Divergent Thinking: Making a Breakthrough

After attending sxsw, I've resisted just reporting on one panel, thinking there's got to be an overall theme to most of the things I saw. And I think I've finally come up with it, read on.

1. Brainstorm, a lot
At "Being a UX team of One" I committed to brainstorming, a lot. Usually we can come up with one or two ideas right off the bat, the problem is pushing past that wall to come up with something more interesting. Leah Buley suggested coming up with a minimum of 6, hopefully much more.

Why does coming up with more ideas make them any better? In my experience, I tend to do the most rote and expected things first, kind of like regurgitating. Forcing myself to move past a couple ideas makes me uncomfortable, but it's oddly freeing at the same time. If I'm in the mindset that I don't have to come up with THE IDEA right away, I'm actually more at ease and open minded. I begin to make better kinds of connections.

Leah's tools for pushing past this wall were to use:
1. conceptual frameworks (this is good for user experience designing)

2. word associations

3. an inspiration library (I just take screenshots and pictures of anything and everything I like, no matter what it is.)

Both the "Objectified" panel and "Journey to the Center of Design" discussed the value in creating a lot of ideas, being rewarded for risk taking and learning from those mistakes. Basically you cannot edit yourself in the beginning.

Journey to the Center of Design Highlights:


2. Start on paper
Several panels admonished not to start in WORD or a PROGRAM of your choice. The format is constraining and you think more broadly and have more freedom on paper or napkin.

3. Involve other people
Ask for specific feedback and ideas. Another perspective is valuable. One of the panelists suggested hosting a session where everyone plays the devil's advocate to poke holes in the idea. Doesn't mean you listen to every criticism, but could help you look at things in a different way.

4.You don't need to know the end at the beginning
In speaking about his movie, "Objectified", Gary Hustwit said he didn't start out with a plan of how the narrative would work, it unfolded with the footage. The challenge in coming up with good ideas is to let go of control and not get stressed out by uncertainty. Kathy Serra in "Change your World in 50 minute: Making Breakthroughs Happen" said "The surest way to guarantee nothing interesting happens is to think you know how it should all go. "

5.There is no right and wrong
My favorite discussion was lead by Charles Sayers, the global marketing director for Sapient. He's worked with brands like Coca-cola, Home Depot, UPS, and Auto-trader in all aspects of brand development and design, marketing program strategy, messaging and corporate communications. In his panel, "Brand Noir: Crafting a Who-Why-How Dunnit", Sayers talked about War rooms and the rules he had:

1. If you go into the war room, leave an idea

2. NOTHING is thrown away, put it on the wall

3. There's no structure in putting it on the wall

Why these kinds of rules? Because people think they have to get it right before they say anything. The point is getting a reaction and response from the team. My doodles or questions may spark something for someone else. Along with no right or wrong, there is no perfect. I like this idea because it frees everyone up from coming up with the Big Idea.

Part of there not being a right and wrong is the idea of suspending disbelief. Acting like there are no limits will get you farther then imagining every possible road block.

6. Create a little discomfort
How do you know if it's a good idea? If everyone feels comfortable with the idea, does that mean it's a good idea? "Oh, Ok, I get it" in not very compelling. A good story or idea will have multiple reactions, you want a lot. If it makes people think, that's good.

The possibilities for creative thinking?
One of the speakers on the "Objectified" panel made an observation on the difference between analytical and design or divergent thinking: "In design or divergent thinking you're trying to create new choices, you're not just picking from the choices you already have, which is analytical." They were discussing product design but then summed it up by saying, "we need to get better at different types of thinking so that we can apply it to current issues" like policy making and health care. They believed that including divergent thinkers in any problem solving process was the key to coming up with breakthrough solutions. Amen.