10 Recommended Idea Generation Techniques

It happens to everyone that, in the process of developing an important project or job, we get stuck. Ideas do not flow, we do not find solutions, we do not know what to do and frustration invades us.

Fortunately, there are a lot of tools to make creativity sprout and we can offer all kinds of innovative ideas to the problems that we have to face.

Next we will see several idea generation techniques, applicable both being alone and working in a team, applicable in any context and without having to have too many resources.

• Related article: "The psychology of creativity and creative thinking"

Idea Generation Techniques You Should Try

There are many techniques to make ideas sprout. Before using them, you should not believe that creativity and imagination is a gift, that you have it or you don't have it. That is a myth.

Really, everyone is creative, to a greater or lesser extent and in their own way and, like any skill, it can be put into practice. It's just a matter of training, like someone who studies algebra to pass the math test or who runs to win the marathon. Whatever level you start from, there is always the option to improve.

However, it must be taken into account that the imagination, which is said to come by itself, does not come. The muses have a predilection for those who rack their brains, reciting their beautiful songs into their ears in the form of innovative ideas. It is very important that for creativity to come one makes an effort, spending time generating ideas. Paraphrasing Pablo Picasso, if the imagination has to come to us, let it catch us working.

Below we will see 10 very useful idea generation techniques, applicable to an endless number of contexts and situations, which can be put into practice both in a group and individually.

1. brainstorming

Brainstorming, also known as brainstorming, is the best-known idea generation technique. It is usually used when you want to have many ideas in a short time, reaching more than 100 ideas per hour in a good session..

When this technique is used, it is about motivating all the members of the group to give their ideas, no matter how absurd they may seem and even if they do so in an unsystematized way.

Once several ideas have been obtained, they are analyzed, then filtered and, in the event that there are some that are adequate or really useful, they are accepted and the project or work begins to be shaped. question.

Although it is especially suitable for group work, it can also be carried out individually. Its use in groups is especially advantageous, since Helps strengthen collaboration between members, invites to be tolerant with different points of view and contributes to a greater vision of openness towards new things.

2. mind maps

Mind maps are idea generation techniques that are displayed graphically. Its about use a key word or concept as a starting point to later add ideas in the form of tree branches or a radial structure.

These tools do not need to follow a pre-established design or a set pattern, although it is It is advisable to put the key word or idea in the center and add to it, radially, the rest of the branches and subbranches. In this way you will avoid having a chaotic network of lines that will make it difficult to interpret.

A piece of advice when making mind maps is that, although they can be done in writing with pen and paper, it is It is a good idea to consider making them with larger tools, such as blackboards or, directly, leaning on a support digital. Also, if you can resort to colors, symbols and drawings, much better.

This technique is really useful when trying to solve complex problems., in which the elaboration of several ideas is necessary, try to describe them in greater depth and present them visually for better understanding.

To carry it out in the most efficient way, it is recommended to follow the following steps:

First, we choose the place where we are going to work, be it a large canvas of paper, a large blackboard or a special digital support for this type of technique (p. g., GoConqr, MindMeister, Litpen...)

Once this step is over, we start with the center, putting the keyword, idea or problem to be solved. From this point we are adding all the ideas that occur to us, but that are minimally related to the subject matter.

Once several ideas have been chosen, they can be associated, to the extent possible and depending on whether they have something to do. They branch and connect, draw lines, and associate ideas with images or words.

• You may be interested in: "The 11 executive functions of the human brain"

3. SCAMPER method

The SCAMPER method is a creative technique that favors the generation of ideas by answering a pre-established list of several questions to answer and carry out. These questions are related to the following seven aspects:

• Substitute: What can we substitute? what happens if we replace the process???
• Combine: What would happen if we combined this with the other?
• Adapt: ​​How can we adapt the product/service for???
• Modify: What can be modified to organize better???
• Put other uses: How can the product be used? other contexts?
• Eliminate: What can be eliminated to simplify the product/service/project?
• Reorder: What happens if we change the structure of the service/project???

With this technique, something that is already known is proposed, an already existing product or a way of acting that, despite having worked before, this time does not give all the results that we would like. This technique is intended to turn the idea around, improve it, approaching the problem from several new perspectives, forcing the minds of the team to work from a wide range of different possibilities.

4. future memory

A very good way to make an idea materialize, or to know if it is good or not, is visualizing it as if we had already carried it out. These ideas, at first, may seem absurd, but we will never know if they are a good idea or not if we do not even dare to imagine what would happen if we had already taken them to the practice.

The future memory technique helps to visualize the main mission, the purpose that gives meaning to the existence of the project or the performance of the work. In addition, it allows prioritizing the fundamental values ​​for which that project, whether it is a group project in a company or an institute job, follows its course.

He Being clear about where you want to be and suggesting, visually, how to get there, is a way of accelerating the process of obtaining the proposed goal, since something that has not yet been fulfilled is visualized as something plausible, motivating the group to get to it, as well as encouraging their creativity.

5. brainwriting

The "brainwriting" ("brain writing") is a variant of brainstorming, but in which the members of the group are even more involved. It consists of the classmates each writing their ideas on a piece of paper. Then, after a while, the leaves are turning and, based on what the classmates have been posting, post impressions about those ideas, adding new ones or making a note.

This idea generation technique, in addition to being quite dynamic, allows you to avoid the barrier of shame and shyness, without damaging creativity. When passing the pages with each other, the classmates simply have to read what the others have said and put what comes to mind.

So there is no one who is "afraid" of saying a "nonsense", since, to the extent that they do not recognize each other by the letter, each idea maintains its anonymity.

6. Graphic script

The storyboard or "storyboard" is a technique widely used in the graphic professions, such as the creation of animated series, movies and comics, although they can also be used when drawing up the intervention plan or how to proceed with a certain project.

It consists of preparing, on a sheet of paper, a poster, a blackboard or whatever medium is available, a comic strip in which each vignette is a certain action or an important point of the project. The ideas are exposed in a schematic and sequential way, allowing to have a general idea of ​​how the topic to be dealt with will be developed.

7. the 6 hats

The 6 hats technique is widely known in the field of psychology of thought. The six hats symbolize different points of view, from which a specific problem or situation can be analyzed.. When we put on a hat of a certain color, our perspective should change according to the following:

• White: focus on the available data, see the information you have.
• Red: Observe problems using intuition and emotions.
• Black: use judgment and caution, highlight the negative of the problem.
• Yellow: think positively.
• Green: be creative, applying various idea generation techniques.
• Blue: control and manage the thought process. Summarize what has been said and draw conclusions.

This technique It should be developed in a group, making each participant contribute ideas and collaborate in the process from a different point of view., much like brainstorming.

Observing the same problem from different perspectives makes it possible to have a richer result during the debate, allowing to take advantage of the capacities of all the members of the group. This technique is ideal for guiding discussions, as well as preventing participants from diverting their attention by focusing on their own discussion.

8. Related worlds

The technique of related worlds is a tool that allows you to create by combining two radically different ideas (two worlds). That is to say, involves applying different approaches to the same problem to provide a novel solution.

The philosophy behind the application of this technique is that sometimes things that seem to have nothing in common, together, end up being the source of something truly groundbreaking and successful.

This technique can be applied both individually and in a group, although The ideal is to bring together people with very different knowledge. The greater the diversity of expert knowledge, the greater possibilities there are to cross ideas from very different fields.

An example of this is the history of "roll-on" deodorants. Whoever invented it was inspired by the operating mechanism of ballpoint pens, whose inventor was based, in turn, on the way soccer balls trace their trajectory in wet sand. Who was going to say that a ball would be what would be behind the creation of such a used hygiene product?

9. And if…?

Imagining hypothetical worlds through something as simple as a conditional phrase has been what has allowed the creation of great commercial successes. Questioning the current situation of a certain product or service and wondering what would happen if something was changed or added to is a powerful way to create all sorts of new inventions.

The “What if???” technique It helps to see, from a different perspective, the problem to be solved or to create it. Considering the most original changes in something that already exists, it can be the beginning of a great technological innovation, a change in gastronomy or in the world of fashion. There are many things that at first seemed absurd that, thanks to a brave man, today are our daily bread.

An example of this is any product that has a stick. At some point in history, someone wondered "what if I put a stick in the candy?" and oualà: we have the Chupachups. Another, with a similar idea, said, "And if I put a stick in a rag?" And thanks to that we have the mop. And someone, who truly became a visionary for his time, said to himself "What if I put a camera on my mobile phone?" And the rest is history.

10. possible vs. Impossible

It is a very classic idea generation technique, but effective, given that allows to have an overview of the problem, to be aware of the good and the bad and, thus, direct the way in which to deal with the subject or direct the project.

Two columns are drawn, putting in one what is possible that can be done and what is impossible. After seeing all the possible scenarios and what is not believed to be carried out in any In this way it is possible to see if, really, if what we believe to be impossible is, in reality, something unfeasible or No. Thus it is possible to choose ideas that, although at one time they could have been dismissed outright, now they can be seen as something that, by trying it, nothing is lost.