More Ideas is Not Better
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I got an ad emailed from a company claiming they set the world brainstorming record by generating 454,000 ideas in one hour with 8,000 people. Let me ask you, how many of those ideas were good?
How many of those ideas are things you could profitably deliver? How many just plain stink.
If you had 8,000 people spitting out random ideas for an hour, how many do you think were the same? I would say most were pointless differences such as a shade of a color, basically copies. Even if all 454,000 were unique, is that all the important ideas for the specific need? If not, was the best idea found or is it still sitting out there undiscovered?
How long will it take to weed through half a million ideas? Can you test 454,000 ideas? How much would that cost? How much time and money would that waste?
More ideas doesn’t equal better ideas. More certainly doesn’t mean the best idea. Your time is the most precious resource you have. You want to get the absolute most value from your time. You need to pin point the correct idea and all the valuable connected ideas immediately so you can deliver without pausing. You need to see in advance what customers want and how to profitably deliver it with readily available resources.
That last sentence is a phrase I use to promote Predictive Innovation but its true, isn’t it. If you wait to react you already lost time before you start. If you work on things you don’t have the resources to complete you waste time & money hitting dead ends or scrambling for the missing pieces when you could be delivering value.
I realize the reason people randomly throw stuff at the wall hoping something sticks is because they don’t know a better way. That’s sad. Have you felt that way? You can do better. I want to help you do better.
What does better mean? It means starting with a reliable way to measure the value of each idea before you have the “idea”. Then a way to draw a boundary around all the relevant ideas so you know what is in and out. Perhaps more importantly see what you missed. Plus have all the ideas organized so you can quickly pinpoint the most valuable great ideas and how they are connected. That maximizes the value and minimizes the risk. Does that sound like what you’re looking for? Can you see how much better that is?
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Zero Mines, cheap-low-tech land mine clearing tool
Zero Mines is a group of people worldwide working on Open Source solutions for clearing land mines so people can grow food, travel, and live safely. Here is my suggestion.
Over 100 million land mines have been deployed around the world. Most of the places where these land mine are located are impoverished. The area that needs to be cleared is vast. The ideal solution would use cheap, easily available materials, that can be put together by anyone so that local people can quickly clear their own land.
The standard military approach to clearing a mine field is to use a heavily armored vehicle with a motorized flail to trigger the landmines. Armor is one way of staying safe while detonating a mine but not the only way. Distance is another.
A strong rope is cheap and can pull a heavy object across a mine field from a distance to detonate any mines. But you typically must go forward into a mine field. So how can you pull something towards you without first putting it in front of you? There is a very simple way.
The device I described fits those requirements. It is just a big rake rotating on a pivot pulled by a rope or cable from a safe distance to trigger mines.
1. place the pivot
2. pull the rope or cable from a safe distance or behind sand bags
3. sweep the rake over area to be cleared
4. move pivot / rake to cover more area
5. repeat
Dragging an object a distance from the arm would reduce the damage to the arm but even if the arm is damaged it is cheap and easy to replace. This might not be enough for all uses of the land or all types of land but can quickly clear an area for human travel and light use. If you need to go deeper use a heavier object and tines to dig up the ground.
Predict All Future Innovations
I’ve developed a method that allows you to predict all innovations for any product, service or entire industry.
Innovation is an information processing activity. To innovate you gather, analyze, organize, and then put information to use. Innovation is more than just thoughts and dreams. To make innovation real you must do something. To successfully innovate you must implement the right ideas at the right time in the right way. The Predictive Innovation Method helps you at each step of the way.
How does the Predictive Innovation Method work?
The method is based on a few basic premises, one is all possible concepts can be described, even if current technology can’t deliver them yet. Think of it like a library. There is a section and a shelf for everything. Sometimes the book has already been written and its there on the shelf when you want it. Other times you look and the book is missing. That is an innovation waiting to happen.
Another basic premise is there are consistent physical laws that govern the universe. Everything in the universe works within these laws. The interactions produce the tremendous variety we find. We see this all around us. Everything is made up of basic components following the same laws to create the variety we experience.
For example consider the common expression “the world is not black and white, it is shades of gray.” The intent is to say the world is complex and there are more than two choices. This implies decisions might be difficult or impossible.
When you examine it more closely you find something amazing. Starting with any two shades of gray you can never achieve the entire range. You can’t get darker or lighter than the two starting points. You are stuck moving to a dull point in the middle.
On the other hand if you start with black and white you can mix those two and achieve all shades of gray plus the extremes of black and white. The correct system produces infinite results with precision.
During my 25 years of experience analyzing literally thousands of systems the same basic elements and structures kept popping up. I discovered that by breaking down anything into 3 specific dimensions creating approximately 7 sets of 15 by 7 matrices I can describe anything with enough accuracy to be able to build it.
Anyone can quickly learn this method and start producing all the innovations they need. It makes innovation measurable and manageable.
My goal is to work with an organization that will support me promoting this method.
Contact me
Predictive Innovation Training
Predictive Innovation: Core Skills Book
RoundSquareTriangle.com