My little shredder
Where (good) ideas go to die
In part one, we left off talking about what makes an idea good, but what about those that are unworthy? What do you do? Toss it? Cry? Start over? Calm down and don’t be overly dramatic. Take a minute to think about how you can make seemingly bad ideas work for you and unlock new opportunities. Let the (idea) conservationist in you out: Reduce, reuse, recycle — or “upcycle”. Put your “failed” or “bad” ideas in an idea junkyard — a special space for all your unwanted, discarded, impractical, incomplete or broken ideas. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure: so if you think an idea is truly bad, do what most junkyard owners do — sell it for parts. Maybe the idea on a whole doesn’t work, but parts of it may be salvageable. Part of an idea might be the spark of something completely new…or maybe another idea is incomplete and one of the old ideas is exactly what’s needed to make it blossom.
Know when to call it quits
Our society preaches perseverance. We’re taught to “never give up” and “stay with it”, but sometimes “giving up” is exactly what we should be doing. Sometimes our emotionality and unwillingness or inability to let go keeps us from thinking rationally or objectively — and ultimately from moving forward.
Knowing when to declare defeat and actually making the decision to not pursue an idea any further is very challenging. We get it: you’re invested. You’re emotionally attached. Rather than clinging to an idea, take the time to analyze why it is a bad idea, and then let it go. Even if you personally don’t like where the project is heading — it is for the greater good. Don’t be stubborn. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings and that’s okay! You can mourn (not too long), but LET. IT. GO. In fact, celebrate it!
This happens to us more often than we’d care to admit, but we came up with something that helps us cope: “My little shredder.” This is where our (good) ideas go to die. We aren’t by any means endorsing actually throwing away ideas, but sometimes a symbolic act of “waving good bye” to one’s ideas can be cathartic and generally good for the soul. Your client doesn’t want to buy an idea they commissioned…shred it! Can’t seem to work out the bugs of something you’ve been working on? Shred it! Innovative idea but not really realizable or no practical use? Shred it! Savor your final moments and get some closure as the garbage collector carries away the remains. Take a moment to say good bye. And then move on…to creating other awesome stuff.
All kidding aside, sometimes these failed, bad or unwanted ideas you want so badly to put in an actual shredder are in fact the stepping stones to something better.
Learn from bad ideas
Sometimes what seems like a bad idea is actually a good idea in “disguise”. We mean to say that failure is an important and necessary part of progress and innovation. It’s unbelievable that the wisdom that one gains from failure is so valuable, yet there are few people or companies who take advantage of this opportunity. Bad ideas or failures can be used as a tool for eventually discovering bigger or better opportunities. By discovering the reasons of what makes the idea bad and figuring out where things went wrong in the process, you can (theoretically) gain new insights about the product or process that will help you in this and other endeavors.
“We’re in the discovery business, and the faster we fail, the faster we’ll succeed.” — IDEO Labs
A part of learning from our bad ideas involves changing how we view failure in general. For example, bad ideas resulting from thoughtful or exploratory experimentation should be praised rather than reprimanded. In her article Strategies for learning from failure, Amy C. Edmondson calls these kind of failed ideas “intelligent failures”. They happen when results or outcomes aren’t knowable in advance because this situation hasn’t ever occurred before, e.g. when designing an innovative product or testing user reactions. Here, the expression “trial and error” comes to mind, but we don’t like this terminology because it implies there was a “right” way in the first place, which goes against everything that experimentation and innovation stand for. This uncertainty is what allows us to learn (from what worked, as well as what didn’t). It provides valuable new knowledge that can help us go in novel directions and ensure future growth.
Attitude is everything
Ouch! Dealing with the disappointment of failing is tough. So, how do we deal with all that failure on a daily basis? Well, it’s all in your attitude. A big part of our work is research and experimentation, and although we have the occasional spectacular breakthrough or success, a large percentage of what we do ends in failure.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” — Albert Einstein.
It sounds bad, and no, we aren’t masochists who enjoy the pain. We just know that failure is not optional in our work, and that makes all the difference in the world. Experiments are by their very nature prone to failure. For us, it’s a very natural and necessary part of discovery and innovation. Plus, we know that each failure yields valuable information. At this point, we’re starting to sound like a broken record, but repetition aids learning and it’s no less true now, than the last time we said it.
“It wasn’t me…”
On a more positive note, failures aren’t always your fault. Sometimes things happen that are beyond your control. Maybe your equipment breaks or malfunctions. Maybe you ordered parts or materials that didn’t arrive on time (or at all) forcing you to scramble for alternatives. We’ve been there and it’s frustrating as hell, but even here there’s a silver lining. These unforeseeable circumstances can also be valuable. They force you to be quick on your feet and think outside the box to get the job done. You’ve got to come up with new solutions or alternatives quickly — and most of the time these decisions made in panic turn out well — and maybe they’re even better than the original.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls
Attitude is one part of the equation, but development approaches and methodology are also key factors. A popular method used by other departments or companies is the waterfall model — a very linear and sequential method where the entire project/requirements are planned in the beginning and then executed in rigid sprints until the product is finished. However, at Thinx we prefer the agile development method because it’s flexible and accepting of failures. We have frequent and early opportunities to see the work we’ve done so far, and can make decisions and changes throughout the development project. Basically, we test a lot and test often, so we can learn from what’s working or conversely, what isn’t and based on this create the best possible results for us.
A call for change in company culture
Now, attitude and approach don’t mean a thing if you haven’t got a company culture that supports them. A buzz word on everyone’s lips these days is “psychological safety”(providing a work environment that encourages people to speak up about ideas and makes it “safe” to admit or report failures) and if you want to fully realize the rewards of learning from failure, this and a heaping dose of tolerance are crucial.
At thinx, we try to create and reinforce a culture that counteracts the blame game and makes people feel both comfortable with and responsible for reporting and learning from failures. We are more interested in “what happened” rather than who did it. Actually, the same goes for good ideas. The idea and its realization are more important than who came up with it. Especially since, most ideas are unconscious group efforts anyway.
As much as it hurts, it’s important to talk about our bad ideas and failures…and with a lot of different people. By having colleagues from other departments or people not involved in the project look over our work, new reasons for the failure may come to light that weren’t clear before. Thinx is an interdisciplinary and international team with diverse skills, backgrounds and perspectives which allows us to explore the issue from different angles on different levels and better understand what happened (or didn’t) and how to turn the newly gained knowledge into something useful.
A major part of supporting this kind of work culture is facilitating open communication. Being open about what you don’t know, mistakes you made and where you need help will encourage everyone else to do the same. You’ve all heard of the expression “Don’t shoot the messenger”. These are truly words to live by! Those who come forward with bad news, questions, concerns, mistakes etc. should be rewarded rather than shot.
The moral of the story is…
We aren’t the ultimate authority on creativity and ideas, but maybe we can save you from some of the frustration and heartbreak that comes from doing creative work. We’ve gathered quite a bit of hands-on experience and continually build upon our knowledge of what works for us and what doesn’t.
At Thinx, we’ve learned that you can’t force creativity, but there are things you can do to help it along. You can create mental and physical environments conducive to creative thought and you can cultivate your creativity. In doing these things you might have more ideas; then again, maybe not. But it’s been our experience that coming up with ideas usually isn’t the problem. However, not all of these will be good and that’s okay. We’ve changed how we look at failure, learned how to properly analyze it and then decided that there are no “bad” or failed ideas because ALL ideas are valuable in their own way.
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it” — Thomas Edison.
Go on and put those ideas into action — what kind of action is up to you.
