6 ways to find your next big idea (4)
Learn the techniques used by Steve Jobs and others to find your spark.
Hollywood movies would have you believe that innovators find ideas in a moment of inspiration — the “flash of genius” moment. They want you to think that there’s something mystical about being able to find new ideas. They tell this tale not because it’s how innovators actually work but because it sounds exciting — which sells movie tickets.
The truth is much different. Many of the world’s top innovators have learned to be creative using the techniques described in this post. The good news is that it’s easy to get started with these techniques, so you can start using them today.
Brainstorming
This is probably the best known technique for developing new products or services. It tries to solve a problem by spontaneously listing ideas related to it (The problem you are trying to solve is what products/services will people buy or use). Originally, it was believed that this technique was better suited to groups. However, recent research suggests that brainstorming works just as well for individuals.
Use these tips to get the best from your brainstorming sessions:
Make sure that everyone involved understands the problem that you want to solve and the objectives of a possible solution. This sets the boundaries for the brainstorming, which ensures that the ideas generated are focused on the problem area.
There are no bad ideas during brainstorming. Write down every idea you think of no matter how crazy or impractical it may sound. Your job during brainstorming isn’t to critique ideas — it’s to find new solutions by generating as many ideas as possible.
Aim for quantity, rather than quality. You want to come up with as many ideas as possible so do whatever it takes to keep the ideas flowing.
If you are working with a group, try brainstorming individually before brainstorming as a group. Sometimes in a group brainstorming session, people get fixated on one idea. Brainstorming individually before coming together as a group can help to avoid that by introducing lots of ideas that keep the session moving.
SCAMPER
Harvard researchers found that the number one skill that separates innovators from non-creative people was “associating” — the ability to make connections that others can’t see. The SCAMPER technique is a mnemonic that helps you make those connections by re-imagining how existing products can be used, modified or combined.
Substitute — What can I substitute in this product? What can be used instead to provide the same service? Who else instead wants to use this product? What other tools/technology can I use to create this product/service?
Combine — How can I combine this product/service with another one? How can I combine this service with a new pricing model? How can I combine this product with a new marketing channel? How can I combine this service with a new delivery channel?
Adapt — What can I adapt to use as a solution? What other products are like this? What other services does this suggest? Are there old technologies, products or services that I could use? Which companies could I copy?
Modify — Can I change the color of existing product in some way? Can I change the size of existing product in some way? Can I change the shape of existing product in some way?
Put to other uses — Can I use an existing product/service in a new way? Can I modify an existing product/service and use it in a new way?
Eliminate — What can you eliminate from an existing product/service? How can I cut the costs of an existing product/service? How can I simplify an existing product/service?
Rearrange — Can I rearrange an existing product/service in some way? Can I change the sequence in which the customer experiences it?
5 Whys
This technique asks Why? five times to discover the cause and effect relationship for a problem. You can use this to discover the root cause of a problem, which you solve as part of your product or service. The technique was created by Sakichi Toyoda and helped turn Toyota into the powerhouse that it is today.
An example of using this technique is to find out why potential customers won’t use your product.
Problem: Potential customers will not our service despite it being better than Competitor A.
Why? Switching from Competitor A to our product is difficult.
Why? They would lose all historical data by switching to our product.
Why? All of their historical data is stored in Competitor A’s product and cannot be exported.
Why? Competitor A has not built a tool to export the data.
Why? Competitor A is worried about competition and knows that not having an export tool keeps customers locked in.
After asking Why? five times, you can see that there is an opportunity to win customers from Competitor A by building a tool that allows people to export data from their tool.
The Kipling method
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
This method is named after Rudyard Kipling, the English poet and novelist. In particular, it references the first few lines of his poem ‘I Keep Six Honest Serving Men’.
This technique involves finding new product and services ideas by asking What? When? Where? Why? Who? and How? (Which is why this method is also known as 5W1H — 5 Whys? And 1 How?)
You can use this technique to explore every aspect of the target market, your competitors and your potential customers. For example, you can use it to discover where target markets exist and their properties, how competitors operate their businesses and how potential customers use products and services.
Once you have completed your exploration you will know a lot more about the target market you are entering. This means that you will be in a much better position to create products/services that your customers will love.
Incubation
Ever been in the shower and suddenly thought of the solution to a problem that you’ve been trying to solve for hours? If you have, you used the Incubation method to solve the problem.
Using this technique, you immerse yourself in the problem and then do something as a distraction. While your conscious mind is distracted, your subconscious mind continues to work on the problem and will often find a solution.
An example of Incubation would be reading lots of blog posts and books, watching videos, reading reports, and interviewing customers to immerse yourself in the problem. Then you distract your conscious mind. Stanford researchers found that walking improves creativity so this is probably a good distraction. But taking a shower or watching a movie also work well for me.
I first saw this technique used by seasoned developers when they would get stuck on a problem. If they couldn’t fix a code problem in a few hours, they set it aside and worked on something else (You could also play ping pong or build a potato cannon I suppose). Often while working on the other task, the solution to the original problem would come to them.
Back from the future
I heard about this technique on Reddit but I also seem to remember that Steve Jobs or Elon Musk used it. I can’t prove that so I’m going to say that u/loughmiller invented it 
The idea is that you ask your customers to describe how they think their business will look in the future (say five years from now). You then ask yourself what needs to be in place before that can happen. Then ask what needs to be in place before that can happen. You keep repeating this process until you arrive at how things are today.
This will give you a road map of what you need to build to get your customers where they need to be five years from now. With this roadmap in hand, you can start building the products and services to get your customers where they want to go.
Perfect timing! Bookmarked! Thanks for yet another epic post Attila!
Amy
Credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/advancedent...echniques_for/
Not mine found it on fastlane forum and shared it with yall.
Originally Posted by vortex
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