The How to, the Good and the Bad of Idea Generators
Idea generators can get you off the ground when you are attempting to come up with a new idea, but they can later hinder your creativity. You need to know the good and the bad sides of idea generators so that you can use them to your advantage.
The How to of Idea Generators
So you need a new idea? No problem. First, make a list of everything that limits or focuses your idea. For example , if you are looking for a new idea for a children’s book, write down things like, a book, readable by children ages 4 and 5, not too scary, or anything else that focuses the idea.
Now break these up into two categories, fixed constraints and fluid constraints. Fixed constraints are things that you cannot get around and are requirements for the idea. If your boss wants write a book, you are not going to build a fence. Fluid constraints can change but help to focus the idea. A fluid constraint may be something like the length of the book. This list is your idea generator list.
The next thing you need is a list of ideas. You can begin brainstorming, or go to your idea box. Take your ideas and start filtering them through your idea generator list. First, pick out the ideas that are a closest match to your requirements. For any ideas that have partial matches to your requirements, write down what matches as idea snippets. Now look at your full ideas and see if you can enhance them with your idea snippets.
At this point you have a list of ideas that match your requirements (some better than others). Take your top two ideas and look at your idea generator list to see where they are weakest. Now tweak these ideas so that they are a perfect, or close to perfect match for your requirements.
The Good and the Bad of Idea Generators
Using this method gets you to a valid solution quickly. However don’t forget how you got there. Often, later in the development process, you will find certain elements that are not working. If this happens, look back at your idea generators to see where the problem came from. Consider if one or more of your constraints should be modified, or isn’t necessary.
