How to use Brainstorm (Read Before You Post in Brainstorm!)
 

The maemo.org Brainstorm is a community tool to propose ideas and evaluate solutions to implement them. Anybody can propose ideas and solutions, rate them up or down. Thanks to this brainstorming the maemo team at Nokia and other developers can prioritize better their tasks and select the most appropriate solutions.

Learn more about the Brainstorm tool in the introductory screencast and the development wiki page.

We use the Talk forum to discuss Brainstorm proposals. At some point the connection between Brainstorm proposals and discussion threads will be automatic. There is no automation yet so this will require Brainstormers to employ the following protocol manually:

• Member creates Brainstorm proposal based on perceived need (along with one or more solutions if possible, entered separately)
  
• Member captures link of that proposal and starts a new thread in this subforum, pasting that link into the first post along with a synopsis and/or the entire text of the proposal
  
• Member captures link of new Talk Brainstorm subforum thread, and edits Brainstorm proposal to include it. Cross pollination complete!

Threads here MUST HAVE a related Brainstorm proposal linked. You have the rest of Talk to have free-form discussion.

Please try to give your Brainstorm a telling name.
Good "Maemo5 Hildon App Manager: Clickable links"
Bad "Make links clickable"

Please try to write your Brainstorm proposal without included solutions to give people space for ideas. Provide links to features you are looking for or/and describe as detailed as possible what you are looking for.

General discussions and off-topic posts in Talk:Brainstorm may get deleted.

And not to busy this up too much, but some pointers on effective brainstorming may be helpful. So here are resources, with some techniques designed for more physical encounters but still generally useful:

Brainstorming wikipedia article

Brainstorming in meetings

Group development process


Legend:
Proposal pending: There is no Brainstorm, an item must be created (this state should not happen at all)
Sandbox: Brainstorm is waiting for votes or solutions
Under consideration: Brainstorm solutions are open for voting
In development: A developer took over and started to work on a program with picked solutions to implement
Implemented: A program is ready to download (might be a developerversion so be carefull)

Re: How to use Brainstorm
 

I've done quite a bit of cleaning here today and will likely have to do more.

A friendly reminder: this subforum is a bit more formal than General. Threads here need to have a related Brainstorm topic as described in the post above.

The best way to use Brainstorm is to first think through the need or want that brought you here. Is it part of a larger issue? Is it actually a bug (if so then Bugzilla is the likely better place to start)? Can your Brainstorm issue fit under one that already exists? Does it have multiple possible solutions?

And remember that the original Brainstorm topic should not contain the solution. Post the problem, then add your solution(s) if you have any.

Thanks all!

Re: How to use Brainstorm
 

Any volunteers to compile the current info about the Brainstorm at http://wiki.maemo.org/Brainstorm ?

You can also help by asking questions. Answers probably exist somewhere...

Re: How to use Brainstorm
 

Done. I've created an initial page at http://wiki.maemo.org/Brainstorm by wikifying the content from Texrat's first post in this thread (and adjusting the text referencing "this forum" and similar to work from the wiki rather than "this forum" :) ).

Re: How to use Brainstorm (NOTE: read thoroughly before creating new Brainstorms!)
 

Okay, we're still getting new threads that are not Brainstorms, as well as instances of solutions blended with problems, so I'll reiterate a few points:

- this is not the forum for how to code
- this is not the forum for troubleshooting device issues
- this is definitely not the forum for fighting amongst ourselves

It IS however the forum for improving the Maemo device experience.

To begin, simply identify a need, post the problem at the Brainstorm page (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/) as well as a thread here and crosslink the two.

Note: solutions should not be included in the problem description! They are each added separately.

It's best to push Brainstorm proposals as far upstream as possible in nature, so as to address issues at the highest level and provide opportunity for numerous solutions (which don't have to be mutually exclusive). Here's a good example:

[Under vote] Ovi Maps improvement suggestions

In addition, please search/browse through this subforum and the Brainstorm page to avoid creating redundant entries.

These practices will help us keep the process clean, and help solution implementers in their efforts.

Thanks for your participation!

Re: How to use Brainstorm (Read Before You Post in Brainstorm!)
 

Starting post updated and reviewed missing 404 links. The wiki entry needs to be reviewed too.