Common Project Management Problems: Brainstorming in Project Management

Michele Guttenberger, MPM

The start of many projects was made possible by good brainstorming sessions. Once a project has been initiated that newly formed project team may meet up again in other brainstorming sessions. Being certified experienced project leaders, we have honed in on this skill of the proverbial “putting our heads together”. The Project Manager is a skilled listener. We interpret what was said assigning an impact level to it sending it off to task managers and shareholders on the project. We have the big picture that comprehends what change is needed in the interconnecting network of predecessor or successor roles. 

However, there are new frontiers in brainstorming communications. With new technology there are different arenas in communications that eliminates the “let’s put our head together” in the same place and at the same time. 

The Boomer age of Project leadership needs to facilitate a team in a virtual environment too or they exclude innovative minds of rising professional millennials. According to Forbes the latest workforce generation has been reared in an extraordinarily different world than prior generations. Millennials grew up enveloped with computers and cell phones. Their 2018 survey states eighty percent of Millennials sent a text message in the last 24 hours, compared to 63% of Gen X-ers and only 35% of Baby Boomers. This new workforce generation have fewer experience with face to face connection which makes engaging them in brainstorming team networks a challenge