Guest Lecture: Idea Generation Flashcards
Key principles for any ideation
- Good ideation sessions require planning and pre-work
- It’s key to pick a focus area or problem to be solved
- Stimulus material is critical
- Gather the right participants
- Leverage different techniques
- Document your ideas
- Develop your ideas
- Converge on ideas - rank according to initial focus areas
Pre-work for successful ideations
- Plan early
• select the right attendees
•get on calendars early
• communicate broadly - Have attendees become familiar with the material and search out examples of topic area
- Prepare material
- Create idea templates to achieve “ideas are born executed” output
Idea templates
Turn each idea seed into an exceptional idea template.
Detail the idea: • key idea • type of innovation • target group • unique benefit to target •bring the idea to life
Prototype your idea as early as possible
Brainstorming
What it is:
• Approach to ideation using stimulus and “thought-provoking” questions to generate ideas
• designed for relatively easy tasks
• address a single problem statement
How to:
• Review and clarify topic (5-10 min)
• brainstorm breakthrough ideas on topic (15-20 min)
Success drivers:
• diverse group (functions and backgrounds)
• keep short
• don’t evaluate during brainstorming but before you leave the room
Brainstorming variation: Wishing
Starts by asking the impossible and then brainstorms ways to make it
- make wishes tangible
- generate 20 to 30 wishes about your business
- focus on some of them
- use roleplays (alien from another planet)
Brainstorming variation: Scamper
Checklist with action verbs as stimuli to come up with ideas:
- S = Substitute
- C = Combine
- A = Adapt
- M = Modify
- P = Put to another use
- E = Eliminate
- R = Reverse
Brainstorming variation: Brain writing method 635
Combine the power of groups with individual contribution
- review topic / key challenge
- each of 6 participants writes down 3 ideas
- ideas are passed to next person that either develops idea further or adds a new one
Synetics
What it is:
• stimulates thought process of which the subject may be unaware, to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar - new perspective
• use metaphors and alienations
How to:
• fully understand and analyze problem
• create distance in time and space
•produce unconscious, uninhibited associations
Success drivers:
•experience
• upfront problem definition
• moderator selection
Morphological analysis
What it is:
• combines all parameters of a problem with all attributes through a morphological box
How to:
• define the problem
• identify all influences and parameters
• build box adding all possible attributes for each parameter
• analyze all possible solutions to identify lead routes for development
Success drivers:
•right parameters, right experts
• keep complexity in mind without getting lost
ARIA (Awareness, Reflection, Insight, Actions)
What it is:
• three-step process
• using stimulus and contradictions to generate ideas
How to:
- individual idea generation
- work in tandems to share, discuss and strengthen ideas
- each tandem presents to the rest of the team
Success drivers: • right resources • right information • right process • right judgment • enough time
Innovation by Analogy
What it is:
• systemic method for discovering and adapting existing knowledge from other technology areas
How to:
• find a related problem
• how was it solved?
• adapt solution to own problem
Success drivers:
• suited for solving a pre-definded problem
•accept that it is difficult
•explore analogies
Design thinking
What it is:
• methodology using tools and mindsets taught in Design Schoos to solve wicked problems or identify new opportunities
How to:
• most commonly it is experienced in a workshop evironment across 2-3 days
Success drivers:
• consumer inspiration and involvement
• abductive thinking
• rapid iteration
