- Written design briefs were due
- Gave everyone info on how to watch their pitches from last week
- From the readings (They all laughed, 11&12)
- There are often wide gaps between concept and execution (Xerox)
- Xerox was dependent on various uncontrolable factors: cheap paper, etc.
- Carson, Edison and others succeeded for being systems thinkers
- Often the pitchee was thinking linearly, not about the system
- The people who rejected new ideas were satisfied with the status quo
The rest of the class time was used doing different group brainstorming exercises.
- We started with a short list of what’s different when working in groups vs. solo
- Groups: people’s egos, history between people (good and bad), can be fun, but sometimes people dominate the floor or spread their negative vibe.
- Basic brainstorming
- We did a basic game where each team had one designated facilitator and scribe, whose jobs were to prevent the bad aspects of group work, and enable the good.
- Teams competed: team with most ideas won. (Team with most unique ideas also won).
- Six thinking hats
- We used the 6 thinking hats technique in several ways.
- First time: everyone had a specific hat, but had to work as a group to generate ideas.
- Second time: the group wore one hat a time, but as a group. Most folks found this much easier.
- Brainwriting
- Everyone divide a sheet of paper into quarters. In section 1,they wrote their own brainstormed ideas. Then after 90 seconds they handed their paper to the person to their left. We repeated until all 4 sections had stuff in them.
- This technique is a unique combo of solo and group creative thinking.
- It works well for finding unexpected ideas – when you get your sheet back its often fascinating to try and connect all the ideas there with what you wrote in the first corner.
- Idea Journals
- While folks were working I took a peak in everyone’s idea journals.
- The better journals were up to about 30-4o pages.
- Your minimual goal should be an entry a day. Since you can write anything, I can’t imagine an excuse for not meeting this minimal bar.
- Tip: Put the journal nearby when you’re watching tv, reading a book, etc. Make it easy to jot something down when you’re doing activity likely to give you something to think about.
November 13, 2006 at 5:10 am
It always interests me how social dynamics impact group idea generation. There seem to be specific roles that are typically filled. In a recent “creative” meeting at work I found that my view of idea generation has actually changed a bit in the past couple of months. Sitting around a conference table we had a self-assigned leader, a negative nabob, a peace keeper, an analytic, a talker, an impatient, and me (not sure I want to divulge what role I play at work as it might tarnish my shy, mild-tempered image from class).
We have these meetings every couple of months and typically accomplish very little creative thought (the functionality of a camel comes to mind). This time I decided to bring some of the new idea generation tools to the table. It was interesting to see how the different personalities responded to my efforts toward group creativity. In the course of the day we used the sentence game, which a couple people liked, but a couple others looked annoyed with “wasting” time. We used mind maps, attributes, reversal, and unintentionally the affinity diagram (which until this week I thought I made up).
Use of these techniques didn’t last long as the non-creative people outweighed the creative and just wanted to “get on with it and decide something.” However, during their use, I noticed that almost everyone had at least a tinge of wanting to be creative… a small spark of playfulness that they subdued for the sake of business as usual.
It’s a start anyway…
January 2, 2009 at 3:53 am
Hey Do,
Sounds great that you know all about your stuff! Its intriguing when you speak to someone who knows what they speak about, as oppose to reciting it from someone else they learned from. I can see you are very experienced and with your credentials it is quite obvious that you will make it far in life, or have already made it far in life
Xerox Solid Ink Outlet