How To Kill your Idea

Kill Your Idea SXSW 2016 #diedea
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#diedea
@yennie @kaolinek

HELLO
Hi - thanks for joining our ‘Kill Your Idea’ destruction workshop

IT’S ME

@yennie @kaolinek
@ideo
@IDEOorg
Yennie works at IDEO’s non-proﬁt IDEO.org in the San
Francisco and Karoline is a designer at IDEO in London

Most of you’ve probably heard of IDEO - but for those of
you who haven’t, we’re a global design & innovation ﬁrm.

IDEO.org’s mission is to use design to solve complex social
problems. We partner with organisations to bring products and
services to underserved consumers around the world.

At IDEO(.com) we design products, services, experiences
with companies and organisations. We recently partnered
with IKEA to reimagine the kitchen in 2025

Creative approach
to problem-solving
Design thinking is exactly this - a creative approach to
problem-solving.

This is a sketch of the design thinking process. Notice how
there are deliberate moments to build concrete ideas and to
divine abstract concepts.

This is another sketch of the design thinking process, which
delineates three phases of “inspiration,” “ideation,” and
“implementation.” Where we “diverge” is to go wide and open
ourselves up to any and all ideas. Where we “converge” is when
we bring focus back to the problem at hand.

Both of the previous sketches are quite linear in theory - one
phase follows another. But, in our experience, the process
can feel a bit more like this - meandering, interconnected,
sometimes even confusing.

Ideas are the basic
units of creativity
Process aside, we know that ideas are the things that
inspire solutions. Without them, the design thinking
process couldn’t exist!

But where do they
come from?
Yup, we’re asking this question out loud. Today we’re going
to put the magic aside and get pragmatic about generating
lots of ideas.

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In appearance, an idea can look like this. It’s discrete,
self-contained and by itself.

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But, really - they’re more like this. Ideas contain
elements and principles from many other sources of
inspiration and facts. They’re messy!

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Ideas beget other ideas, meaning that ideas are at once the
synthesis of many things, but are also points of inspiration for
many, many other ideas.

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In fact, we’ve discovered that elements, principles can be
extracted and collectively lead to a better, stronger idea if you give
yourself enough time to stretch your brain

Today we’re going
to simulate this
with you

Our goal today is
to get to creative
abundance
You’ve all come to this workshop with an idea.
We want you to leave with 100!

1. Goals and Mindsets
2. SHARE: Your idea in 30 seconds
3. Prompt Party!
4. Prompt Afterparty!
5. SHARE: Reflection
6. K bye

Rules!

Basic rules of brainstorming
1. Defer judgement
2. Encourage wild ideas
3. Build on the ideas of others
4. Stay focused on the topic
5. One conversation at a time
6. Be visual
7. Go for quantity
Brainstorms are a design thinking method. We use them a lot to generate
ideas. There are some rules to them, but we ﬁnd that they are generalisable to
the scale of the entire creative process.

Also, three
mindsets
Here are some mindsets that we think will get you on your way
to creating new and strengthening existing ideas.

1. Don’t be precious.
@yennie @kaolinek
Don’t be precious about your idea, your ego.

Seriously…
Being precious about your idea leads to obsession and no
change. No one wants to be that guy who can’t stop talking
about their own idea.

Dominant ideas
hijack space
Being precious about your ideas makes it impossible for
other, new ideas to inﬂuence and strengthen your ideas.
It closes you up from inspiration and collaboration.

The lone genius
is a myth
Lone geniuses are out there, but usually they’re not doing
anything . It’s really hard to create something meaningful
by yourself - so don’t forget your team!

2. Seek challenges.
@yennie @kaolinek
You must be deliberate in practicing the “hard things.”
This is what leads to better ideas.

“It’s working if it
burns.”
Practice and mastery takes time, eﬀort, and a bit of productive struggle.
It’s hard! A good litmus for whether or not your idea is improving is
whether or not you’re grappling with it, confused about it.

Fail early
to succeed
sooner.
In fact, “failure” has more to do with learning from obvious,
hard falls. This helps you improve your idea with irrefutable
evidence of what doesn’t work.

If you have the
choice, take
the red pill.
Seek adventure! The creative process is so much more about
pushing your own ability and comfort level with something new.
Always take the red pill - even if it’s scary or ambiguous.

3. Always bring a
friend <3
@yennie @kaolinek
We say this because it’s true. Nothing works well unless you
have a team that wants to help you and wants you to succeed.

Feedback should
be your fuel
Feedback! Remember our bit about ego? Without feedback, you
could be going in a bad direction. Set your ego aside and let people
give you earnest feedback on your idea - even if it’s diﬃcult to hear.

Homogeneity is for
the birds.
Don’t just bring a known friend, try to get new friends, too! Diversity
in experience and opinion will strengthen your ideas. When we talk
about building “interdisciplinary” teams, we mean to deliberately
bring in diﬀerent perspectives and expertise into the process.

Collaboration is
about compromise
Ooh, this is a hard one. Collaboration is not about building general
consensus among everyone, it’s about moving forward with an idea
when it’s clear that perhaps your contribution isn’t what the idea needs.

Now, back to the
“framework” - lol.

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What’s your idea?

Get into groups
of 10ish

Share your idea
in 30 secs
And if you don’t have an idea - tell
the group a little bit about yourself.

No mic hogs allowed!

Prompt Party!
Don’t forget we’re going for quantity
We call these “prompts” because they prompt inspiration and idea
generation. The following examples are of us modelling what a
potential response or “answer” might be to them.

Let’s blow this shit up
The goal is to go for abundance. Don’t get locked into a single
thing, but face a collection of ideas to combine, mix, improve.

Go completely
analogue
Remove all digital features and
ﬁnd other ways to make it work
Take your existing idea and apply this thinking to it. If it’s an app,
what would it look like if it wasn’t enabled by a digital interface,
platform or technology?

Learn from extremes
Design for the person least likely
to use your idea - and make it
relevant to them.
Deliberately try to “break” your idea by seeking a diﬀerent
audience to use it.

Reimagine your
audience
Reimagine your audience as kids only.
What would your idea do for them & how?
How do you simplify your idea and lower the threshold
for engagement and experience?

Let’s get going
If you want - ﬁnd a buddy, and run through the
prompts together

Basic rules of
brainstorming
1. Defer judgement
2. Encourage wild ideas
3. Build on the ideas of others
4. Stay focused on the topic
5. One conversation at a time
6. Be visual
7. Go for quantity
Don’t forget to draw upon these
rules while you “kill your idea.”
And, demonstrate some of these
things for yourself - defer self-
judgment, show self-compassion
and acknowledge that you’re
doing something new!

REVERSE IT what if your idea achieved the
opposite of what it’s currently meant to do?
EXAGGERATE an element of your idea. Make it
bigger, smaller, bolder etc.
EXTRACT a minor feature. Blow it up to its own
idea
What if you had UNLIMITED FUNDS in the
world - how’d you make impact happen tomorrow?
Reimagine your audience as KIDS only. What
would your idea do for them & how?
SPEAK TO EXTREMES Design for the person
least likely to use your idea - and make it relevant
to them.
Go completely ANALOGUE - remove all
digital features)
Go completely DIGITAL - remove all
physical touch points
EXTRACT A PRINCIPLE or element from
one of your ideas. Work with it to ﬁnd new
ones
EXAMINE the beneﬁts of your idea. Are
there other, simpler ways of achieving them?
CHANGE THE SETTING - Place your
idea in the middle of the sharing economy -
or reimagine it as a B2B business. Or take it
from home to work etc.
Through? Pick one of your new ideas and
start over!
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12

BREAK

Prompt Afterparty!
as in, what you might want to do next
We call this the afterparty because we know there is
much more left to do - to make your idea real in the world.
Here are some things you can do to inspire next steps.

Consider the system
The “system” is about the comprehensive consideration
of where and what your idea is accomplishing.

This is a framework that prioritises the “desireable,” “feasible,” and “viable.”
Always make sure your idea address these things, with special attention to
“desirability.” Don’t forget: it’s all about the people. People, people, people!

Get more feedback
It never stops. Feedback is the data you need to continuously
improve upon your idea. It’s also the most valuable thing you
can receive from someone. Feeeeedback!

Sometimes, it requires getting out there and collecting feedback
from your audience or end-user yourself. Don’t stop at “not
knowing.” Get that feedback!

Examine the need
And your ego…
Don’t forget that your idea can’t be captive of your own
desire and thinking. Are you building something that others
will beneﬁt from and ﬁnd meaningful?

Practice at the trade show yo
You can practice this yourself. Examine the need with
products that you encounter everyday. Do they hit the
“desireable, feasible, viable” qualities?

Score to rank
Use tools to move fast. This might mean that you
establish a scoring system to identify what your idea is
really accomplishing.

Data - however big or small, helps makes decisions and keep
decision-making transparent. Tools like this help collaboration
move faster.

Don’t ever ever
forget the user
You’ll be screwed otherwise.

Phew, okay.
Almost through! We’re keen to hear
where you’re all at

Let’s share
Your most exciting new idea, element,
learning or reﬂection. What will you
do diﬀerently moving forward?

Resources
Design Kit by IDEO.org - comprehensive tool for design thinking
Design Sprint by Google Ventures (http://www.gv.com/sprint) - a
nice process for quick ideation
Creative Conﬁdence by Tom & David Kelley - a primer on ﬁnding
your inner creative
Method Cards, Nature Cards by IDEO - prompt cards with design
methods
Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions & Drawings byYoko Ono - a
neat tool for creation
Oblique Strategies by Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt - prompt cards for
the creatively and zen-inclined
You Are a Message by Guillaume Wolf “Prof G” - a neat tool for
creative entrepreneurship

BYE

It’s been great!
Keep in touch new friends

@yennie @kaolinek
@ideo@IDEOorg
yennie@ideo.org karolinek@ideo.com

How To Kill your Idea

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