In the fast-paced world of Software as a Service (SaaS), innovation is what stands out in a crowded market. The ability to consistently generate winning ideas is what separates successful platforms from those that fade into nothingness. 

Brainstorming sessions are crucial for generating fresh, actionable ideas that can drive your SaaS product forward. When done effectively, these sessions can uncover opportunities and inspire breakthroughs that set your product apart. 

‍"The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.”

— Alex Faickney Osborn, Father of Brainstorming

Understanding Brainstorming in the Context of SaaS

At its core, brainstorming is the act of generating a wide range of ideas in a free-flowing environment. In the SaaS industry, this means exploring new features, improving user experience, or finding innovative ways to solve customer problems. It’s not just about coming up with ideas but about finding ways to use creativity and collaboration to lead to actionable outcomes.

Consider Salesforce. Their success isn’t solely due to their CRM platform but also their constant innovation. Their brainstorming sessions led to the creation of the AppExchange marketplace, a revolutionary idea that expanded their ecosystem and created new revenue streams.

Preparing for Brainstorming Success

Preparation is key to a successful brainstorming session. Here’s how you can set the stage for creativity:

Define the Objective: Clearly articulate the problem or opportunity you're addressing. What specific problem are you trying to solve, or what opportunity are you pursuing?

Assemble the Right Team: Gather a diverse group of individuals who bring different perspectives. This could include team members from various departments, stakeholders, and even customer support reps who are aware of user needs.

“When diverse teams come together to brainstorm, the mix of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences fuels creativity and innovation. Research shows that successful collaboration at work improves innovation by 30%.”

—Effective Brainstorming in Diverse Teams, Stormboard

Set the Ground Rules: Establish guidelines to encourage open communication and creativity. Rules might include suspending judgment, encouraging wild ideas, building on others’ suggestions, and plenty of coffee.

When Zoom was expanding its feature set, they conducted brainstorming sessions with cross-functional teams, including engineers, customer support, and sales staff. This diverse input led to features that addressed real-world user needs and improved the overall product.

Effective Brainstorming Techniques

Divergent Thinking: This technique involves generating a broad range of ideas without filtering them. Techniques like "mind mapping" or "SCAMPER" are perfect for this stage.

Spotify uses divergent thinking to explore new ways to enhance user engagement. Their team might brainstorm various features like collaborative playlists, personalized recommendations, or social sharing options without immediately evaluating their feasibility.

For more insights on divergent thinking techniques, you can read this article. 

Convergent Thinking: After generating a wide range of ideas, convergent thinking focuses on narrowing down and evaluating these ideas to find the most viable ones using techniques like voting or dot-mocracy.

Google’s approach to product development often involves convergent thinking. They might start with a large number of ideas for improving Google Search, then rigorously test and refine the best ones to ensure they meet user needs and expectations.

Scenario-Building and Role-Playing: This involves creating detailed scenarios or playing roles to explore how different solutions would perform in real-world situations. Put yourself in your users' shoes.

Atlassian uses scenario building to anticipate how their project management tools might be used in different industries. By role-playing various user scenarios, they identify potential issues and opportunities for enhancement.

Reverse Brainstorming: Instead of asking how to solve a problem, this technique involves asking how to create or worsen the problem. This often leads to unexpected solutions when you reverse engineer the "worst-case scenario."

“The unique thing about reverse brainstorming is that you start by letting go of any pressure to come up with “the best solution.” Once the pressure’s off, you can let your mind run free and be open to innovative possibilities.”

—How to use reverse brainstorming with your team, Mural

A SaaS company like Trello might use reverse brainstorming to explore how they could make their project management tool less effective. This could lead to valuable insights on features that need improvement or additional safeguards to prevent user errors.

Managing the Session

A good brainstorming session needs a conductor – someone to keep things on track, ensure everyone participates, and prevent dominant personalities from hijacking the process. Here are some tips:

  • Keep discussions on track and ensure everyone has a chance to contribute.
  • While wild ideas are encouraged, gently redirect the conversation if things veer too far off course.
  • Create an environment where all participants feel comfortable sharing their ideas.
  • Document all ideas, even those that seem offbeat. These can be reviewed later for potential development.

Post-Session Follow-Up

The real work begins after the brainstorming session. Follow these steps to ensure ideas are actionable:

Review and Prioritize: Assess the ideas generated during the session. Prioritize them based on feasibility, impact, and alignment with your strategic goals.

Develop an Action Plan: Assign ownership to promising ideas and create a roadmap for development or further research.

Track Progress: Monitor the implementation of ideas and adjust plans as needed. Regular check-ins help maintain focus and momentum.

Slack’s iterative approach to feature development involves reviewing brainstorming outcomes, assigning tasks to their development teams, and continuously tracking progress to ensure that ideas are effectively brought to life.

Conclusion

Effective brainstorming sessions are key to generating innovative ideas in SaaS. By preparing well, using diverse techniques, managing the session properly, and avoiding common pitfalls like lack of focus and failure to follow up, you can turn brainstorming into a powerful tool for continuous improvement and differentiation in your SaaS product.