Team Brainstorm Template Permalink

Use this template to run a team brainstorm in Quire, from the first raw idea to a shipped action item with an owner and a deadline.

You can visit the Team Brainstorm project and duplicate it to your workspace, so you don’t need to build everything from scratch.

You can also explore more ready-to-use templates to speed up your workflow.

Understand Team Brainstorming

A team brainstorm is a structured session where a group generates as many ideas as possible around one focus question, then narrows them down to the few worth acting on. The hard part is rarely coming up with ideas. It is what happens after the session ends.

A brainstorm has two phases that should never overlap:

• Diverge: generate ideas. No judging, no editing, no debate. Volume is the goal.
• Converge: group, cut, score, and pick. This is where quality gets decided.

This template splits that work into six sections, one per stage:

1. Prep the Brainstorm: focus question, technique, invite list, context
2. Collect Ideas: every idea becomes a task on the board
3. Group Ideas by Theme: cluster similar ideas and merge duplicates
4. Evaluate & Prioritize: score, vote, and promote the winners
5. Turn Ideas into Action: one owner and one deadline per approved idea
6. Wrap Up & Follow Through: recap, check in, and close the loop

The template comes pre-loaded with one worked example, improving new-hire onboarding, so you can see how an idea travels from a raw card to an owned task before you swap in your own topic.

Brainstorming Techniques

Pick one technique per session and tell the team which one you are using before you start.

Tip: The 6-3-5 method is a timed version of brainwriting. Six people each write three ideas in five minutes, then pass their sheet on. Five rounds produce 108 ideas in about half an hour.

Read more on our blog about collaborative brainstorming techniques.

Prepare the Brainstorm

Preparation decides how good the session is before anyone shows up. Work through the tasks in the 1️⃣ Prep the Brainstorm section in the days beforehand.

Focus Question

One brainstorm, one question. A sharp prompt gives people something to push against.

• ✅ How can we improve onboarding for new hires?
• ❌ Let’s talk about onboarding.

Open the Define the focus question task, write the question in the task description so everyone works from the same wording, and assign the task to whoever is running the session.

Participants and Context

Invite people who see the problem from different angles, not just the team that owns it. The person who handles support tickets knows things the person who writes the onboarding docs does not.

Share the background at least a day ahead so nobody spends the first ten minutes catching up:

1. Add the relevant links, docs, and numbers to the Share background context ahead of time task.
2. Attach supporting files with attachments.
3. Reference related tasks or projects with the # shortcut.

Session Length

Keep the session between 15 and 45 minutes with a hard stop. Time pressure produces more ideas than an open-ended meeting does, and a long session usually turns into a debate.

Set a due date on each prep task so the setup work is finished before the session, not during it.

Collect Ideas on the Board

Every idea becomes a task in the 2️⃣ Collect Ideas section. Switch to Board view during the session so the team watches the ideas pile up in real time.

1. Select the section and press Enter, or click the Add task icon below it.
2. Type the idea and press Enter again to keep going.
3. Do not edit, judge, or debate anything at this stage.

Idea Statuses

In the Free Subscription plan, you can have up to 5 statuses in each project, and this template uses 6. Merge Needs Review into New Idea after duplicating, or upgrade your subscription plan to keep all six. More information can be found on our pricing page.

The template comes with six statuses, which double as the board columns:

• New Idea: everything starts here
• Needs Review: worth a closer look, not decided yet
• Approved: the team agreed to pursue it
• In Progress: someone is actively working on it
• Done: shipped
• Parked: set aside for now, not deleted

Drag a card between columns to change its status. Parked matters more than it looks. A deleted idea reads as a rejection, while a parked idea can come back next quarter when the constraint that killed it is gone.

Tip: Use Peekaboo on a parked idea to hide it and have it resurface on a date you choose.

Async Contributions

A brainstorm does not have to happen in one meeting. For remote teams spread across time zones, open the board for two or three days instead of scheduling a call.

1. Share the project link with everyone taking part.
2. Ask each person to add their ideas as tasks whenever they have them.
3. Use comments to build on someone else’s idea instead of adding a near-duplicate card.

Longer thinking belongs in the task description, so the card title stays short enough to scan on the board.

Group and Prioritize Ideas

Once the ideas are in, the job changes from generating to deciding. Sections 3️⃣ Group Ideas by Theme and 4️⃣ Evaluate & Prioritize cover this stage.

Theme Tags

Tags group ideas that address the same underlying problem. The template ships with six:

• Culture & Team
• Process & Operations
• Tools & Systems
• Communication
• Quick Win: low effort, could ship this week
• Needs Research: promising, but you can’t size it yet

Select several cards at once with multiple select to tag a whole cluster in one action. Then group the board by tag with swimlanes to see every theme side by side.

The lane with the most ideas is worth a second look. A theme that pulled in far more ideas than the others usually points at where the real problem is, even when no single idea in it stands out.

Duplicate Ideas

Two people will phrase the same idea differently. Keep the clearer version, then either delete the duplicate or fold its extra detail into the description of the card you kept.

Scoring and Voting

Two lightweight ways to narrow the list:

• Impact vs. effort: the template ships with two custom fields, Impact and Effort, each a select field with High, Medium, and Low. Fill them in as a team, then switch to Table view to line up every idea side by side. High impact and low effort goes first.
• Dot voting: add a Votes number custom field, give each participant three votes, and record the tally on the card. Sort by Votes in Table view for a ranked list.

Neither method needs to be precise. They exist to break ties and expose disagreement early, not to produce a score you defend later.

Prioritized Ideas Sublist

Move the winning ideas to Approved, then add them to the ⭐ Prioritized Ideas sublist. A sublist is a view into the same tasks rather than a copy, so nothing gets duplicated and edits show up in both places.

Tip: Set a pre-filter on the sublist so every idea you mark Approved is added to it automatically.

Turn Ideas into Action

An approved idea is still just an idea. Section 5️⃣ Turn Ideas into Action is where it becomes work someone is accountable for.

Owners and Deadlines

Give every approved idea one owner and one real deadline. Not a team, not two people. One name.

1. Create a task in the 5️⃣ Turn Ideas into Action section, named as a concrete next step. Draft the 30-60-90 onboarding checklist is a next step. Better onboarding is not.
2. Assign exactly one person.
3. Set a due date.
4. Set the priority so the team knows which action comes first.
5. Reference the original idea card with the # shortcut so anyone can trace the task back to the discussion.

Committed Action Items Sublist

Add these tasks to the 🚀 Committed Action Items sublist. It collects everything the team committed to, with owners and deadlines attached, and it is short enough to review during a standup.

Use filters on this sublist to check what is overdue or due this week before the next team meeting.

Wrap Up and Follow Through

Section 6️⃣ Wrap Up & Follow Through closes the loop. Most teams skip this step, which is why brainstorms get a reputation for going nowhere.

1. Post a recap of what was decided and who owns what. A document or a chat channel keeps it searchable later.
2. Add a follow-up check-in to the agenda of your next team meeting.
3. Move the ideas you aren’t pursuing to Parked rather than deleting them.
4. Celebrate the ideas that shipped, and link back to the card they started as.

Learn more on our blog about collaboration styles and when to use each one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a team brainstorm?

A team brainstorm is a structured session where a group generates as many ideas as possible around one focus question, then narrows them down to the few worth acting on. It works in two phases that should never overlap: diverge to generate ideas without judgment, then converge to group, score, and pick.

How do I run a team brainstorming session in Quire?

Duplicate the Team Brainstorm template and work through its six sections in order: prep the session, collect ideas on the board, group them by theme, score and vote, assign owners and deadlines, then post a recap. Switch to Board view during the session so the team can watch the ideas come in.

What are the five steps of a brainstorming session?

Prepare, generate, group, prioritize, and act. This template splits the last step into two, assigning the work and closing the loop with a recap, because teams usually drop the second one.

What is the 6-3-5 brainwriting method?

Six participants each write three ideas in five minutes, then pass their sheet to the next person, who builds on it and adds three more. Five rounds produce 108 ideas in about 30 minutes, and because everyone writes at once, the loudest person in the room can’t set the direction.

Which brainstorming technique works best for remote teams?

Brainwriting, because it doesn’t depend on finding a gap in the conversation to speak. For teams across time zones, collecting ideas asynchronously works even better: share the project link, leave the board open for two or three days, and let people add ideas whenever they have them.

How do I organize brainstorming ideas by theme in Quire?

Tag each idea by theme, using the template’s Culture & Team, Process & Operations, Tools & Systems, and Communication tags. Then group the board by tag with swimlanes to see every theme side by side. The lane with the most ideas usually points at where the real problem is.

How do I prioritize ideas after a brainstorm?

Score ideas with Impact and Effort custom fields and compare them in Table view, or run a dot vote by recording each participant’s three votes in a Votes number field. Move the winners to the Approved status and add them to the Prioritized Ideas sublist.

How do I turn brainstorm ideas into action items in Quire?

Create a task for each approved idea, named as a concrete next step, with exactly one owner and one due date. Add these tasks to the Committed Action Items sublist so the whole set of commitments is short enough to review during a standup.

Is there a ready-made team brainstorm template in Quire?

Yes. Visit the Team Brainstorm project and duplicate it to your workspace to get the six sections, six board statuses, theme tags, Impact and Effort scoring fields, and both sublists already set up.