Agree, in order to form an interesting, original and useful idea, you need to work hard. Brain work is built in such a way that ideas and thoughts hover constantly in the head, prompting a person to action. There are thoughts that you don’t have to “think” much about; – mostly fleeting urges: about clothes or work, a project or a relationship in the family. When it comes to how ideas are generated for a business or a scientific experiment, there are many techniques that can be followed to formulate profitable, original and useful ideas. So, read this article on how to generate ideas for business and startup.
- Brainstorming by — Alex Osborne.
The most common method that is known to a large number of people, it is used even in schools to teach children creative thinking. This is a collective idea generation method and there are two explanations for this.
Firstly, the possibilities of thinking expand in the team, provided there are no psychological barriers.
Secondly, problems regarding modifying ideas are resolved more quickly when a group of people are working on them.
Technology of implementation. People are invited to voice their idea. Other participants develop it without the right to criticism. So, everyone in turn has the opportunity to speak out and participate in the analysis of creative ideas, improving and improving the core.
Feature of the technique – the very process of idea generation, development and subsequent criticism is divorced in time. The analysis of inferences in the process of collective discussion occurs at the end.
The second version of the idea generation method "Brainstorming" – brainwriting or "mute". Ideas are not voiced or discussed, but written down on a piece of paper. This sheet is passed from hand to hand, and each participant can make their own thoughts and additions to the idea.
Read also: Bodo Schaefer's 72 Hour Rule. How to implement an idea.
- Six hats – author — Edward de Bono.
This method may seem simple and useless at first glance. In fact, everything is much deeper than it might seem.
Technique. More than 7 people are expected to participate. Everyone is invited to put on hats of different colors on their heads and complete the corresponding tasks. An important condition is to properly organize communication in the group, to exclude emotional confrontation among the participants.
Special tasks are attached to each hat. One specific idea is voiced and participants express their opinion with the help of hats.
How roles are distributed by color:
- Former hat – it is necessary to analyze facts and figures. At the heart of – rationalism and impartial explanation and confirmation.
- Black Hat – identifying negative properties, predicting possible failure.
- Red Hat – the need to connect an emotional assessment based on subconscious associations.
- Yellow Hat – the formation of the positive aspects of the idea.
- Green Hat – search for non-standard solutions to the problem, based on creativity and originality to identify alternatives.
- Blue Hat – Summing up and summarizing everything expressed by the participants.
- Mental maps – author — Tony Buzan.
The author of the method is sure that the development of creative thinking and brain activityin general is based on memory, and it is with its development that work on generating ideas should begin.
How to build the memorization process correctly? Place a key concept or word in the center on a sheet of paper, enclosing it in a circle, and draw associative rows from it, writing them down on the branches – creating a tree. Also, for better remembering, reinforce associations and thoughts with graphic elements. Thus line up a map of associations, which fully forms the image located in the center. Such a tree or map is better remembered and stays longer in memory.
Read also: The Wheel of Attention method: pull yourself together and try to realize your desire
- Synectics – author — William Gordon.
To find the creative grain in this or that idea, you need to acquire patience and resort to working on analogies. This will help expand your view of the problem and consider those aspects that are hidden from view. The synectics method is one of the best methods for generating ideas for startups and businesses.
Technique. The idea is divided into keywords or categories and analogies are selected for them, which are recorded in a table for the convenience of further work. The table is divided into columns: the first – direct analogies with the subject, the second – indirect, it may be an opposing opinion or description.
For example: object and keyword: pencil. For what purpose this object is considered: to expand the range. Direct analogy to the word pencil – voluminous (its appearance), and indirect – flat (negation). Result – bookmark pencil.
- The Focal Object Method – author — Charles Whiting.
This is a non-standard technology for generating ideas for business. On the key object (focal), signs of other randomly selected objects are adjusted and the resulting compounds are further considered.
For example, what happens if you combine a candle as a focal object and the concept of "New Year"? Associations included: New Year – this is the time of sparklers. It is this sign that can be transferred to a candle. What happens: grind a Bengal candle, add to the wax and what happens – the candle will burn and sparkle at the same time!
- Morphological analysis – author — Fritz Zwicky.
The key object or word must be decomposed into small components (features). Of these, choose the most important ones that form this particular object, change the quality of these features and try to combine them together.
For example, the goal is to create a business card for a perfume company. The usual form of a business card – rectangle. Changing the rectangle to a triangle and add the smell of perfume – get a new form of the company's business card.
Read also: 13 best brain hobbies that will make your convolutions work
- Indirect Strategies – authors — Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt
Ideas are generated by executing the commands written on the cards. There should be various instructions in the deck, for example, "unleash your anger", "steal the decision"; etc. If there is an object that needs to be thought about, maps will help. By choosing a card and following the directions, you can come up with unexpected solutions.
- Bus, bed, bath method
It is believed that a positive, useful or profitable idea can mature anywhere and at any time. Main – always keep the object of your research in mind and not interfere with the subconscious mind to work on improving the idea. Example: Archimedes and a bathroom, or many assumptions that a true idea can come in a dream, or rather be formed (for example, Otto Levi – the theory of chemical transmission of a nerve impulse, Niels Bohr – a planetary model of the structure of atoms, Elias Howe – by creating a sewing cars).
- Decryption
Notes in other languages are suitable for transcribing: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi. Seeing the text in an unfamiliar language, associations and conclusions are born in the head, which can lead to the birth of an original idea. There is a case with a teacher who, looking at hieroglyphs, distinguished water with three circles on it. This conclusion led to the idea of delivering oysters.
- Trap for ideas
A trap is a notebook, a voice recorder, an ordinary notebook in which all unexpected ideas are recorded. This is a kind of inventory that captures thoughts and helps to analyze them later.
It should be remembered that the generation of ideas depends on the desire to develop, the level of erudition and the time during which the problem is developed. There are many more techniques for generating ideas. If you want to achieve a result, give your thoughts a thorough analysis in many different ways to expand your view of the object of interest. This will help improve the associative series and draw the necessary conclusions.
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