Systematic Creativity: Innovation Techniques PDF

Idea Generation and the Systematic Approach to Creativity ​ Creativity: creativity is marked by the ability or power to create/to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new ○​ In this class...

Idea Generation and the Systematic Approach to Creativity ​ Creativity: creativity is marked by the ability or power to create/to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new ○​ In this class, for an idea to be considered creative it must at a minimum be (1) novel/new and (2) useful Traditional View of Creativity ​ It is unstructured and doesn’t follow rules or patterns ​ You need to think outside the box to be truly original and innovative ​ Start with a problem and then brainstorm ideas without restraint until you find a solution ​ You should go wild making analogies to do with your product services or processes ​ Straying as far left field as possible will help you come up with a breakthrough idea Creativity is judged by the output, not the process ​ Don’t confuse structure and organization with lack of creativity ​ Don't confuse unfettered, unguided ideation with creativity ​ Both methods can generate creative solutions (which is our goal). ○​ The differences in these general approach lies in their efficiency ​ Which path generates the least resistance and highest concentration of creative ideas? Creativity is for everyone ​ Creativity is a skill that can be learned and mastered by anyone. ​ creativity is not that different from other skills people acquire in business or in life ​ Like other skills the more you practice it the better you’ll be ​ Systematic Inventive Thinking combines street wisdom, with scientifically validated knowledge. ​ Marketers will tell you the best sources of new product ideas are customers,both current and potential. ​ Customers lack the imagination to envision innovative products that address their emerging, or even existing, needs or desires.  ​ Participants in focus groups typically opt for product innovations featuring minor changes from current versions. ​ When these products hit the market, they often fizzle as small improvements that aren’t enough to alter customers’ entrenched buying habits. ​ Steve Jobs Quote ○​ Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, 'If I'd ask customers what they wanted, they would've told me a faster horse.' People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page ​ To get beyond predictable product extensions, developers are encouraged to “think outside the box” to imagine products that respond in truly innovative ways to customer needs. ​ But often, this kind of brainstorming yields a flurry of ideas that, while appealing, are just too far out, given the company’s brand image or capabilities. ​ Must completely overhaul traditional brainstorming, with a highly disciplined “inside the box” approach to idea generation. ​ Unlike most new product development methods, systematic inventive thinking starts with an existing product and its characteristics rather than customers and their unmet needs. ○​ You begin by listing the essential elements of a product, both its physical components and its attributes, such as color and expected useful life. ○​ You also look at the product’s immediate environment, again identifying both its physical components and its attributes, such as ambient temperature and type of user. ○​ Then, following one or more of five generic innovation patterns, you manipulate these elements to develop something new. Systematic Innovative Thinking ​ SIT: is a method that helps people break away from their patterns of thinking to come up with innovative & creative ideas on demand ​ Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller ○​ Soviet engineer, inventor, and writer. He is most notable for creating the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, which influenced the theory of Systematic Innovative Thinking.  ○​ Altshuller worked with colleagues to analyze over 200,000 patents to identify the formula of innovation. They identified 40 common inventive principles, ​ such as “The Other Way Around”, ​ “Blessing in Disguise”, and “Continuity of Useful Action.” ○​ Altshuller discovered that creative solutions have an underlying logic that can be defined and taught to others. ○​ Inventive solutions share common patterns that can be formed into templates that regulate our thinking and channel the creative process in a way that makes us more creative. Five Innovation Techniques ​ Innovators from all corners of the world have used templates in their inventions for thousands of years. ​ Most of them, without realizing it, those templates are now encoded like DNA into the products and services you see around you. ​ Most surprisingly, the majority of new inventive and successful products result from only five templates. ​ Therefore, the patterns, or templates, are helpful in categorizing new product ideas and generating them. ​ The same five templates keep showing up as keys to innovation. ​ The more you learn about these approaches the more you will start to see the five techniques being applied to solve tough problems and create breakthroughs. ​ The Five Techniques are: 1.​ Subtraction 2.​ Division 3.​ Multiplication 4.​ Task unification 5.​ Attribute dependency 1.​ Subtraction ​ Subtraction: Innovative products and services often have had something removed, usually something that was previously thought to be essential to the product or service. ​ Spirit and Frontier Airlines subtracted the frills. ​ Subtracting the polymer from permanent markers created the dry erase marker.  ​ Apple took out the calling feature of the iPhone to create the iPod Touch and has sold millions since. ​ Sir James Dyson is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone Dyson – a bagless vacuum cleaner. 2.​ Division: ​ Division can take a number of forms: ○​ physical division (a product is cut along a physical line), ○​ functional division (product components with different functions are separated), and ○​ preserving division (a product is divided in such a way that each part preserves the characteristics of the whole) ​ Computer printers allow you to separate the ink cartridge for easy replacement. ​ Boom box components were separated into speakers, radio, and tape players. 3.​ Multiplication ​ Multiplication: When using this technique, a component has been copied but changed in some way, usually in a way that initially seemed unnecessary or odd ​ Children's bicycles have regular wheels plus two smaller training wheels attached to the rear wheel to keep the bicycle steady while the child learns how to ride ​ Picture in picture TV's allowed people to watch one show while keeping track of what was happening on another channel 4.​ Task Unification ​ Task Unification: With some creative products and services, certain tasks have been brought together and unified within one component of the product or service–– usually a component that was previously thought to be unrelated to that task ​ Odor-Eaters socks keep you warm and have the additional job of deodorizing ​ Facial moisturizers now have the additional task of providing sunscreen protection ​ Advertisers have used this technique for years, placing ads on moving objects such as taxis, metro buses and even school buses.  5.​ Attribute Dependency ​ In many innovative products and services, two or more attributes that previously seemed unrelated now correlate with one another. ​ As one thing changes something else changes. ​ Cars use this pattern – windshield wipers that change speed as the amount of rain changes, radio volume that adjusts according to the speed of the car and head lights that dim automatically for oncoming cars ​ Smartphones provide information about restaurant locations of nearby friends and shopping preferences depending on your current location. The information is dependent on Geo location. Function Follows Form vs. The Traditional Form follows Function ​ Function Follows Form (FFF) is a way to overcome some of the drawbacks of research-led or design-based innovation. ○​ Conventionally, product innovation begins with consumer need identification that's translated into functions. ○​ The product’s form is then designed to fit these functions. Consumers, however, struggle to articulate unmet needs and imagining a product that does not yet exist is virtually impossible. ​ How can the Function Follows Form (FFF) approach boost results? ○​ Visualizing the virtual situation, and deeply exploring its potential benefits, though cognitively challenging, can lead to the discovery of previously unforeseen needs, market segments, and opportunities. ○​ Product Commercialization – Uncover hidden value and customer needs in existing products. ○​ New ideas tend to be practical because they are not only based on existing knowledge and capabilities but have also been filtered for do-ability and have undergone adaptations to overcome anticipated challenges. ​ a staircase, a nice visual for function follows form. ○​ It’s possible to develop a long-term innovation plan or pipeline, rather than a one-time novelty by systematically exploring many possible variations of your existing situation or product vs. the traditional form follows function