Brainstorming free templates

Interested in templates for brainstorming that you can even use with a team online? In this guide we will share some of the most popular brainstorming frameworks. We also covered popular online templates you can use for empathy mapping and design sprints. Using different ideation frameworks and charting styles, these templates can be customized to fit your unique virtual session needs.

This template is focused on helping you maximize user value while eliminating and reducing user pain. The template includes four different sections:. This simple 5 whys brainstorming tool is focused on helping you identify the root causes of a problem. This affinity diagram template is great for sorting and categorizing information about your problem or challenge.

You can easily drag items around as you communicate and collaborate with team members, making it easy to visually see how different pieces of the challenge come together.

Learn more about the template on our blog. A simple and easy to use concept map team helps your team quickly visualize ideas, images, words, or phrases, and organize them in a hierarchial structure. The template asks you to take on three different stages of thinking:.

Although we know that brainstorming is almost like coming up with a list of ideas, the worksheet narrows down a typically wide area to one that can be explored during the session.

Worksheets also work for groups who have no experienced facilitator or for those who are starting out and unfamiliar with the brainstorming practice. Here are some pointers on how to effectively use a brainstorming worksheet during a session:. Brainstorming is a creative and a highly-participative activity where all the participants can offer their ideas, without judging whether an idea is right or wrong.

After all the ideas have been heard, the best ones are discussed and then the best ones are chosen and applied. One way to make the brainstorming session easier and more structured is the use of charts.

Using brainstorming charts helps the participants visualize ideas and see the relationships and hierarchy between those ideas. In turn, participants will be able to think of more ideas; which are more focused and more relevant to the discussion. This will make way for improved communication and a more efficient decision-making process.

Brainstorming charts also help organize ideas into something that immediately makes sense, as opposed to disorganized random ideas. Instead of just thinking about ideas, participants are also able to expand their thought processes to include the relationships between issues, the underlying stories behind an issue or the issues the brainstorming session is trying to address.

By then, your team can formulate appropriate actions. When developing a new product or organizing event ideas, it is important to go through systematic and comprehensive questioning exercises.

Starbusting is an effective brainstorming technique and you can edit this free brainstorming template for free. Rather than formulating answers, the team needs to generate questions and tackle the important aspects including who, when, what, where, why, and how.

After exploring the 5W1H, the team then can generate an actionable proposal. If you want to make your brainstorming session different from the typical ones, you can consider using a Reverse Brainstorming template or worksheet. But instead of brainstorming for the possible solutions, you will encourage your team of the ways that would cause a plan to fail. The end goal should be to come up with solutions how to achieve the opposite effect. Fishbone Diagram is another brainstorming session template that works best to analyze the cause and effect of an event with a similar purpose to 5 why analysis.

You can edit and complete this brainstorming diagram template by placing the problem in the fish head. Position the major factors in the branches closest to the spine. Branch out the major factors and write down the causes of the major factors.

Finally, analyze the causes and give emphasis on the important ones by inserting stickers. A marketing plan is an important stage where business strategies are formed in reaching your target market and generating leads.

Starbusting is a visualized version of 5W1H Who. It works best for developing product or event ideas. Put your idea in the center and then answer each question to slowly form an actionable proposal for a rough idea.

Reverse brainstorming is a technique that combines both reversal thinking and brainstorming. It works great when your team is getting tired of a typical brainstorming session. A flowchart is a diagram that visualizes a process or sequence of a workflow. It works best for continuous improvement in an established process. Above are templates I created and curated for your brainstorming. What do you think about them? Tweet we if you have any questions :!

Return to Blog Homepage. A good brainstorming should not go without process in mind. Just download the software and open the templates you download. You can start to use. Digital mind mapping. The radiant aka center-out structure of mind maps is perfect for expansion on generated ideas.

XMind auto-generates a mind map by just Tab and Enter. Not to mention the countless possibilities of mind maps. They can turn into some cool diagrams, e. T analysis. You will see that in a second. Different diagrams for different stages of brainstorming, same easy interaction. Tab for sub-level nodes and Enter for same-level nodes. With this interaction, you can create Org-Chart, Timeline, Fishbone, even Matrix for different processes of brainstorming, ranging from ideation to actions.

No manual layout. Easy drag-and-drop features for reorganizing. You can move a node between different branches by just drag-and-drop. ZEN mode for focus and timed sessions. ZEN mode clears out all unnecessary features for brainstorming and calculates the time you spent.

Here is a sneak peek of what brainstorm mapping in XMind looks like: Mind map template Affinity diagram Double bubble map template SWOT analysis template 5-why analysis worksheet Starbusting template Reverse brainstorming worksheet Marketing brainstorming template Brainstorm template for essays Free-thinking At this stage, focus on quantity and defer judgment.