Catherine, if I could think of three things that
were important for ideation methods, what might they be?
>> You're talking about best practices?
>> Best practices.
>> Let me give you four.
>> Okay.
>> The first one I think would be to be open.
Be open to ideas and what I mean there is, be open not just to the ideas that come
most naturally to you, but focus and make sure you're
open to ideas that maybe aren't so natural to you.
>> Unfamiliar ideas.
>> Unfamiliar, so.
If you are a more structured thinker, then make
sure you're staying open to the more tangential ideas.
If you're a more tangential thinker, make sure you're staying
open to the more structured ideas, so it goes all directions.
Second, I would say, is to understand the problem and this comes in two ways.
First of all, understand what kind of problem
you're studying, what kinds of solutions you need.
So if I'm trying to solve a problem for a five year
old, I probably won't go looking
for solutions from a particle physicist someplace.
>> So you want something appropriate to the level of the problem.
>> Something appropriate, exactly.
And then I also want to keep track of where I am in the problem solving process.
So, am I at the beginning, where normally the
solutions I'm looking for are more conceptual, maybe more general.
>> Divergent.
>> Yeah, then towards the end, I may be looking for something more specific.
So, let's say I'm designing something.
Maybe I'm designing something new for, for my pet dog.
And so, at the beginning, I may be thinking about idea
generation for, what are all the kinds of things that dogs do?
What are the kinds of things that, that involve dogs?
But by the time I get to the end, now I
may be generating ideas for, how do I actually produce something?
Maybe make it or manufacture it.
So.
>> Yeah, the specifics.
>> The specifics.
So know where you are in the process.
The third best practice has to do with, has to do with tools.
Jack, do you have a hammer at your house?
>> Yes.
>> What do you use it for?
>> Nails.
>> Nails.
Okay, do you ever use it for tying your shoes?
>> No.
>> Do you ever use it for combing your hair?
>> Hopefully never.
>> [LAUGH].
>> So, so you, you only use that hammer for certain things?
>> Correct.
>> And I'm guessing that you have a, a toolbox with other tools in it as well.
Screwdrivers and things, and each tool has its purpose,
and so idea generation techniques are the same way.
Some of those techniques are designed
to give us more, perhaps, revolutionary ideas.
Ideas that.
>> Yeah.
>> Versus evolutionary techniques.
>> Versus, exactly.
>> Yeah.
>> And I want to make sure that I'm using the
right technique for the kind of idea I want, right?
So I need, just like my toolbox in
my garage, I want to have a toolbox of techniques.
>> Yeah.
>> And I want to make sure it's full of all different kinds.
Not just the ones that I like and I think
they're fun, but the ones that maybe I don't like.
Maybe I don't think they're so much fun, but they need to
be there, because they need to be there for doing a particular job.
And so you know, sometimes people ask me,
well how do I know which technique does what?
>> Right.
>> And the answer to that is the same answer to an,
to an old joke about a concert hall in New York City.
You, you probably know this one.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
>> That one I know.
Practice, practice, practice.
>> Exactly, and it's.
>> So you practice the technique.
>> You practice the techniques because you want to get a sense of, well
gosh, when I use this technique, what kind of ideas do I get?
>> Right.
>> And when I use that technique, do I get something different or do I get the same?
>> So when you're practicing these ideas, but
let's say you don't have much experience with it.
How do I get to Carnegie Hall if I don't
necessarily know what to practice or I don't have much skill?
>> Let's ask Jack, how would you get to Carnegie Hall?
>> I'd take the back door, maybe one of them's open.
[LAUGH].
>> So you would aim for luck, could you expand on that a bit?
>> Yes, luck, serendipity.
Let me give you an example.
When I was young and casting about for a career, I tried chemical
engineering, it didn't work, I tried the law, it didn't work either, and
so I decided to look for a spiritual answer, and so I joined
a commune, a vegetarian commune, and my job was to weed the garden.
