Getting started with generating ideas

Its all about an idea

Lets start with a simple task.

1. Draw few circles on a paper as follows

2) Now write down things that you think is circular/spherical

3) This makes us really think and train our brain to work well under pressure systematically. Here are 2 pitfalls in generating ideas:

3.1) Fixation: You are fixated with just one idea: Ex: football, basketball, base ball, tennis ball, etc. When you think you are coming up with ideas of same category, STOP! and come back after a while to start noting ideas

3.2) Judgement: You often think that an idea may not work. Always remember that you get 1 good idea from 10000 ideas

Here are the steps to be followed for generating great ideas:

• listing ideas
• eliminating a constrain
• making an analogy
• exaggerating
• getting in the garbage
• Selecting idea

Picking idea from a list of ideas

• You will pick one idea that you think is the most useful
• one idea that you think is the most desirable
• one idea that you think is the easiest for most people to use
• one idea you think is the most functional
• and one idea you think is the most sustainable (either people are most likely to be willing to pay for it or its is good for the environment)

Lets take an example to follow this

Topic:

Generate ideas for teenagers who like to sleep in late and need an easy way to eat breakfast on the go because they don’t have time to eat breakfast before leaving their home.

1)Listing ideas: “breakfast bars that attach to backpacks.” Generating ideas may be Generating ideas:

1. individual
2. team
3. community

2)Eliminating a constraint: eliminate the unspoken constraint that

1. teenagers need to eat healthy food
2. that their families don’t want to spend a lot of money on breakfast food
3. or that teenagers like to sleep in

and generate more ideas

3)Make an analogy: Now it’s time to use an analogy to come up with new ideas. What if eating on the go was like brushing teeth in the morning, getting dressed, or picking up the morning newspaper? What new ideas come to mind when you think about morning routines? Generate at least 5 ideas. Again, if on a roll, keep going.

4)exaggerate the situation. Let’s exaggerate the amount of food people need to eat for breakfast.

• Let’s imagine teenagers need to eat 10 apples every morning for breakfast to be healthy.
• teenagers have 10 seconds to eat
• or teenagers need to eat their breakfast in exactly 10 bites.

What solutions can you come up with that could improve the eating on the go experience that allow teenagers to eat in this exaggerated situation. Generate at least 5 solutions. Again, if on a roll, keep going.

5) Getting in the garbage: Now it’s time to come up with the worst ideas.

• What are ideas that no one would every want?
• That take way too much time to set up?
• That cost a million dollars a serving?
• That take require everyone to travel to the moon and back before eating.

Some bad ideas may be good but you don’t know it yourself. Someone else may think it’s helpful

6)Idea Selection

While generating ideas, you were withholding judgment with the goal of getting as many ideas onto your list as possible. Now, its time to choose the idea that best fits the following five criteria:

• most useful
• most desirable
• easiest for most people to use
• most functional
• most sustainable (either people are most likely to be willing to pay for it or its is good for the environment).

Write “Idea Selection” at the top of the page. Next, list all five criteria on the page followed by the idea that fits the each criteria the best. You may choose a different solution for each criteria or you may find that one solution fits all criteria. If this is the case, list the same solution under each criteria. After each idea, write one brief sentence about why you feel that idea fits the criteria.