Hi Gayle, Thanks very much!
I especially liked this bit: 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. I'm definitely guilty of sometimes ignoring the dumb, mundane, copycat, and obvious ideas. Often the obvious idea is obvious *for a reason* :) Cheers, Martin On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 11:30 PM, Gayle Curtis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > 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? >> >>> >>> >> > -- Martin Polley Technical writer, interaction designer +972 52 3864280 Twitter: martinpolley <http://capcloud.com/> ________________________________________________________________ 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
