Where do good ideas come from?...one producer’s answer, or a proven hypothesis

SheSays, 04 08 11

Ideas, they’re the holy grail

The secrets of some women I know

The secrets of some women I know

@finalbullet

The secrets of some women I know

@kbordwell@finalbullet

The secrets of some women I know

@ohrworm@kbordwell@finalbullet

The secrets of some women I know

@ohrworm @farrahbostic@kbordwell@finalbullet

Leila Johnston, writer, hacker, strategist

"There is no formula for a good idea, but they arise naturally out of the right combinations of personalities,

rather than "skills" in the employment sense of the word.

Without everyone involved feeling positive about the process and goal -- and each other -- it's very difficult to

get to anything of real resonance."

Kate Bordwell, strategist, blogger

"Good ideas come from intelligent creative people working together. The brief just sets the parameters

of the direction and records the thinking."

Cath Richardson, strategist, maker, digital what-sit

"Working with potential users introduces an element of chaos into the creative process. By

bringing in this foreign element you set the scene for serendipitous discovery."

Farrah Bostic, strategist, lean planner, entrepreneur

"Good ideas come from an almost delusional optimism about the problem to be solved, an openness to seemingly

unrelated analogies, and a playfulness with both the sublime and the ridiculous.

Good ideas also come from people telling stories over a drink or after watching a video of a hamster on a piano

eating popcorn."

A sociologist's view

"An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements." Vilfredo Pareto

Ideas as a production line

“The production of ideas is just as definite a process as the production of Fords; [...] the production of ideas, too, runs

on an assembly line.”

Creatives as magicians

“The creative people - the ones who have to come up with the

magic.” Hegarty

As the non-magician, what now?

Except... I work with The Many

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T-shaped?

A radial approachSolution

Technology

Customer development

Strategy

Sketching Problem

Solution

SolutionSolu

tion

Solutio

n Solution

SolutionSolution

Many heads... make light work

Many heads... make light work

Many heads... make light work

Everyone can pick up a pen to sketch

Company-wide sketch-brainstorms

Stuck? Try working it out, backwards

Rapid, collaboration: Good, by ideas

Free ideas for #famineaid

Outdated: the lone idea creator

Having and executing an idea is not formulaic

Epilogue: don’t distinguish between the creator, and the maker.