How to make greats ideas fall from the sky…

As a backlash from the ‘irrational exuberance ’ of the dotcom era, true innovation has been squeezed out of the process by the “immediate needs of the shareholder and the financial mindset of the senior managers” . However there is resurgence in innovation and ‘design thinking’ and having a great idea can make the difference between success and failure.
But where do great ideas come from? Well contrary to popular belief they don’t hit you like a bolt of lightening from the far side of the universe. Ideas are solutions to a problem. The problem might be a need unmet or a need met badly. So in order to generate solutions we need to understand the problem context. Some of the best ideas can happen just by actually taking note of your sensory experiences (when was the last time you truly listened to anything?) and asking child-like ‘why?’ questions.
So this morning my hubby is looking at the calendar. There’s only 5 days left in the month and he flips the calendar over, which is something that neither of us ever do normally until 3 days into the new month. He sees a family birthday on the 2nd of September, which had he not flipped the calendar, we wouldn’t have seen and we’d have been too late to send a card. Anyway the net result was he said “there should be a forgetful man’s calendar, that has a few days for the next month at the end of the current month”. OK so it’s not going to win any product design awards but it is one way of solving the problem that is not addressed in everyday thinking or design.
So before jumping into idea mode, take time to understand your problem context. If necessary frame your problem in terms of the people who are either the most impacted by the problem or the people who will benefit most from the solution. Turn this into a problem statement and see how many ‘ideas’ or ‘solutions’ you can generate…