How to run a product brainstorming session that actually works

Great products don’t start with specs — they start with ideas. And the best ideas often come from structured, collaborative product brainstorming.

A good brainstorming session helps product teams think creatively and generate more ideas than someone working solo. But without the right tools or frameworks in place, these sessions can drift off track like a ship without a map. 

That’s where techniques like whiteboarding come in. By visualizing thoughts in real time — either on a physical board or virtual canvas — teams can organize ideas faster and make smarter decisions together.

In this article, we’ll explore how product teams can run more effective brainstorming sessions, with tips, tools, and real use cases to help you turn ideas into action.

What is product brainstorming? 

Whether you’re designing an interface or customer journey, it can be easy to lay out version after version, working on your own. But, think how much faster that can go with the whole team in one room, giving expertise and input.

Product brainstorming is exactly that: carving out space to unpack challenges and figure out solutions as a team. 

It might happen in a meeting room with whiteboard markers flying. Or maybe it’s a few sticky notes scribbled during a Zoom call. However it takes shape, the point is to get everyone — designers, developers, PMs, marketers — thinking out loud and pulling in the same direction.

What does good product brainstorming look like?

Good brainstorming sets the stage for great decisions. Bad brainstorming usually just fills a calendar slot.

This isn’t just about “being creative” for the sake of it. It also doesn’t mean everyone shouting ideas at once or sitting in silence, hoping someone else will pipe up. Good product brainstorming is intentional, structured, democratic, and gives the team room to explore. 

• Everyone’s voice gets heard — not just the loudest or most senior.
• There’s a clear goal — you’re not just “ideating,” you’re solving for something specific.
• Ideas build on each other — instead of shutting things down, teammates say “yes, and…”
• You’re using some kind of framework or tool — mind maps, whiteboards, post-its, digital boards — something to get ideas out of your head and into the open.
• There’s room for weirdness — sometimes the “bad” ideas are just stepping stones to the great ones.
• Someone takes notes — you’re not relying on memory alone to follow up.
• It ends with next steps — maybe that’s a shortlist, a prototype, or just a decision about what to explore next.

What product brainstorming isn’t

It helps to be clear about what it’s not. That way, you avoid slipping into the kind of sessions where everyone leaves more confused than when they joined.

Product brainstorming isn’t:

• A vague conversation with no goal
• A free-for-all where one or two people dominate
• A project planning meeting (that comes later)
• A test of who can pitch the flashiest idea
• A session where “bad ideas” get shut down immediately
• Something you do after you’ve already committed to a solution
• A replacement for actual user research or data — it’s just one input

When should you do product brainstorming?

There are key moments in the product development cycle when getting a group together to think aloud can seriously improve your results.

At the start of something new

Even if it’s just a feature update, early-stage brainstorming helps your team explore different angles before anything gets built. It’s especially useful when the problem is clear, but you’re a bit fuzzy on the solution. 

When the roadmap feels stuck

If you’re facing a tough prioritization call or juggling too many feature requests, a focused session can help the team weigh trade-offs and bring new ideas to the table — including ones you hadn’t considered.

After user research or customer feedback

A brainstorming session is a great way to get the ball rolling. Once you know what users are struggling with, gathering the team to generate ideas can make the feedback much more actionable.

When something’s not working

Maybe users are dropping off during onboarding. Or the latest release didn’t land. Instead of pointing fingers, bring the team together to explore what could change — and why it might help.

Before major milestones

Brainstorming doesn’t always have to be reactive. Before kicking off a sprint, finalizing a release plan, or handing off to design, use a session to surface last-minute ideas or pressure-test your assumptions.

During retrospectives or post-mortems

End-of-cycle reviews aren’t just for reflecting — they’re also perfect moments to brainstorm how things could be better next time, whether that’s workflow tweaks or product decisions.

16 product brainstorming methods to try today 

There’s a lot of variety, so to help you make the right choice, we’ve broken these down into four groups: 

• For fast idea generation 
• For structured thinking 
• For inclusive teams 
• For deeper problem solving.

For fast idea generation 

These approaches are ideal when you need a lightbulb moment, fast. 

1. Freewriting

This technique often crops up in writing classes or therapeutic contexts, but it’s just as handy for product teams. Here’s how it works: You set a timer, give your team a prompt, and have everyone write — nonstop — for five to ten minutes. No editing, no overthinking, just a stream of consciousness. It can be full sentences, bullet points, scattered thoughts — anything goes. Once the timer’s up, you review what came out and pull out ideas worth exploring.

This technique is especially helpful when people feel blocked or self-conscious. It gives them space to think through the clutter and can often surface half-formed ideas that lead to something brilliant.

2. Rapid ideation

This one’s closely related to freewriting. Just set a timer and go for volume. No judgment, no overthinking — just as many ideas as possible in a short window (say, five minutes). Once time’s up, sort and group what you’ve got to spot the promising threads.

3. Group brainstorming 

This is the one everyone thinks of when you say “let’s brainstorm”. The team gathers in a room (physically or remotely) and chips in with ideas. After you have a sizeable list, the team whittles it down to a select few. 

As with all teamwork, it’s good to have a few ground rules in place to keep order and make sure everyone gets a say. Have a mediator, take turns, take notes, share said notes post-meeting, and leave with a list of actionable tasks that turn ideas into instructions. And remember: there are no bad ideas! 

4. The bad idea brainstorm

A cousin of reverse brainstorming, this one involves giving your team permission to come up with terrible ideas on purpose. This relieves the pressure and can lead to surprising and ingenious breakthroughs. Once everyone’s laughing, someone will say, “Wait… what if we did that, but this way?”

5. Whiteboarding

A whiteboard gives the team a shared visual space to explore flows, sketch ideas, generate ideas, or map user journeys. They’re great for real-time collaboration, especially when you want everyone reacting and building together. And best of all? You can do them remotely with tools like Cacoo! 

6. For structured thinking 

These brainstorming methods let the ideas flow with more control. 

7. Mind mapping

Start with a central idea or problem in the middle of the page, and build out branches of related concepts. It’s really useful when you’re trying to explore a broad problem or understand how different things connect.

8. SCAMPER

SCAMPER is a structured way to spark ideas by looking at an existing product or process from different angles. Each letter in the acronym represents a prompt to shift your perspective. Here’s how it works. 

S – Substitute: What can you swap out to improve the experience? This could be a material, a step in the workflow, a feature, and so on.
Example: What if we used phone number sign-in instead of email?

C – Combine: Are there two elements we could blend to make something better?
Example: Could onboarding and personalization happen in the same step?

A – Adapt: Can we borrow an idea or technique from another product/industry?
Example: How do ride-share apps handle cancellations, and could we use that logic here?

M – Modify: What can we change — size, shape, color, timing, tone, etc. — to make something clearer or more useful?
Example: What if we turned this button into a swipe action instead of a tap?

P – Put to another use: Is there a feature or component we already have that could fix a different problem?
Example: Could our email notification system double as a re-engagement tool?

E – Eliminate: What’s unnecessary? Can we simplify the experience by removing friction or steps?
Example: Do we really need this second confirmation screen?

R – Rearrange: Could we change the order of things to better match how users think or behave?
Example: What if users chose a goal before setting up their account?

9. Starbursting

Instead of jumping straight to solutions, this technique focuses on questions. Start with your central topic in the middle of a star, then add “Who?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “When?”, “Why?” and “How?” as the points. Your team fills in the questions under each to explore the topic in more depth.

This approach is ideal when you’re not starting from scratch — so when you already have something in place and want to make it smarter or more user-friendly. 

10. Affinity diagram

After a brainstorming session, you’ll often have a wall (or digital board) plastered with sticky notes. The affinity diagram method helps you group similar ideas together. This helps you spot patterns and themes, which is especially useful for bringing clarity after a free-form session.

11. SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is less about generating ideas and more about refinement. Use it when you’ve got a few ideas and want to evaluate them critically. It’s a great way to narrow down options and choose what to explore next. For each idea, ask:

• Strengths – What’s good about it?
• Weaknesses – What are the drawbacks?
• Opportunities – Where could this take us?
• Threats – What could go wrong?

For inclusivity 

12. Brainwriting

Brainwriting is the more inclusive cousin of brainstorming. Instead of talking out loud right away, everyone writes down their ideas individually. After a few minutes (or days), the group shares and builds on what’s been written. 

It’s great for introverts and helps avoid groupthink, especially when one or two voices usually dominate. It’s also essential for neurodivergent people who can be overwhelmed (and therefore unfairly disadvantaged) in noisy group settings. 

13. Round robin

Gather the team, sit in a circle, and then go around the group, with each person contributing an idea in turn. This means everyone gets a say rather than some people dominating the chat while others take a back seat.

14. Step ladder technique

Another turn-taking approach. You start with two team members discussing the problem. Then, one by one, add more people to the conversation. Each new person shares their ideas before hearing what’s already been discussed. This prevents early groupthink and lets quieter voices shine.

15. Brain netting

Also known as “remote brainstorming”, this one’s perfect for distributed teams. Everyone adds their ideas asynchronously to a shared space (like a Google doc, or digital whiteboard), and the team reviews and builds on them later. It gives people time to think and avoids Zoom fatigue, while bringing the benefits of brainwriting to the mix. 

For deeper problem-solving

16. 5 Whys

Start with a problem, then ask “why?” — five times. Each answer should uncover a deeper root cause. It’s incredibly simple, but surprisingly powerful when you’re trying to understand what’s really going wrong beneath the surface of a product issue.

Example: “Users are dropping off at sign-up.” Why? “The form is too long.” Why? “We’re collecting too much info up front.” Why? … and so on.

17. Reverse brainstorming

This one flips the problem on its head. Instead of asking “How can we fix X?”, you ask “How could we make X worse?” It sounds silly, but it often reveals blind spots and inspires more creative, surprising solutions.

18. Rolestorming

This is a roleplay game, but no acting skills required. Each person pretends to be someone else — a user, a competitor, even a public figure — and generates ideas from that perspective. “What would Marie Kondo say about this onboarding flow?” “How would Homer Simpson approach this task?” It sounds silly, but it’s a fun way to unlock unexpected insights.

How to get started with product brainstorming

Not sure how to get started? No problem! Our best piece of advice is to just jump in and start adding ideas. A completely blank page can be intimidating, but once you start adding things, the perfect idea isn’t far away.

Jot down anything that comes to mind or suggestions that are thrown out. Getting the ball rolling is one of the most important things, and one of the greatest things about brainstorming of all shapes — it’s just as easy to erase something as it is to write it down. 

Seemed like a good idea at first, but now has been proven wrong or eclipsed by something bigger and better? Just run the dry eraser over it (or, in our case, click on it and hit the delete key).

A brainstorming session is a conversation. You should be constantly adding and erasing items, reorganizing, and analyzing. To keep that conversation going, make sure that when you hand someone a marker (or ask them to make an addition to your online board), you’re asking questions and giving prompts.

Never hand over the reins with the expectation that the next person already knows everything they want to add. One of the biggest balancing acts here is to keep an open floor while still facilitating good thinking. This is something you’ll get better and better at the more you practice.

Quick and easy tips for a better product brainstorming session

Whether you’ve got 15 minutes or a full hour, these small tweaks can make your session more focused, inclusive, and productive.

First, make sure everyone knows why you’re doing this, so they take it seriously. Second, create an environment where people feel safe throwing out half-formed thoughts — because that’s often where the good stuff starts. And lastly, always leave time to review what came up, even if it’s just a quick debrief or next steps.

Here are a few quick, easy wins to level up your next session:

• Set a clear goal — define the problem or question upfront
• Structure your session — Unstructured chats tend to spiral or stall. You don’t need an elaborate plan — just a format, a timer, or a method to guide the flow. Remember, creativity thrives with constraints.
• Use prompts or examples to get the ideas flowing
• Give people quiet thinking time before the discussion starts
• Create a “no idea is bad” zone — judgment shuts things down
• Capture everything — even the throwaway comments
• End with action — sort, group, vote, or choose next steps.
• Invite the right people — More perspectives = better ideas. Just make sure everyone feels invited to contribute, not just watch the show.
• Use tools to bridge the gap — from asynchronous communication to remote teams, collaboration tools bring people together. 

Product brainstorming is easier with digital whiteboards

Whiteboarding’s benefits to a product team are clear. Being able to brainstorm and actively visualize and organize the team’s thoughts is a great way to kick off new projects or solve problems that have been creating bottlenecks for the team.

Our online whiteboarding tool Cacoo is a huge asset when it comes to conducting your whiteboarding sessions online. With in-app video and chat, the whole team can be online editing and communicating in real-time. Your team will be able to collaborate as if they were in the same room.

Introduce whiteboarding at your next meeting and see how quickly your product team’s remote collaboration improves!

This post was originally published on May 8, 2021, and updated most recently on July 9, 2025.