Generating Solutions
Creativity Techniques to Generate, Downselect, & Test New Ideas!
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Synectics – Ideation Through Flamboyant Scribbling
Synectics is a brainstorming method to generate out-of-the-box connections and ideas. Developing innovative ideas is all about connecting two or more things in new ways to solve your problem and create value. Most ideas have been thought of already, but they may not have been applied to the challenge at hand. This is where you… Read more
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Porter’s Five Forces
Competition is often viewed narrowly and identifies threats solely by today’s direct competitors. Porter’s Five Forces is a framework utilizing five competitive forces identify an industry’s potential strengths and weaknesses. This useful method determines threats to a business’s strategy for a defined industry structure. It can be applied to virtually any industry segment. Details: competition,… Read more
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Key Elements of a Strong Problem Statement
There are many brilliant people all around with truly innovative and disruptive solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. However, if these innovators can’t articulate a compelling business case as to why the problem matters and their solution makes a difference – the solution will never be seen. So what constitutes a strong problem statement… Read more
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The Eight Wastes
What is Waste? Waste is anything within a process that is not absolutely required to complete the process. Actions within a process can be split into multiple categories, Value Added and Non-Value Added actions. Within Non-Value added actions, there will exist necessary and unnecessary waste. Necessary Waste: E.G. work that must be done to meet… Read more
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Organizing Factors as In Scope or Out of Scope
An important strategy to consider when undertaking a new project is to clearly identify and communicate the definition of your project. This usually starts by writing a problem statement, why it matters, and the goal or intended outcome. A key issue to consider as your project progresses is “Scope Creep”. Scope Creep is when outside… Read more
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Cause & Effect Diagram (Fishbone)
What is a Fishbone? A cause & effect diagram, also called a Fishbone and the Ishikawa Diagram, is a method to organize and test many variables that may be a contributing factor toward causing a particular effect or contributing to your problem. A fishbone is also a way of documenting a problem’s current state and… Read more
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The Power of Pretotyping
Pretotyping, I promise I’m not making things up, or at least I don’t think I am… Where a prototype is anything that you create to communicate your idea to a potential customer to obtain feedback so you may iterate and improve. Use whatever medium you deem most effective to communicating the concept, whether that medium… Read more
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Developing Team Roles & Responsibilities
Beyond defining “Why” you’re working on this challenge and “What” you’re going to do about it, now its time to define the “Who”. Building a diverse team and clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of this team is paramount to your program’s success. Whether you’re launching a new business, kicking off a Six-Sigma project, or… Read more
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The Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas is “A shared language for describing, visualizing, assessing, and changing business models.” – Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder. This brilliant model replaced the antiquated business model tools with a disruptive way to describe, challenge, and pivot your business model. Not sure where to start with your next idea? The steps… Read more
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Five Why – Root Cause Problem Solving
Ever find yourself attempting to solve a problem that’s been solved multiple times before? This may be happening because the root cause of the challenge wasn’t resolved, and only a symptom was addressed. In this exercise, you will be introduced to the “Five Why” method of more closely identifying the root cause for a problem.… Read more
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SIPOC / COPIS Process Mapping
SIPOC is an acronym representing Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer and is an effective means of generating a high level process map for the purpose of documenting a process. Also commonly written as COPIS, which puts the customer first and enforces a deeper focus on the customer’s needs over the organization’s process. When to Use… Read more
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How Might We…
This magical phrase has completely changed the way I look at a problem! The single greatest mind shift in all of the methods, tools, and processes I’ve learned about resides in these three words, “How Might We…”. The words aren’t “How Can We…” or “How Should we…”, these words are specifically selected to inspire creativity… Read more
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Crazy 8’s
Crazy 8’s is a fun, hectic, and faced paced exercise and is great for rapid idea development on an individual basis. Quite often in brainstorming sessions, the most memorable ideas are the ones posed last irregardless of the quality of the last idea or how revolutionary the early concepts were. Crazy 8’s is a tool… Read more
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High Level Process Mapping
What is it? High level process mapping is a tool used to identify, at a “high” level, the most significant steps of a process. Practically everything we do is some kind of process whether it is cleaning up the dishes or parts of our job. A process is a series of activities of inputs and… Read more
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