Brainstorming Possible Solutions

Brainstorming is a free-association exercise where the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible. You are looking for quantity, not quality here - the opposite of almost everything else you will do as engineers. For this reason, many engineers struggle to brainstorm properly. The mantra to keep you on track is that "all ideas are good ideas" during brainstorming. Empirically, this is not true; plenty of bad ideas are going to come out during brainstorming. But to brainstorm effectively, you need to resist the temptation to criticize ANY idea that is put out. Instead, open your mind to the possibility that something in that "bad" idea might well be workable. Try to take it in a direction that you think might work better. In this way, "bad" ideas often draw out the best innovations because they are best at pushing other engineers to think beyond their initial assumptions.