ADOI Blog

What could be wrong with the idea? It’s my idea! Pt.2

nick_morgan on 09 11, 2009

“I have a silly idea, but I’m not sure if it’s good enough!” And that’s how a student of the BadIdeas workshop USA started when she first proposed her idea.

As discussed previously in Pt.1 the Silly Ideas process is an excellent way to brainstorm ideas and concepts because:

People will engage with the process very easily.

We are encouraged to take huge creative “leaps”.

Because the idea is a silly idea people will be far less willing to “defend” it.

This encourages a more worthwhile discussion.

Initially developed as a joint venture between the IT faculties of universities in the UK and US by Alan Dix, Tom Ormerod and Michael Twidale, BadIdeas© enabled the origination of truly unexpected and unique thinking – primarily by establishing a more playful environment and removing the need for us to spend all our time defending the idea and/or concept.

These ideas can be called silly or bad. But being that no ideas are bad ideas, I prefer to simply call them silly.

By turning our existing idea into the silliest idea possible (an idea we’re convinced is great even if nobody else can see it), or coming up with an entirely new silly idea and then brainstorming it in a group, we’ll quickly determine the strengths of the idea/concept and often develop it into an altogether new and interesting way.

This can be done by asking ourselves:

What is bad about it?

- Compile and list the obvious drawbacks.

Why is this a bad thing?

- In a similar way to the above consider the way the silly idea affects us, and our environment.

Anything sharing this feature that is not bad?

- Start considering the positive aspects of the silly idea. If the idea and its affect is so incredibly “bad”, how can it be made “good”?

Is there a different context where this would be good?

- Consider the positive aspects listed above and put them into a different context. It may be soft, tasteless and the colour of sick, but in such and such context that could be awesome!

I’m always amazed when we do the Silly Ideas workshops by the amount of excellent idea output. And, more often than not, the idea that was first considered to be the best idea is superseded by an even better idea – an idea that everyone has already brought into, an idea that will change the shape of our clients business, or better, determine the outcome of our career.

Nick Morgan.

e. nmorgan@mustgetideas.com

Nick is an ECD and author with 20 years industry experience. He provides “on-site” executive training/mentorship and has inspired countless creatives to perform way beyond their own boundaries and expectations.

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