InnovationCreation

Problem-solving... This is something we all do every day. Some problems are not earth shattering ("when will I buy groceries?") and others have impacts that can change the way you live ("I lost my job and need to find a new one"). But the act of problem-solving itself is not (usually) something we learn directly as a skill. Yes, we do learn to solve problems, but most of us tend to "discover" problem-solving in the course of solving real problems. This means much of problem-solving learning is ad hoc and we miss out on the discovery of tools that can help us through the problem-solving thinking processes.


Problem-solving 101, by Ken Watanabe, a former McKinsey & Company consultant, is a short book that goes a long way toward helping everyone learn a few basic problem-solving tools and techniques. Ken shares several stories in which problem-solving tools and techniques are introduced. One example problem: the Mushroom Lovers rock band wants to drive up attendance at their shows. Ken lays out how the band seeks to identify the root cause of the low attendance and develop a series of hypothesis and solutions. While sharing the story of the band, Ken introduces techniques and tools like logic trees, action prioritization matrices, and problem-solving design plans.


The the book can be read in about an hour or two. When you are finished, you will have several methods that you can immediately use in any situation. The stories Ken shares are entertaining and you can relate to main characters' real problems. The book's graphic design enhances the stories and makes comprehending the concepts easy.


One final note: This is the type of book you will re-read and be reminded of some of the practices and skills needed to solve problems. I will have this book on my desk next to books I regularly re-read: The Mythical Man Month, Orbiting the Giant Hair Ball, and The Pursuit of Wow!

Labels: book, cool, creativity, fun, innovation, innovation tool

Just so you don't think I was a bit off on writing something about crumbs, I found these bits of crumb related items:

• From Patent 7,375,141, Soluble carob, The depolymerization may be carried out in a reactor provided with a mixing system suitable for handling fine powder, that is to say powder with a particle size of around 20 to 200 .mu.m, so as to prevent the formation of crumbs. As nonlimiting examples, mention may be made of LODIGE-type reactors, and ribbon mixers.



• Patent 7,353,952, Insulated compartmented lunch bag, Additionally, any crumbs or stains from eating are contained on the interior side or surfaces of the major compartment 120. Thereafter, major compartment 120 may be closed to hide the said crumbs or stains therein and out of sight.
  

and two I thought were interesting:

• Space Station Christmas, She looked at the swarm of crumbs and saw why NASA packaged crumbly foods in bite-sized morsels -- or avoided them altogether.



• Astronauts wrap up space station work, Reisman, meanwhile, can’t wait to get back to his wife, Simone Francis, and, to a lesser degree, their cat Fuzzy. He’s also looking forward to “a good slice of pizza” and some bread, banned from the space station because of crumbs. He’s had to settle for tortillas in orbit.
  

And if you really want to learn more, NASA Facts: Space Food, has some info on crumbs.

Thanks to Kim Williams, Amy Stark, and Lorraine Ball for their additions to the crumb list.

Ok, brainstorming, the kids way...

I spent last week at Camp Invention at Pike Township's Fishback Elementary School. This is a program by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, run all over the country, to provide kids age 7 to 12 with hands-on activities, brainstorming, experimentation, and unbelievable action. My involvement was to help the kids during the invention time.

All the kids (and parents) were told to bring a "take apart" item, from which they would, over the course of the week, build an invention. The younger kids (ages 7 to 10) were to think about some job or activity that really bugged them and come up with an invention to do the job or make the activity fun. The invention did not have to actually work, they just had to build a concept.

The older kids had to build a Rube Goldberg device, in a team setting, that would break a water ballon on a target, using at least four steps, two simple machines, a part from each of the team member's take apart item, and once the machine was started its process no additional human assistance could be given.

Some interesting observations about the kids:

• Kids will try anything. One boy insisted on using white glue to hold together material (LOTS of glue:) even though nothing was sticking (the items were too heavy for the glue. So he used more glue! One team of older kids found some foam tubing to make a marble launching system as part of their balloon breaking system, even though the foam tubing was not originally part of the supply kit.



• Older kids start to get constrained by implied teacher direction but younger kids don't let directions get in the way. Some of the direction by teachers and coaches seemed to bind the teams in a design direction they may or may not have realized was needed. I found my self imposing my view of design on the kids works by the way I responded to how a kid would build something.



• Scope creep occurs even in kids projects! The older kids rules received a few implied rules: the balloon had to go through the air (fly) and the target could be horizontal or vertical. These new implied rules came out during a discussion on what is to happen. When one kid asked about if the balloon has to fly through the air, a teacher said "yes" even though it was not stated on the rules.

It was a fun week and the kids learned some things. Hopefully they will get to practice their abilities to make things as school starts up in the next few weeks.

Pics and video of inventions.

Labels: creativity, deep thought, innovation, innovation tool, invention, thinking

In the past I have mentioned the need to practice brainstorming (The terrible word of "Brainstorming"). It is important to practice, like anything you do, otherwise you will loose skill or never learn any new ones.

So to really get in the habit you need to practice regularly. This means finding opportunities to practice generating (the brainstorming part) ideas. The opportunity can be everyday issues. I recommend finding something simple at first; don't overwhelm yourself with the major things yet ("Increase revenue by 50% in Q4"...:) Also, don't stress out. It is just practice... But do try to push yourself a bit every time you work through a problem/idea generation session.

Here are some working rules:

• State your issue or problem and be clear in the issue/problem statement.



• Number all your ideas as you capture them; this is good to help know where you are in the generation process (have I reached 100 ideas?) and it helps when refering to a specific idea.



• Aim for a specific number of ideas in a set amount of time, just to set a goal. It's like setting your marathon time goal; you need something to target.



• Do not evaluate the ideas as you capture them. Just capture them. Evaluation is a different activity.



• Build on captured ideas to create new ideas.

Fast Company has an article (Seven Secrets to Good Brainstorming) with the rules expanded a bit and with much better copy around why the rules are needed.

Ok, here is my first challenge.

Crumbs on the floor irritate me. It just bugs me. Some foods crumb (is crumb a verb?) more than others. Couscous is a major crumb generating food (by definition!). Those folks with any kids knows the truth about crumbs: kids are super crumb generators! My seven year old son somehow always misses eating over his plate and food crumbs hit the floor like steel to a magnet: fast. So my problem is personal (should I loosen up a bit?). To help define my problem a bit more: The crumbs bug me because I walk around the house in socks and crumbs that collect on my feet feels all wrong to me.

So the problem can be looked at several ways: How can I stop crumbs from happening, How can I prevent them from sticking to my feet, or how do I make the crumbs just "disappear"?

1. Just clean up the crumbs.



2. Serve crumb free food.



3. Have person who make the crumbs clean them up.



4. Have a crumb eating pet.



5. Have a floor with a grate in it to allow crumbs to fall through to the crumb pit.



6. Have vents on floor that suck up crumbs as they fall.



7. Let the crumbs fall on the floor and build up the floor to a solid footing.



8. Have another person clean up the crumbs to remove self from the annoyance.



9. Have a strong suction pull crumbs off the food as it is eaten.



10. Have a plate that has ability to make crumbs stick the the plate.



11. Have a built in sucker on the plate for the crumbs.



12. Buy a Roomba robot cleaner.



13. Have a device worn by person while eating food that sucks crumbs up as food enters mouth.



14. Put down a crumb matt to catch them all up.



15. The fork has the crumb sucking device build in.



16. Waiter comes by after each bite and cleans up (is this what crumb waiter is?).



17. Floor has ability to absorb the crumb due to some fluid / crumb dissolving agent; crumbs disappear when they hit floor.



18. The floor is a conveyor belt that whisks the crumbs away.



19. Slats in the floor rotate every few minutes to dump crumbs in to the crumb pit.



20. Electrostatic crumb attraction device grabs crumbs as they fall.



21. Crumbs are cleaned up with a special "crumb duster", sort of like a feather duster for crumbs.



22. I have special crumb vacuums in my "socks".



23. After reading this list I am sure a few of you have some ideas to pitch! Remember, don't evaluate, just get those ideas flowing.

After reading this list I am sure a few of you have some ideas to pitch! Remember, don't evaluate, just get those ideas flowing.

Labels: experience, ideas, innovation, innovation tool, practice

A great blog and podcast to follow on innovation is Phil McKinney's Killer Innovations podcast and blog. He is VP at HP and has been featured many times on innovation. I find his
podcast very actionable; I can listen to his stuff and go do things!

• Blog http://www.philmckinney.com/blog.html
• Podcast http://www.killerinnovations.com/blog/index.html

I highly recommend these two shows:

• Podcast: Existing Methods Versus New Ways To Innovate http://libsyn.com/media/philmckinney/KI_20071112.mp3
• Podcast: Why is innovation important? http://libsyn.com/media/philmckinney/KI_20071216.mp3
  

The podcasts present the material in this slide set:

• Presentation: An Introduction to the Killer Innovation Approach.

Labels: great, innovation, innovation tool, speaker

OLPC News is tapping into tools to build a community and spread the word on all things OLPC. This is a great example of simple tools pulling together people to bring focus to a need, issue, or product.

Some of the tools include:

• Six Apart blog
• Frapper map
• YouTube videos

Other "tool" being used are really good old fashioned social skills. They talk about a poular topic that they are very interested in and leverage their personal network to get participation and news.

Labels: information, innovation tool, social intelligence, social networks, social science

From OLPC HQ. Soon to arrive before X-mas a couple OLPC computers. I'll post what I discover late Dec.

----

Welcome to the OLPC community!

Thank you for being one of the first to participate
in Give One Get One.
All of us at One Laptop per Child were inspired by the number of people who joined our Give One Get One program on its very first day! Your participation makes you part of the growing community of people working to give children all over the world new opportunities to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

----

If you want to follow the stories, read OLPC News.

Labels: innovation, innovation tool, olpc

I want to provide a perspective on change and innovation, as a follow up to the post Innovation leadership model.

One of the companies I have been working with on creating an innovation environment has kicked off an innovation game plan with an innovation assessment, a several day work shop, and then the formation of several teams to tackle some innovation projects.

While they have been happy with the kick start of their innovation efforts, they have not been satisfied with the initial innovation project teams' progress. "They have money, each team has a manager, and still they are not going anywhere" said my contact person. When I asked further, the issue seems to be one of being dragged back to doing execution of things of their "day" job.

This as the "97%" trap; all their main time (97% of their time) of the project team members in the organization is about execution. While the project teams all believe the innovation projects are important to move forward, their management and senior leadership agree with the projects' need/importance, and they have money(!), the need to get "things done now" creeps back in. Habit of the past is strong!

The project team members are being pulled: they continue to get the message "execution first, get products today finished and work on the innovation project in addition" (implied: in your "free time") => leadership is talking the talk but not walking the talk (either not enough walk or they are doing the walk in a way that is not being recognized by the staff).

I want to chat with you about the leadership model: How does one implement what is advocated in the leadership model? What can help move management and leadership from the walk to the talk?

Interestingly, I am reading Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life that talks about this very thing. The book's topic is: to really change requires one to relate to the people (build a new relationship with the staff), repeat (learn, practice, and master), and then reframe thru practice and learning, reframe the point of view and / or approach to create a new way to operate.

Labels: book, innovation, innovation tool, model, social science, thinking

What do you think about challenging assumptions as a way to get your brain to turn left and create new alternatives to products and services? Here is the challenge:

What assumptions do you have about your company, or your company's products and services? OK, don't want to poke at your stuff? Think about other people's products and services!

Here is a quick assist to jump the thinking: Think about all the things you assume about gas cans, those red (now there is an assumption!) things you use to fill up your mower, and in emergencies, your car. Write down as many assumptions as you can about those gas cans ... Then (only after your list is done) take a look at this Kevin Kelly Cool Tools web page.

Now think about your products/services OR other people's products / services.

• Pick one (your company, or one of your company's products or services) and write down as many assumptions as you can about it.
• Look at your list and think about the results, actions, or changes that could be taken if one of those assumptions were removed.

I am interested in what you discover while thinking about this. Post your chosen product/service and the assumptions you listed as a comment.

Labels: assumption, brain, creativity, innovation tool, thinking

Brain writing, ref from
http://www.openacademy.mindef.gov.sg/OpenAcademy/Central/HTML%20Folder/KM/bcp/tools_BrainW.htm

Brain Writing is used to collaborate on an idea or issue when sensitivities or conflict are anticipated; gather ideas and opinions in a non-threatening manner. The process is effective with a group of four to eight people who are focused on an issue or idea where wording is important. The group can be as large as 20 people if the intent is to gather ideas and opinions.

The estimated time to complete the process for four to eight people is 10 minutes. For a group up to 20 people, allow 20 minutes to write and 10 minutes to discuss. The only props needed are blank paper and writing utensils for each participant.

The step-by-step process for Brain Writing is below:

1. Pose or frame the question, issue, or problem facing the group. Ask each person to write on the top of the paper:

• An answer (if a question is posed)
• A resolution (if an issue is presented)
• An idea (if a problem is confronted)
• Proposed wording (if a statement is being crafted, e.g. a mission)

2. Ask each person to pass their paper to the person on their left.


3. Each person should then comment on the paper in front of him or her by either writing a rewording of the suggestion below the original or commenting on his or her opinion of the suggestion. When complete, pass the paper on.


4. This should continue until the papers return to their originator.

5. Discuss the findings. Most often, consensus will have built around a small number of suggestions, narrowing the discussion field.

A variation on this process, once ideas have been generated, would be to post each one on a sheet of flip chart paper and post them around the room. Give people a marker and have them travel around the room commenting on as many items as desired, as many times. When the activity dies down, review each chart to determine if the comments lead to a common conclusion.

Labels: innovation tool