SYSTEMATICIDEATIONStefania Passera

Understand the

problem

Need finding

Interpret findings

Idea generation

Building a prototype

Test and improve

Adapted from the book Design Thinking, Understand – Improve – Apply, Christoph Meinel, Larry Leier, Hasso Plattner

Know yourselfHow many ideation techniques do you know?

Have you used them in the past?

Do you know what works for you?

Do you know what works for different types of problems?

Learn the methods!It’s ok to get stuck sometimes during ideation… but not if you got stuck because you did not try ideating through different methods

Madness = doing the same thing and expecting a different output!

Good resources & references

… and many more!It is not difficult to find resources nowadays.INVEST IN YOUR IDEATION SKILLS!

RULE 0:Keep all your ideas documented!

Postpone criticismQuantity is qualityCategorize ideasGive yoursellf to the processMix convergent & divergent thinkingSelect ideas

Write them down:Title + description in a nutshell+ tiny sketch (eventually)

Keep them visible for all the team:Post-itsMake half slide per ideaMake a postcard for each ideaMindmap…

0. Keep all your ideas documented!

1. The ”ideation muscle” needs warm-up!

2. To get a good idea you have to first put down on the table the banal and not-so-good ones, which are the first ones popping up in your head

3. Get rid of ”typical” ideas as soon as possible

4. It’s ok to have bad ideas, as there could be seeds of good ideas hiding inside them: a bad idea might trigger a mental association that leads to a good one

1. Postpone criticism

1. Good ideas do not come easy =you need to increase the odds of finding one!

2. You need quantity if you want to have a chance at discovering the ”idea categories” of your problem space = ideas that belong together (e.g. variants of basically the same idea, solutions that solve the same problem, solutionsthat follow the same approach, etc.)

3. You must get used to entertain all sort of alternativesand possibilities in your mind.

4. Learn to thrive in uncertainty. Do not to panic if youdo not figure out things immediately.Don’t rush to closure, be open.

2. Quantity is quality

less more

Concepts “Small Ideas”

E-Garage Movable props Cool courses Team spaces

2. Quantity is qualityHow many ideas is “many ideas”?It depends on the level you are consideringTrunk, branches, twigs, leafs…

Exercise

Ideate a device to collect balls from a field.

• One idea per post-it• As many different ideas as possible!!• Ideas must be sketched, not written• 2 minutes

To think outside of the box, you need to recognize the boundariesand every corner of that box

The solutions within a problems space can always be categorized

When you reach saturation of the initial categories,try to ideate new categories rather than ideate solutions,and only in a second moment try to think ofsolutions that belong into the new categories

Innovation = challenging assumptions& conventions…

Aim is still quantity = mixing solution ideation,categorization and ”category tweaking helps you to come up with more ideas, and more varied

3. Categorize ideas

3. Categorize ideas: how to?

By persona/User type (and their needs or activities)

By need/specific problem solved

By customer journey points (increase/invent good, decrease/eliminate bad, prevent or make something happen)

By solution approach (e.g. ”Ideas based on Principle X; Ideas based on Technology Y”)

When we feel that we are reaching the limits of the ideas we caneasily get simply by thinking hard about a topic, we need tricksto forget our usual thinking patterns and breaking the rules

We need a precise method that forces us to think in a certain way,and allows us to make random and free associations that we would not usually think of

4. Give yourself to the process

DIVERGINGWorking on breadth, scopeOpening upExploring diversityFinding the ”box boundary”Generating

5. Alternate between divergent and convergent thinking

CONVERGINGWorking on depthFocusingIncreasing detailPinpointingAnalyzing

5. Alternate between divergent and convergent thinking

ConceptsCategoriesGeneral ideasGeneral principlesOpportunity ideas

Within categoryEmbodiementPractical solutionsOutlinesExperimentable ideas

DetailsParts of systemMechanismsImplementationExecution ideas

Iterate continuously, have many ideation rounds and when good ideas start popping up,start selecting them for further development and furtherfine-grain ideation

Ideation is iterative: after initial rounds creating quantity and variety of ideas, you need to choose your potentially best ones in order to either:

1. Ideate them further in detail2. Try to prototype them

You need to set criteria in order to make your choices

If you do not select ideas:• You will have troubles in increasing the overall idea

quality• It leads to redundancy• It leads to confusion & overload, stealing space from

new ideas• It makes category-building more complex

6. Select ideas

Workshop

Put your problem statement A4in the middle of the table

1. SILENT WRITESTORM- 8 minutes- Goal: 20 ideas per person- Individually, write one idea per post-it

Brainstroming alone… (warm-up)

1. SILENT WRITESTORM- 8 minutes- Goal: 20 ideas per person- Individually, write one idea per post-it

2. BUILD ON OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS- 8 minutes- Goal: 10 new ideas per person

1. Put all ideas from the prevoius round in the middle of the table2. Pick someone else’s idea3. Build a new, different idea inspired by that idea

Brainstroming alone… (warm-up)

1. SILENT WRITESTORM- 8 minutes- Goal: 20 ideas per person- Individually, write one idea per post-it

2. BUILD ON OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS- 8 minutes- Goal: 10 new ideas per person

1. Put all ideas from the prevoius round in the middle of the table2. Pick someone else’s idea3. Build a new, different idea inspired by that idea

3. BRAINSTORMING IN PAIRS- 10 minutes- Everyone takes back their own ideas generated during second round- Divide in pairs or triplets of people- Quickly present your ideas to your partner (consider similar ideas as

one, and keep only 1 post it)- Come up with new ideas discussing together and write them 1 x post-it

Brainstroming alone… and in pairs (warm-up)

20 minutes- Present to the whole group all ideas generated in the previous exercises- If there are redundant ideas, keep only 1 post-it for them- Categorize the ideas

- If new ideas come up spontaneously while categorizing, add them to your mindmap

15 minutes- Brainstorm together new idea categories to add to your emerging

categorization- To illustrate the new category, come up with at least one idea that

belongs to that category, and add it

Categorizing

15 minutes break

SCAMPER

SCAMPER is a method that forces you to do certain “mental operations” and channel your thinking in one direction.

SCAMPER is a mnemonic for:

SUBSTITUTECOMBINEADAPTMODIFYPUT TO ANOTHER USEELIMINATEREVERSE

SCAMPER-ing your customer journey

20 minutes

Take out your customer journey, and generate new ideas by usingSCAMPER actions on its1) PAIN POINTS (Substitute, Modify, Eliminate, Put to another use, Reverse)2) SWEET SPOTS (Combine, Adapt/Add, Modify/Magnify,)3) CUSTOMER JOURNEY PHASES (Add, Eliminate, Modify, Put to another

use…)

Put each new idea on a different post-it

SCAMPER ACTIONSSUBSTITUTECOMBINEADAPTMODIFYPUT TO ANOTHER USEELIMINATEREVERSE

SCAMPER-ing your customer journey

15 minutes- Take all new ideas and add them to your categorization- If they belong to new categories, add new categories to your

categorization

(If new ideas/categories come up spontaneously while categorizing,add them to your mindmap)

Categorizing 2

Stretching!

A TOOL FOR DISCUSSION, IDEA COMPARISON AND SELECTION

6 Thinking Hats

The 6 hats force you to follow a specific thinking style and get the best of all stylesUse hats in this order:

RED: What do I feel about it? What does intuition says? Follow your emotions!

WHITE: What do we know? What do we need to clarify & how? What we cannot know?

YELLOW: What are the benefits? What can we achieve? What is the value of this?

BLACK: What are the risks? What are the negative aspects? Why this idea doesn’t fit us?

GREEN: What options do we have? What other ideas does this raise? How can we solve the problems raised by the black hat?

BLUE: What are our intentions? What are our conclusions? Did we consider all points of view? Should we still consider something?

6 Thinking Hats2 minutes- Decide together your 2 top ideas for further discussion

15 minutes- Discuss the 2 ideas with the 6 thinking hats method (1 round per idea, 7

min x round)- Everyone uses every hat! NOT 1 person = 1 hat- Mark down all thoughts of the team on the given hat-cards- By the end of the discussion you should have decided for one of the 2

ideasRED: What do I feel about it? What does intuition says? Follow your emotions!

WHITE: What do we know? What do we need to clarify & how? What we cannot know?

YELLOW: What are the benefits? What can we achieve? What is the value of this?

BLACK: What are the risks? What are the negative aspects? Why this idea doesn’t fit us?

GREEN: What options do we have? What other ideas does this raise? How can we solve the problems raised by the black hat?

BLUE: What are our intentions? What are our conclusions? Did we consider all points of view? Should we still consider something?

A TOOL FOR DETAIL IDEATION

Lotus Blossom

Alternative 4 to do A

Alternative 5 to do A

Alternative 6 to do A

6 3 7 6 3 7

Alternative 3 to do A

Alternative 7 to do A

2 4 2 4

Alternative 2 to do A

Alternative 1 to do A

Alternative 8 to do A

5 1 8 5 1 8

6 3 7 6 3 7

2 4 Ideato

define

2 4

5 1 8 5 1 8

6 3 7 6 3 7 6 3 7

2 4 2 4 2 4

5 1 8 5 1 8 5 1 8

AspectA

AspectG

AspectB

AspectH

AspectF

AspectD

AspectC

AspectE

AspectA

Opens up crucial aspects of an idea in a systematic way.

Creates variety and details.

Result:8 different ways to take care of the 8 most crucial aspect of an idea = 64 new, focused ideas on how to take care a number of key implementation details

EXAMPLE SMARTAIR: center of the lotus

Lotus Blossom

A IoT tag to attach to your

baggage so it can be tracked

and does not get lost

AMaterial of the tag

BPositioning of the tag

CType of technology

GRole of desk personnel

FLevel of awareness

of traveller

ERole of traveller

HRole of handling

personnel

DWhat do we track exactly

EXAMPLE SMARTAIR: petals of the lotus

Lotus Blossom

AMaterial of tag

1NFC sticker

2UV ink stamping

3UV ink pen

7…

6Plastic chip

5Magnetic chip

8…

4Chain strap

Lotus Blossom

Alternative 4 to do A

Alternative 5 to do A

Alternative 6 to do A

6 3 7 6 3 7

Alternative 3 to do A

Alternative 7 to do A

2 4 2 4

Alternative 2 to do A

Alternative 1 to do A

Alternative 8 to do A

5 1 8 5 1 8

6 3 7 6 3 7

2 4 Ideato

define

2 4

5 1 8 5 1 8

6 3 7 6 3 7 6 3 7

2 4 2 4 2 4

5 1 8 5 1 8 5 1 8

AspectA

AspectG

AspectB

AspectH

AspectF

AspectD

AspectC

AspectE

AspectA

20 Minutes

Write your selected idea in the center

Think of 8 key aspects that need to be figured out in your idea, and write them around the center (A-H)

Write each aspect in the middle of the 8 petals

Ideate different ways to take care of that aspect and write them around their petal (1-8)

Summarizing

Generateideaquantity(some rounds)

Minimum ideation process

Categorize& select 1

GenerateFocusedquantity, systematic methods &themes

Ideate more in detail, enrich & flesh out few chosen ideas

Categorize& select 2

Categorize& select 3

For tomorrow…

Before 14:00 tomorrow…

1. Do sufficient ideation exercises/rounds until you feel you are starting to get good ideas

2. Use Lotus Blossom, and figure out at least some detail parts for your 3 top ideas (no need to make a FULL Lotus for all of them, but you need to brainstorm around some details too)

Two things to bring to class:

• Your top 3 ideas, also figured out in some detail through LB

you will have to plan and execute a prototype of one of them(or some key aspect of one of them)

Tomorrow

14:00Back in Egarage

Egarage not available

Before you take off today, document the ideas you created in this session.

Store these ideas in your idea repository.

SOME EXTRAIDEATION &IDEA SELECTIONRESOURCES

1) Chain writestorming: write an idea and pass it to the person to your right. Everyone builds on the idea they received, then pass it on again

2) Drawstorming: instead of writing your idea, you try to draw it

3) Hat-storming: Each team member is allowed to think only from a certain perspective about a specific problem: feeling-driven, fact-driven, money-driven, efficiency-driven, effectiveness-driven, etc… you can even make your own “hats” so that they are specific to your challenge

Variations of usual brainstorming

Make a familiar problem strange by looking at it through the lens of an improbable analogy.

Example :”I want to be more creative” -> ”What if being creative were like… a toaster?”

What if? (1/2)

Pick an analogy terms that you are very familiar with, so you can come up with more associations and metaphors, and find more similarities and connections.

E.g. ”What if [X] would be like…Hockey -> The team that won the national championship last year”

TYPICAL PROCESS

What if? (2/2)

What if…we would be the [McDonald] of our industry?

What does ”being [McDonald]” means?

Fast… many choices, but not so customizable…

So, what does it mean for our case if we try to apply those ideas in our industry?

Connecting the previously unconnected to create something new 1+1=3

Force yourself to see relationships between dissimilar things to generate new ideas.

Exploit the power of analogy and metaphor.

By pairing two things that have not much or nothing at all in common...and seeing what emerges.

Hybridization (1/3)

Hybridization (2/3)

emergency clinic

+ pharmacy MinuteClinic=

Hybridization (3/3)

taxi + karaoke-bar Karaoke Taxi=

The night of the Oscars

In order to select some best ideas from many, each team-member can cast only 1 vote for each category:

• The best rational choice• The most likely to delight the users• The idea you simply love • The one you need to brainstorm more in detail before deciding• The long shot / the dark horse • The easiest/fastest/cheapest to prototype

(… Or according a set of criteria that make sense for your specific problem)

Pick the ideas that got most overall votes in each category

POINT

A discussion/evaluation tool. Possible shorter alternative to the 6 thinking hats

Focus on a certain idea

PLUSSES: What are the strengths of this idea?

OPPORTUNITIES: What opportunities the idea offers? What opportunities we can pursue forth?

INQUIRY: What does worry me? What could not work, how & why? What do we need to test/experiment/prototype?

NEW THINKING: How can we solve the obstacles and difficulties?

NUF Test

In order to select some best ideas from many, rate each idea (from 1-10) on these three criteria: newness, usefulness, and feasibility

New: Has the idea been tried before? An idea will score higher if it is significantly different from approaches that have come before it.

Useful: Does the idea actually solve the problem?An idea will score higher if the problem/solution fit is spot on.

Feasible: Can it be done? Ideas that require fewer resources and effort to be realized / prototyped / make an impact will score better.

Then select the highest scoring ideas for further development!

New Useful Feasible TOTAL

Idea 1

7 2 6 15

Idea 2

0 3 10 13

Idea 3

8 9 5 22