Great questions. 

In short, yes, you can and always should take time.

How many levels deep should you go? There's no set number. It rather depends on the granularity and scope of the question.

I'd say that 80% of brainstorming questions can be solved by just having a couple of high-level areas and then going straight into presenting the ideas.

Sharing with you a resource here with the core brainstorming techniques:

• Expert Guide: Mastering Structuring & Brainstorming

Best,
Cristian

Hi Anonymous,

I guess the key issue to point out here is that there is nothing like a real "brainstorming" question at McKinsey. ABS - always be structured, even if it sounds like a creative brainstorming question.

10-15 seconds is ok to think about the top layer(s) of your hopefully structured answer. The remaining parts of the structure you need to figure out on-the-fly once you are there.

Once you are finished try to integrate the findings of that "brainstorming" into the overall picture of the case and proceed as planned by your initial structure.

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Dear A,

1. Brainstorm means not taking so much time for your thoughts. So 10-15 is ok.

2. I would recommend you to start with one layer and then gradually you can go deeper.

3. Actually, you should have a viw where to go next.

Best,
André