A good methodology for idea-generation, which avoids attachment to the “but-it’s-my” idea:
Explore the design-space. Look at all the possibilities; because it would be ignorant to ignore them. You aren’t supposed to find ‘the best’ here; this is about answering “What is Possible? What are my Options?” If you’ve only come-up with three to five (e.g. “It has to be Capitalism, Communism, or Socialism”) then you haven’t even started. I looked at a few dozens of ways to combine Zeppelins, Paramotors, and Sail Boats… five options ain’t even started.
Look at the pro’s and con’s of each idea—in order to find the patterns between those ideas. You’re not picking ‘the best idea’! If two ideas both share a particular failure, that’s where you ask: “What is it about these designs that leads to that failure?” Now, you have a better grasp of what sorts of problems come from what kinds of designs. No good designs, yet!
Pick lots of weird niche-application-spaces. NOT because you plan to market into those niches—no! Rather, when you ask “How would I have to design this for an Arctic Marine Environment? Or, if it has to fit in an elevator, and fold into the trunk of your car?” You are narrowing-down your options in that vast design space, creating extra constraints, more problems to overcome beyond the normal. That is when you have to hunt for the weird and surprising solutions. Stack those odd-balls up! None of them are good stand-alone designs.
You now have a good sense of what’s possible, and what designs create which sorts of problems, and you’ve come-up with lots of awkward niche-solutions. Now, you can glom those niche-bits together, and see if any of them stick; this is combinatorial search, so you’re probably best meandering for a while. If anything stands-out, see how you can hone-in on it. Most of the time, you’re still left with a pile of junk! Sometimes, you have a new algorithm, or a new touchscreen, or a zeppelin-paramotor-caravel.
So, by shuffling through and clustering solutions according to which problems they share, (step 2) then you are actively identifying all the problems, in general… including the problems with your ‘favorite,’ early, almost-certainly-bad idea.
A good methodology for idea-generation, which avoids attachment to the “but-it’s-my” idea:
Explore the design-space. Look at all the possibilities; because it would be ignorant to ignore them. You aren’t supposed to find ‘the best’ here; this is about answering “What is Possible? What are my Options?” If you’ve only come-up with three to five (e.g. “It has to be Capitalism, Communism, or Socialism”) then you haven’t even started. I looked at a few dozens of ways to combine Zeppelins, Paramotors, and Sail Boats… five options ain’t even started.
Look at the pro’s and con’s of each idea—in order to find the patterns between those ideas. You’re not picking ‘the best idea’! If two ideas both share a particular failure, that’s where you ask: “What is it about these designs that leads to that failure?” Now, you have a better grasp of what sorts of problems come from what kinds of designs. No good designs, yet!
Pick lots of weird niche-application-spaces. NOT because you plan to market into those niches—no! Rather, when you ask “How would I have to design this for an Arctic Marine Environment? Or, if it has to fit in an elevator, and fold into the trunk of your car?” You are narrowing-down your options in that vast design space, creating extra constraints, more problems to overcome beyond the normal. That is when you have to hunt for the weird and surprising solutions. Stack those odd-balls up! None of them are good stand-alone designs.
You now have a good sense of what’s possible, and what designs create which sorts of problems, and you’ve come-up with lots of awkward niche-solutions. Now, you can glom those niche-bits together, and see if any of them stick; this is combinatorial search, so you’re probably best meandering for a while. If anything stands-out, see how you can hone-in on it. Most of the time, you’re still left with a pile of junk! Sometimes, you have a new algorithm, or a new touchscreen, or a zeppelin-paramotor-caravel.
So, by shuffling through and clustering solutions according to which problems they share, (step 2) then you are actively identifying all the problems, in general… including the problems with your ‘favorite,’ early, almost-certainly-bad idea.