"Run structured brainstorming sessions to generate research ideas Chris Worsham and Bapu Jena set up a working group that meets three times a week specifically to brainstorm research ideas, drawing participants ranging from ninth graders to tenured professors. They describe most ideas as 'pretty half-baked, even quarter-baked' — someone says 'I was just in the hospital and this thing happened to my patient, and I think there might be something here' — and the group systematically works through whether usable data exists. The structured, high-frequency brainstorm means good ideas don't die from lack of attention, and bad ideas get killed early before wasting resources. Anyone trying to generate better ideas — in business, medicine, or research — can apply this discipline of separating idea generation from idea evaluation in regular short sessions. Source: Chris Worsham, Freakonomics Radio, Smartphones, Online Music Streaming, and Traffic Fatalities"