UX Study 05: Idea Generation
"Brain-Storming"
A way to unearth creative ideas by letting participants speak freely on a given topic; used for team-level decision making.
There's the Round Robin (structured brainstorming) method — pick a leader and a recorder and have people present ideas going clockwise — and Free Wheeling (open brainstorming) — no leader, only a recorder, and anyone can throw in ideas in any order.
Usually you start with Round Robin and move to Free Wheeling once the group is comfortable with it.
"Brain-Writing"
Traits of brain-writing
1. It sidesteps brainstorming's weakness of the conversation being dominated by a few people or swayed by the leader.
2. Because ideas come up in silence, it's an individual process — people can think freely in a calm atmosphere.
3. Writing directly on paper avoids the wording drift that happens when people speak.
4. It works no matter how many people are in the group, and minority opinions are preserved.
Methods of brain-writing
1. 6-3-5 brain writing (also known as the 6-3-5 Method, or Method 635)
: 6 participants each come up with 3 ideas every 5 minutes and write them on a worksheet. The worksheet is then passed to the next person, who reads what's there, takes inspiration from it, and adds their own. Over 30 minutes and 6 rounds the group produces 108 ideas.
2. mandal-art
3. The Pin-card Technique
: Similar to the Affinity Diagram. Write ideas on cards, pin them down, sort them into rows by category, and then compose the viable combinations into a single idea.
"Mandal-Art"
The mandal-art method — also called the 'lotus of thought.' Developed by Japanese designer Hiroaki Imaizumi.
It leverages the brain's habit of trying to fill in empty spaces, letting you see the whole at a glance and keep expanding ideas outward.
"Mind Mapping"
Developed in 1971 by Tony Buzan in the UK, mind mapping visually lays out related ideas radiating from a central concept.
It expresses the human brain's radiant thinking, using images, key words, and colors and symbols to organically connect the left and right brain — a way to get the most out of the brain. It can be used in innovation workshops and meetings to dig up problems and their causes or to plan ideas; organizing the output of brainstorming or brain-writing with a mind map is especially effective.
It helps you recall and express your thoughts on a given topic in a handful of words, keywords, or sentences. It can take many forms — a spider web, a tree, even a train. That doesn't mean any shape is fine, though; pick the form that fits the topic of the writing.
"Affinity Diagram"
A social-science methodology developed in 1920 by Japanese anthropologist Kawakita Jiro.
You gather various ideas or forecast data on the same theme, reclassify them by similarity or relationship, and use that to propose solutions to the problem. It's a technique for getting a holistic read on a large, disorganized pile of ideas or thoughts.
You jot ideas or pieces of information onto cards or post-its, then — looking at each piece of data — sort them into a handful of tightly related groups.
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"Six Thinking Hats"
The Six Thinking Hats technique was introduced by Edward de Bono in 1985. In a meeting, you assign specific-colored hats in turn and speak according to the rule that hat carries. By splitting roles (thinking types) among participants with different ways of thinking, the meeting stays free but focused, not aimless.
What the hats mean
> White hat
Objective, neutral thinking — presenting facts, information, and questions
> Red hat
Feelings, emotions, intuition, and hunches.
> Black hat
Surfacing potential risks and failure points — careful review and criticism
> Yellow hat
Looking for strengths, demonstrating feasibility — positives and advantages
> Green hat
Proposing new ideas, suggesting alternatives for weaknesses — innovative, creative opinions
> Blue hat
Control and monitoring (green hat's role if ideas get too dry; black hat's if they get too scattered), summary and conclusion
"S.W.O.T"
This is one method of internal/external environment analysis devised by Albert Humphrey, grounded in Stanford's research on Fortune 500 companies during the 1960s and 70s.
SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats — is an analysis tool for building business strategy. It's often split into strengths/weaknesses analysis (inward-facing) and opportunities/threats analysis (outward-facing); it's a tool to weigh the positives — strengths and opportunities — against the risks — weaknesses and threats. Typically you draw an XY plane with four quadrants, put one of the four into each quadrant, and arrange related items by priority.
Through this analysis, managers get a grip on the market situation the company is facing, and use it as important input for future strategy.
"S.C.A.M.P.E.R"
A kind of checklist method with seven verb-questions that suggest changes to an existing product, service, or process. Proposed by Alex Osborn, the creator of brainstorming.
The seven verb-questions
S : Substitute
A shift in thinking that turns impossible into possible. 'What if we use B instead of A?'
C : Combine
Imagination plus imagination opens up ideas. 'What if we combine A and B?'
A : Adapt
Always look for new uses for a thing. 'What if we apply X to Y?'
M : Modify, Magnify, Minify
The size of your thinking changes the 'breadth of imagination.' 'What if we make X bigger / smaller / modified?'
P : Put to other uses
Widen the thought, and the uses are endless. 'Find another use for it.'
E : Eliminate
Removing something can take real technical progress. 'What if not?' — what would happen if X weren't there?
R : Rearrange, Reverse
Flip the thought, and the world looks different.
"NGT" : Nominal Group Technique.
Participants submit ideas in writing, everything is recorded, and then the group votes. The main point is to stop participants from communicating verbally, so each member can pull out what they truly think in their heart.
In other words, you give participants a set amount of time to organize their own thinking on the topic without talking to anyone. The upside is that it saves time and draws out a wide variety of ideas without pressure or preconceptions.
How it works
1. No one in each group speaks. (Everyone participates, thinking time is guaranteed, negative dynamics are removed.)
2. Write your thoughts or ideas on post-its.
3. Go around one by one and present your ideas; the group leader sticks the ideas on an A4 sheet or a chart so everyone can see them at a glance — no mutual debate on any one idea.
4. Decide by voting.
5. Each voter can cast multiple votes up to n/2 − 1 (for 6 options, 2 votes).
Using small stickers on the post-its works too.
One idea per post-it.
Issues and things to improve
1. When it comes to voting after posting, you have to read everything at once. But different writers use different expressions, so the time delay and comprehension issues can crop up. (Efficiency of getting someone to buy in from a short post-it note.)
2. People tend to get frustrated during the silent-writing phase. On the flip side, it gives time to think deeply about your own take.
3. You should break the process into stages to alternate convergence and divergence (e.g., follow-up prompts).
4. Avoid topics where simple majority vote is problematic.
5. Use: first meeting of a TFT, warm-up phase before brainstorming.
"TRIZ" : TRIZ Contradiction Analysis
TRIZ is 'the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving,' developed by Russian Genrich Altshuller. It's an acronym for the Russian 'Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskih Zadach,' sometimes called TIPS (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) in English.
With TRIZ, you define the most ideal result for a given problem and then resolve the contradictions that arise from pursuing that result within your available resources — which is why it's also called the MacGyver methodology.
TRIZ is built by analyzing more than two million worldwide patents and extracting the commonalities of those deemed creative. It consists of 40 inventive principles, 76 standard solutions, and the problem-solving process 'ARIZ.'
POSCO has gone so far as to set up a TRIZ university, running 40–120-hour TRIZ training for all employees. Samsung has been interested in TRIZ for a long time and launched the Samsung TRIZ Association (STA). Hyundai-Kia Motor Group runs TRIZ training with overseas consulting firms, and LG Electronics has a dedicated TRIZ team within the organization. Hynix is also applying TRIZ within each department under the motto of 'making TRIZ a habit.'
