Structured Ideation and Design Thinking

Structured Ideation
and Design Thinking

Gayle Curtis
8 December 2009

Ideation and design thinking

Observe &
Understand
Take a Point
of View
Ideate Prototype &
Test
Evaluate &
Iterate

Ideation is the process of
forming and relating ideas

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Wikipedia 2

Genius is one percent inspiration
and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Thomas Edison, inventor

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us
just show up and get to work.
Chuck Close, artist

BayCHI Dec 09 Sources: Wikiquote; Wisdom, by Andrew Zuckerman 3

Exercise – Thirty Circles

You have a sheet with 30 circles

1. When we say GO!
Transform each circle into
something recognizable, such as
a ball, a planet, bicycle wheels,
etc.

2. It’s OK to draw outside the lines.

3. The goal: transform all 30 circles
in TWO minutes.

BayCHI Dec 09 4

Examples
9 different Extra time
ideas

21 circles
Some
combining

BayCHI Dec 09 5

Your experience?

If < 30, why?
 Not clear about the rules
 Can circles be combined?
 How different should they be?
 Don’t like deadlines
 Couldn’t draw fast enough
 Not sure how much I wanted to get into this

BayCHI Dec 09 6

Brainstorming

Defined by Alex Osborn in 1939
“Storming a problem in a commando fashion”
 “Your Creative Power,” 1949
 “Applied Imagination,” 1953

Took on a life of its own
 BBDO - Alex Osborn
 MIT Creative Engineering Lab - John Arnold
 Stanford Design Division - Bob McKim

 IDEO
 d.school at Stanford and Potsdam

BayCHI Dec 09 7

The Osborn Rules
for
Brainstorming

BayCHI Dec 09 8

Osborn Rule #1

DEFER

JUDGEMENT
Say Yes!

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Doré 9

Fifty phrases that kill creativity

 Our place is different  Now's not the right time.  It can't be done.
 We tried that before.  It isn't in the budget.  It's too much trouble to change.
 It costs too much.  Can't teach an old dog new tricks.  It won't pay for itself.
 That's not my job.  Good thought, but impractical.  It's impossible.
 They're too busy to do that.  Let's give it more thought.  I know a person who tried it and
 We don't have the time.  We'll be the laughingstock of the got fired.
 Not enough help. industry.  We've always done it this way.
 It's too radical a change.  Not that again.  We'd lose money in the long run.
 The staff will never buy it.  Where'd you dig that one up?  Don't rock the boat.
 It's against company policy.  We did alright without it before.  That's what we can expect from
 The union will scream.  It's never been tried. the staff.
 That will run up our overhead.  Let's put that one on the back burner  Has anyone else ever tried it?
 We don't have the authority. for now.  Let's look into it further.
 Let's get back to reality  Let's form a committee.  We'll have to answer to the
 That's not our problem.  It won't work in our place. stockholders.
 I don't like the idea.  The executive committee will never  Quit dreaming.
 I'm not saying you're wrong but... go for it.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 You're two years ahead of your  I don't see the connection.  That's too much ivory tower.
time.  Let's all sleep on it.  It's too much work.

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Daniel DuFour 10

Osborn Rule #2

GO FOR

QUANTITY
Fluency and flexibility

BayCHI Dec 09 11

We need both
Fluency - Lots of ideas Flexibility - Lots of different ideas

BayCHI Dec 09 12

The ebb and flow of ideas

The Idea Curve
When the going gets tough, the tough get stupid

BRILLIANT

BORING TIME

ABSURD

Dev Patnaik
From The Ebb and Flow of Ideas, a Product Development - Best Practices Report, The Management Roundtable

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Dev Patnaik 13

Osborn’s checklist for transforming ideas
Put to other uses? Magnify? Minify? Reverse?
 New ways to use as is?  What to add?  What to subtract?  Transpose positive
 Other uses if modified?  More time?  Smaller? and negative?

 Greater frequency?  Condensed?  How about
Adapt? opposites?
 Stronger?  Miniature?
 What else is like this?  Turn it backward?
 Higher?  Lower?
 What other idea does this  Turn it upside
 Longer?  Shorter?
suggest? down?
 Extra Value?  Lighter?
 Does the past offer  Reverse roles?
 Plus ingredient?  Omit?
parallel?  Change shoes?
 Duplicate?  Streamline?
 What could I copy?  Turn tables?
 Multiply?  Split up?
 Whom could I emulate?  Turn other cheek?
 Exaggerate?  Understate?

Modify? Rearrange?
Combine? Substitute?
 New twist?  Interchange
 How about a blend, an  Who else instead?
 Change meaning, color, components?
alloy, an assortment,  What else instead?
motion, sound, odor, form,  Other pattern?
an ensemble?  Other ingredient?
shape?  Other layout?
 Combine units?  Other process?
 Other shapes?  Other sequence?
 Combine purposes?  Other place?
 Transpose cause
 Combine appeals?  Other approach? and effect?
 Combine ideas?  Other tone of voice?  Change pace?
BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Alex Osborn, Applied Imagination 14

Transformation cards

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: the MIT Creative Engineering Laboratory, ca 1956 – Adapted from Osborn’s Applied Imagination 15

More strategies for getting ideas

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Rolf Faste 16

Osborn Rule #3

GET

RADICAL
WILD WEIRD ABSURD STUPID

Easier to tone down than pump up

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Obey the Pure Breed 17

The idea curve revisited

Illustrative representation of idea count

BRILLIANT

BORING TIME

ABSURD

“Out of a hundred ideas, the first sixty ideas produced five that were actually
new or different, the next twenty produced nothing but laughter, and ideas
eighty to a hundred produced another ten that were amazing. Thankfully,
we didn’t give up when the well ran dry around idea number sixty.”

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Adapted from Dev Patnaik, The Ebb and Flow of Ideas 18

Osborn Rule #4

LEAPFROG
Piggy-back
Build on
Let go

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: Rolf Faste 19

Some other rules & tips

Stay focused on topic And, for best results.…
 Turn it around to something that Explicitly agree
relates
 “Let’s brainstorm!”
One conversation at a time  “Yeah!”
 Let everyone get their idea out
Facilitate
 Bring side discussions onto the table
 “What else….?”
Headline it Record
 Get the essence and move on  Capture the ideas
 Maintain flow
Time box
Be visual  Define the play period
 Bring the right brain into play

BayCHI Dec 09 20

A sample brainstorm

Challenge: Some new ideas for waking up

BayCHI Dec 09 Source: VizAbility 21

Structured Ideation
in Product Development

BayCHI Dec 09 22

Structured ideation sessions

 Stakeholders and crossfunctional teams
 Half-day to two-day sessions
 Format:
1. Background briefing: users, context, goals, constraints
2. Break into small groups (6-10) with facilitators
3. Ideas on Postits; Postits on board
4. 40-60 minutes facilitated brainstorm
5. Cluster Postits on poster boards
6. Participants pick promising ideas & form xfunc teams
around those
7. Each team develops a concept and story
8. Stories presented to entire group

BayCHI Dec 09 23

Framework for product scenarios
User
 Identify the user, based on the target user group
Context
 Describe context or situation in which the problem
exists
Problem
 Describe an incident or condition that motivates the
use of the solution
Solution
 Show how they access and use the solution to
address their need
Outcome
 Describe the outcome of the situation - the payoff,
the problem solved, the happy user

BayCHI Dec 09 24

Innovation pipeline

What happens next?
 Hottest ideas carried forth by champions
 With coaching, ideas are groomed by those teams
 Business case
 Technical requirements
 Implementation plan
 Presented to management for roadmap evaluation

BayCHI Dec 09 25

What other benefits?

Brainstorming sessions have effect beyond the problem itself.
 People feel empowered when their ideas get heard
 Teams see a different way of relating to their project.
They understand where ideas are coming from.
 People discover a different way of relating to each other.
They have the experience of constructive collaboration.

BayCHI Dec 09 26

Recap

What we learn from ideation

 Defer judgment and entertain openness

 Go for quantity and multiply your options

 Get radical and explore the misfit, the absurd, the provisional

 Leapfrog and mashup the old/new, wild/tame, yours/others

 Whoosh! and maintain the flow

BayCHI Dec 09 27

References
Osborn, Alex, Your Creative Power, New York, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1949
-- Your Creative Power [Abridged], Purdue University Press, 1999
-- Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving. New York, New York:
C. Scribner's Sons. 1953

Patnaik,Dev, Jump Associates, The Ebb and Flow of Ideation, in Product Development – Best
Practices Report (ISSN 1049-8400) ©2001 The Management Roundtable, Inc. www.pdbpr.com

Woolsey,K; Kim,S; Curtis,G; VizAbility, Course Technology, 2004

BayCHI Dec 09 28

Structured Ideation and Design Thinking

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