Brainwriting is a group idea-generation technique where people write their ideas down silently and at the same time, then pass them around to build on each other's, rather than shouting them out in a discussion. It was created by Bernd Rohrbach in 1968. Because everyone contributes in parallel, brainwriting gathers more ideas, faster, and gives quieter people an equal voice.

The 6-3-5 method is the classic structured form of brainwriting: 6 participants each write 3 ideas in 5 minutes, then pass their sheet to the next person, who builds on those ideas in the next round. After six rounds, the group has generated 108 ideas in about half an hour. The numbers are a guide, you can adapt the group size and timing.

Brainwriting is silent, written, and simultaneous: everyone generates ideas independently at the same time, which removes production blocking and reduces the pull of groupthink and louder voices. Brainstorming is verbal and out loud, with people calling out ideas in turn. Brainstorming is energetic but favors extroverts and early ideas; brainwriting is quieter and tends to produce more ideas, more evenly.

Pick a topic, then have each person write one idea on a sticky note, all at the same time. Everyone passes to the next person's idea, reads it, and adds their own on a new sticky. Keep passing and building until the ideas come back around. Then review them together and develop the strongest. This template sets up the lanes and walks through every step.

Yes, and it works especially well remotely. On a shared board, each person adds sticky notes in their own lane at the same time, then everyone shifts to build on the next person's ideas, no talking required. It suits distributed and async teams: people can contribute on their own schedule, and the written record is there for the group to review later.