
• Put the raw ideas on a layer of their own
• Two colors: raw ideas and survivors
• Say the rule out loud: no judging yet

Cluster the ideas that repeat

Volume alone is noise, so the next step is to find what repeats. The Clusters branch is where a theme goes: add a child node for it, such as "Make it cheaper to start", then hold Shift and drop the ideas that belong to it onto that child. Three ideas under one theme become a pattern, and the pattern is the insight.

The rule for a cluster is that it has to be a sentence somebody could say out loud. "Make it cheaper to start" is a cluster. "Pricing" is a category. A category tells you where an idea lives, while a sentence tells you what to do about several ideas at once.

Keep the duplicates. Two people writing the same idea is a signal rather than a mistake, and a cluster with three children from three people is worth more than a cluster of one that nobody else mentioned. Cross-link the other mentions back to the cluster if you would rather keep them in the Ideas branch, since a link works between any two nodes.

• A cluster is a sentence, not a category
• Hold Shift and drop ideas onto the cluster node
• Repeated ideas are evidence, not noise
• Cross-link a mention instead of moving it

Score the clusters you might pick

The Top 3 Picks branch is where the scoring happens, and the template leaves it empty because scoring depends on the decision. Give it one child per cluster you would consider, and inside each one put the criteria as children: impact, cost, how soon, how sure. Two levels of children is enough, and a third level means the criteria need rewriting.

Score with something visible. Give each cluster a number in the label, and use cross-links to show which criteria drove the score, so a reader can follow the reasoning rather than the total. The cross-link guide covers how the tubes are drawn and why they carry no text of their own.

Score against the decision, not against taste. "I like this one" is a preference, while "this one moves the number we said mattered and the other two do not" is an argument, and the argument is the part you can defend when somebody asks why you did not pick the cheaper option.

• One child per cluster, and the criteria as its children
• Put the score in the label so it is visible
• Two levels of children is enough
• Score against the stated decision, not against taste

Add the decision branch

A brainstorm that ends at Top 3 Picks has narrowed the field and stopped. Add a branch called Decision under the root, and another called Not chosen, because the options you rejected are part of the record and somebody will ask about them later. The SWOT guide makes the same move, pairing a choice with the reasons behind it.

Both branches are one line each. The Decision branch says what you are doing, and the Not chosen branch says what you are not doing and why. A decision that takes a paragraph usually means two decisions have been merged, and two decisions merged is one decision nobody made.

Keep the decision near the top of the map. The root sits above the branches, so a reader who opens the map sees the problem, and a reader who wants the outcome finds the Decision branch in a second. The Next Steps branch the template gives you then carries the first actions.

• Add Decision and Not chosen under the root
• One line each, not a paragraph
• A paragraph-long decision is two decisions merged
• Next Steps carries the first actions

Write what you decided and why

The reason matters more than the choice, and it belongs in the rich note of the Decision node. Write the two or three sentences you would say if somebody asked why in a month: what the decision was, what it was based on, and what would make you change it. A note can hold 80,000 characters, so there is no excuse for a thin reason.

Add the date and the owner to that note, because a decision without either is still a conversation. Then put the first action under Next Steps, with the same format you would use for a meeting action: a name, a date and a definition of done in the note.

Export the map when the session ends so the reasoning survives. The map holds the whole path from the problem to the decision, and the plain-text outline or the Markdown export gives you a version you can paste into the notes that follow.

• The reason goes in the note on the Decision node
• Date and owner in the same note
• One action under Next Steps, named and dated
• Export the outline before you close the session

Note: Canvasola has no live editing, so the people in the room share the map by exporting it. Decide who holds the map before the session starts, and give everybody else a job such as reading the ideas back.

A checklist you can reuse

• The root names the problem in a sentence
• The ideas branch was filled before any scoring started
• Raw ideas sit apart from the judged ones
• Every cluster is a sentence rather than a category
• Each shortlisted cluster has a score and its criteria
• A Decision branch says what was chosen and what was not
• The reason, the date and the owner are in the note on the decision

Common mistakes to avoid

• Judging during the brainstorm. The moment the room ranks ideas, the wild ones stop arriving. Keep Clusters and Top 3 Picks empty until the ideas branch is full.
• Clusters that are categories. A cluster called Pricing tells you where an idea lives, not what to do. Write the cluster as a sentence about the change.
• Scoring against taste. A score nobody can defend is a preference. Tie every score to the criteria and to the decision you are trying to make.
• Stopping at three picks. A shortlist is not a decision. Add the Decision branch and write what was chosen, or the session ends without an outcome.
• No record of the rejected options. Not chosen looks like waste and is not. Write the reason so the next person can see why the obvious option lost.

Frequently asked questions

How many ideas should a brainstorm produce?

Enough to have a repeat, which usually means thirty or more before you cluster. The Obvious, Wild and Borrowed branches push you to keep the ideas different from each other, and a brainstorm that stops at ten ideas has quietly become an evaluation.

Do I need layers to run a brainstorm?

No. Layers are the cleanest way to keep the raw ideas apart from the scoring, and the 2D layer tabs scope the map to one layer at a time. If the 3D stack is slow on your machine, keep the two halves apart using the template's own branches instead.

How do I score the shortlisted ideas?

Give the Top 3 Picks branch one child per cluster and put the criteria as their children, then write the score in the label of the cluster. Cross-link a cluster to the criteria that drove its score, and remember that the score has to point at the decision rather than at personal preference.

Can everyone edit the brainstorm map at once?

No. Canvasola has no live editing and no published links, so the map is written by one person while the others talk, and the result leaves as an export. Agree who holds the map before the session, and give the other people a job such as reading the ideas back.

This guide is part of the template guides collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.