Verse by and for Brainstorming

I mentioned IBM's new EMail idea Verse.  Now an article in the NYT about how they developed it and how they use it.  The general brainstorming approach described is similar to the way we approached idea generation and discussion.  It is common in Silicon Valley.  It can work, but I have seen it be stifling.

" ...   We did this for our new business email tool, IBM Verse, which helps workers prioritize tasks and find the right people and information quickly. We began not by declaring that we wanted to transform enterprise email, but by asking the team to think about what people dislike about email.  ... " 

Unclear then how Verse now supports this kind of brainstorming interaction.  Have not seen it demoed yet, so can be objective.  When you are not seated together and riffing ideas.  Culture does create problems with brainstorming.   Managers who understand this often excuse themselves from early sessions because they influence the process too much.  Different people contribute in person than do in e-mail.   In real-time is different than intermittent.  There is much self editing and self aggrandizement.  Visual drawing works differently on line.   How can email deal with these observations?