Brainstorming online

Brainstorming; a method that has been discussed for ages. Alex Osborne is credited with “inventing” the creativity technique around 1930’s.

“It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one.“- Alex Osborne claimed.

Brainstorming is method of thinking up solutions, ideas or new concepts. The idea is to go for quantity in idea generation and leave the criticism out of the discussion. Idea evaluation is a later stage. However, here I’m not interested in discussing the method further but to rather discuss the helpful tools that exists, and don’t exist for this exercise.

In student projects, research projects, live industrial projects I’ve had the ability to see, and coach, teams with purpose of generating ideas in order to solve problems, come up with new products, services or solutions. It is quite easy to see that brainstorming (and closely related creativity techniques) works pretty well in geographically close teams , i.e. you can put the team in the same room for the session.

The problem is that a lot of todays businesses are global, and teams need to be global, hence physical meeting requirements should be reduced to a minimum (I do know that social aspects play a role so of course it’s good to meet once and a while). The past couple of years we have made efforts in setting up global teams that have a purpose of doing product innovation. We’ve done this primarily together with Stanford University, and their Center for Design Research division. The purpose being in research to see the needs of the teams and how to support them with tools and methods. The teams competition is often parallel teams, locally situated. The fun part is that this globally dispersed teams often outperforms the local teams, reasons can be pure motivation since the challenges are many; cultural differences, social differences, time zone difference etc.

So, so, back to brainstorming support.

I’ve tried several tools (and methods), and some of them stick while others fade away. There are ambitious tools and there are really lightweight solutions out there. Still, I see the need for a tool that support the way of work we see happening in industry today and that will be predominant in the future. This tool should be at the hands of the product development teams.

The tool should support:

• Synchronous and asynchronous work mode
• Build on other ideas
• Facilitation
• Reporting
• Idea management
• Image upload
• Hyper linking
• Personalization of work area
• etc…

The idea for tool will now move into the Garage for work.

Software solutions, or tools, I like…

Well, working in projects in a stressful environment you want to have some helpers. I just love those “killer apps” that help you rather than kill you.

I don’t know about you, but I always collaborate, and collaborative projects spread globally as locally, with external “customers” and internal you really need some tools that are accessible and
that truly supports your work.

Here are some interesting and useful tools I use.

Writely
Neat tool to shared instant online word processing (now Google Docs).
http://www.writely.com/

Foldershare
Neat tool to share and sync files in workgroups and using multiple
computers.
http://www.foldershare.com

Send Me Files
Send big files when e-mail accounts do not permit it.
http://sendmefile.com

HipCal
Shared web calendar.
http://www.hipcal.com/

ClockWork
Log time spent in projects.
http://www.clockworktimer.com

Basecamp
Web based project collaboration tool. Free to use.
http://www.basecamphq.com/

Writeboard
Shared writing.
http://www.writeboard.com/

Skype
My number one choice in conferencing right now since it can do
videoconferencing cross platforms (PC/MAC) which I like.
http://www.skype.com/

Adium
You can’t name one and skip the other, Adium is killing the competition on cross platform , multi-login instant messaging.
http://www.adiumx.com/

Netvibes
Well, yet another web-desktop but still useful.
http://www.netvibes.com/

Meet with approval
Getting the people together for a meeting ain’t easy, but this helps
http://www.meetwithapproval.com/

Definition of Product

It is interesting to notice that there exist an ISO definition of “product”:

“A product is an output that results from a process. Products can be tangible or intangible, a thing or an idea, hardware or software, information or knowledge, a process or procedure, a service or function, or a concept or creation. Please note that when ISO uses the term product they also mean service.“

Hmm, I also think that “product” is what the customer pay for, and if that product is intangible, people call it service. But if it is a software (intangible) it is not called service, rather software; Jilx!! Well, well, lets skip that and se what will come out of the processes first, THEN we can argue on what to name it…

Why idea management?

Idea management, in my view, is the deliberate process of recognizing that you have ideas, and also the will to take them further. I think that out of a bunch of ideas might come something that could be beneficial for someone else, or even for me. By treating this as a process, and dealing with ideas accordingly, I think more ideas will come “into play”, i.e. be transformed into solutions.

Of course, some ideas may stand out as “better” than others on the ideation stage (my Driveway), while some may stand taller being worked with (my Garage), and some may just slip through to the final stage (my Garage sale) without making lots of noise. However, giving the ideas the same attention (The Idea Garage Process) might raise the possibilities of both early and late bloomers. It is always hard to spot the winners on the market before the solution do hit the market…

Also, it is important to turn the thinking into actions once and a while since it is then that you realize, and reflect upon a lot of things.

Confucius (Chinese philosopher & reformer, 551 BC – 479 BC) said:
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

…and was he right or was he right! You learn by doing!

Also, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969, A speech to the National Defence
Executive Reserve Conference in Washington, DC on Nov. 14, 1957) once said that “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything”.

He had realized that although you do not always follow your plans, it is important to plan (or practice, train) in order to be prepared for the unexpected.

We do live in the “knowledge era” and Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790, US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer) also coined an interesting phrase:
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.“

People claim that we live in the fastest era ever, still, the quotes above do carry some wisdom relevant also today.

The Idea Garage

I don’t know how you’re working. I’m at least arranged so that I have lots of ideas on just about everything. These ideas I put on my “driveway” (some are public, some are not). When I start working them, alone or with someone, I’ll bring them into the “garage“. Here they’ll stay till they are considered done and brought back out in the sunshine for “garage sale“.

Notice that the trash don’t exist, and that’s because an idea might not be dead just because I could not help it fly. On the “garage sale” someone else might pick it up…

Anyway, this blog is mainly directed towards me and my brain…