Reverse Brainstorming

Learning Objective

Participants will learn to break fixed thinking patterns, approach problems from unconventional angles, and discover hidden solutions by inverting the problem.

How It Works

The Reverse Brainstorming Process:

1. Frame the Problem (3 min)
   State the challenge as a "How Might We..." question.
   Example: "How might we improve customer satisfaction?"

2. Reverse the Problem (2 min)
   Flip it to the opposite: "How could we make customers absolutely HATE us?"

3. Brainstorm the Worst (10 min)
   Generate as many terrible ideas as possible. The worse, the better!
   Examples:
   - "Never respond to complaints"
   - "Make our website impossible to navigate"
   - "Hide our phone number"
   - "Charge surprise fees"

4. Flip to Solutions (10 min)
   Take each anti-solution and reverse it into a real solution:
   - "Never respond" → "Guarantee 2-hour response time"
   - "Hide phone number" → "Put support contact on every page"

5. Evaluate & Prioritize (5 min)
   Vote on the most promising solutions. Which are feasible AND impactful?

Rules:
- Embrace evil thinking—it's liberating!
- No idea is too absurd
- The crazier the anti-idea, the more innovative the solution
- Have fun with it

Example Scenarios

AI will generate scenarios like these, customized for your context:

• Customer Success: How might we reduce customer churn?
• Engineering: How might we speed up our release cycle?
• HR: How might we improve employee engagement?
• Sales: How might we shorten our sales cycle?
• Product: How might we increase feature adoption?