The Gap Between Having an Idea and Getting Something Useful
by
Charlie Bess
I saw this blog
post by Jeffrey Phillips, and it got me thinking about a number
of different activities I've been in where there was interesting
discussion but the idea had:
- been tried many times before or
- little to do with how the parent organization generates revenue
Phillips' blog entry talks about having some areas defined
before starting a brainstorming session
such as: What's going to happen to these ideas once we're finished?
Who's documenting them? Where will they be published? Who is responsible
for evaluation and moving these ideas along?
These may seem to constrain the very act of brainstorming, but
I don't have time to waste on activities that will go nowhere.
When people talk about ideas that have been tried before, that's
fine -- as long as we look at what happened last time. To try the
same thing over again and expect a different result is insanity,
yet it appears to happen fairly often.
Phillips' blog entry also talks about the value of context
building through modeling and/or simulation to get the point across
to others and get them on your side. I know I sometimes fail at context
building and wonder why no one can understand my "obviously
brilliant idea."
For example: If you are going to talk to a salesperson about an
idea, make sure you describe the effect it will have on his commission
or other financial rewards.
When we ask the question "Which
is more important: ideas or execution?", I think we all
know that execution is what matters to business.
