Visio® 2007 Bible

Chapter 18. Documenting Brainstorming Sessions

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Exploring the Brainstorming template

• Learning about outlining features

• Creating brainstorming diagrams

• Adding and connecting topics

• Exporting and importing brainstorming data

• Moving and rearranging topics

• Changing layout and shape styles

• Enhancing diagram appearance

• Working with legends

Brainstorming is an effective way to get people to think outside the box while generating new ideas or creative solutions to challenging problems. During brainstorming sessions, participants are free to express any idea that springs to mind without judgment from other team members. When anything goes and criticism is withheld, as-yet-unidentified options and innovative solutions often surface. Brainstorming can help flesh out ideas for any purpose, including business strategy, research, new applications for existing products—even the plot of a novel.

This chapter begins by describing how to create brainstorming diagrams to show the relationships between topics and numerous levels of subtopics. You'll learn how to transform the organized chaos of brainstorming diagrams you build during sessions into readable and meaningful diagrams. Finally, you'll learn how to add a legend to a diagram to identify the symbols used.

Exploring the Brainstorming Template

Brainstorming sessions tend to be fast-paced and a bit disorganized, so it's hard to capture the flood of information on a diagram. In the Visio Brainstorming template, the Brainstorming Shapes stencil ...