Hi Michel and Martin-
First of all, +1 on Universal Traveller. I've been working with that
book since the 1976 edition, and I find the concepts and process
framework are still very powerful and insightful.
I'd like to add to the discussion about solo ideation by framing of
it as a dialog with ourselves. We want to get dialog of ideas flowing
and keep them flowing. Here are some points of practice that I have
found very useful:
1. Set up a defined time for the session. We want to challenge
ourselves to think by different rules for a while because we're going
to set aside our dominant analytical and critical thinking abilities
and open up the wild side of imagination. So we give our critical
side the assurance that we're going to play by these rules for only
20 or 30 minutes, then the critical function can come back in.
2. Keep the critical thinking function out of the room during the
session. This is another way of thinking about Osborn's "defer
judgement" principle, and it's fundamental to this kind of ideation.
Without this principle, we end up driving with our foot on the brake.
What it means in practice is that we want to entertain not only the
wild, weird and improbable, but also the dumb, mundane, copycat, and
obvious ideas. Let everything and anything come out. We want flow,
and sometimes the best way to start the flow is with the most obvious
solutions. Get them out and see what's behind them.
3. Get the ideas into the room. It's hard to have a constructive
dialog with ourselves if it all takes place inside our head. Thoughts
are ephemeral, and to really respond and build on an idea we need to
make it persistent. Write things on postits or whiteboard, or slips
of paper on the table, or anything that captures the ephemeral
thoughts. Get them out of our head and into the room. This makes way
for new thoughts and creates artifacts that we can sort, cluster,
combine, etc., to see patterns and relationships, as well as
reconsider and reflect on.
4. Be visual. It really helps to make some kind of visual sketch or
notation for an idea as we create it. The process is more natural
when we're brainstorming about physical objects, but don't be blocked
by the notion that "there's no way to represent this idea...." Find a
way to put some kind of glyph, scribble or symbol with even the most
abstract concepts. The idea here is not to make a graphical
explanation of the idea on the spot, because that may really break
the flow. We just want to tie something visual to it. When we scan
the wall or board or table full of ideas, these little graphical
snips give the imagination something else to work with. A sketch or
scribble that's tied to a verbal idea also makes individual ideas
easier to identify and remember, when faced with a wall of 50-100
postits.
5. Be visual again later. I have found it useful to take a second
visualizing pass on the ideas even after the brainstorm session is
over. Take some set of the most promising ideas and make a sketch
that represents each one. The process of thinking over the idea and
trying to come up with a way to diagram or represent it often gives
new insight into that idea and spawns other new ideas. Try this as a
simple exercise or practice for time or two and see how it affects
your overall attitude and results.
I find these basic practices are really foundational to almost any
kind of specific ideation technique, such as brainwriting,
mindmapping, etc., and they really make the techniques more powerful
and effective.
Thanks for raising the question. I look forward to more on this thread.
Gayle
Message: 16
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:12:41 +0300
From: Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] solo ideation ( was: Brainstorming )
To: "michel milano" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: IXDA list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Hi Michel,
Thanks for pointing me to this book. I have started reading the Google Books
preview. Good stuff!
Thanks,
Martin
On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 7:09 PM, michel milano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
for a self-guided adventure in brainstorming, i would recommend the
following (admittedly, it should be applicable to groups as well as solo
tours). i have never understood why this books isnt on more book lists nor
required to be in everyones shelves.
perhaps it is simply too clear for audiences demanding controversy.
The Universal Traveller
A soft systems guide to creativity, problem-solving, and thd process of
reaching goals.
by Don Koberg, Jim Bagnall
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lu985
Looks like you can read pieces of it in Google Books, too, which i hadn't
known before finding this just now.
http://books.google.com/books?id=aa9pt9MknUoC&dq=The+Universal+Traveller
it is unabashedly humane and joyful about design, and outside the quibbling
about definitions.
maybe some attention can bring it back out of print.
good reading,
michel milano
> > Which of these techniques are suitable for *solo* ideation?
________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
