I recently received 3 interesting questions about idea generation:

“How do you ensure that ideas are creative?”

“What inspires an engineer to define a good idea?”

“Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to start the path of inspiration by leaning into the human factor as the source from where ideas flow?” 

I understand the last question in two ways:

• what makes an idea arise?
• What resources do we use to generate ideas?

I think it’s worthwhile, so I’m leaning in. 

I guess, everyone who has consciously thought of something at least once in their life, has felt that thrill of having just created something. Admittedly, you can’t touch it or even see it… well, but there it is, after all. All you need is a description, a drawing or some other form of materialization to show it to the world – your idea.

What are the sources of ideas? What is the spark that makes us come up with something? What, in fact, is an idea? 

My simplest definition is: An idea is an answer to the question posed. 

In order to verify this hypothesis, I take the opposite (seemingly) position for a moment, namely that a question does not have to be asked in order for an idea to arise, and the process is completely spontaneous.

I recall conversations about when and how we most often come up with ideas. For some of us, the best time to generate ideas is in the shower, right after waking up, while walking, hiking, jogging, or generally exercising. For others, it may be an hour after a meeting – where they were looking for new solutions, or at the end of the day, listening to music and seeking a few moments of solitude. The places and situations are many. What they have in common is the word spontaneity, with which we often describe such an idea-generating process.

Does the spontaneity of these processes preclude the hypothesis, that says that an idea is the result of a question asked? In my opinion, no. Whether we ask the question ourselves, whether someone asked it to us, whether we consciously remember it, or whether it is only left in our subconscious, our mind tries (sometimes without our conscious control) to find a solution, i.e. an idea. Sometimes it appears immediately, other times it must take a long time, but the initiator of generating the idea was the question. 

If an idea is a solution and an answer, then what does it actually solve and answer? 

This is where we come to the source of all ideas.

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Ideas solve defined problems and respond to named needs. In other words, if the need does not arise then the idea will not arise either. 

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A few years ago, I compared various systems to encourage employees to share ideas, that would ultimately improve the company’s operations. Some launched this type of program only for those interested, some introduced a monthly goal for the number or type of improvements for all employees. Some shared the profit from the changes made with the employee, and some rewarded those with the highest number of ideas. Without going into an evaluation of these systems, I have come to a few conclusions, that are universal to each of them.

1. Only a person who can spot a problem has a chance to solve it.
2. People who can’t notice a problem (also in the sense of being able to improve the existing state – questioning the status quo) won’t generate ideas (unless the problem is defined by someone else).
3. There are people who have a natural gift (personality predisposition) to question the status quo.
4. Challenging the status quo is not a competence that is easy to learn for someone who does not have this predisposition.
5. There are people who are much better at solving defined problems, than at defining them, or at least noticing them.

These conclusions lead to a general observation:

The person who notices a problem and asks questions is not necessarily the same person who answers them.

This otherwise obvious statement, is no longer so when we move to the ground of idea generation. A common expectation is to formulate a hypothesis and look for ideas to support or refute it by the same person. 

I myself organize creative meetings where I first look with the team for a definition of the problem and only then for a solution. Such a task can prove difficult for people who are gifted in only one of these areas: identifying problems and asking questions or generating ideas. 

The question posed at the beginning, “what makes an idea arise” can therefore be answered: it is necessary to ask the question. For this, in turn, a set of certain qualities and skills is required, which I would briefly describe as:

• curiosity, which encourages questioning the status quo and asking “how can it be done differently?”
• the ability to observe and be perceptive,
• courage to ask difficult, uncomfortable questions,
• the ability to think analytically and synthetically,
• perseverance.

If the question has been posed and the problem is defined, the next step is to propose a solution – that is, the actual search for an idea. This is the time to think about the second part of the question from the beginning of the article: “what resources do we use to generate ideas?”.

I was reading an exchange recently about the impact of AI on our daily lives, and how AI learns, how it provides answers, and whether it is ethical. Someone asked an interesting question: if humans saw nothing, heard of nothing, learned nothing, would they be able to solve any problem? The question was asked after another participant in the discussion accused AI of not inventing anything after all, but basing it on what it already “knows.”

The question is whether a person without knowledge, experience from observing and registering his surroundings with all his senses would be able to come up with something? I don’t know. 

However, when I recall myself and other participants in creative meetings, I have serious doubts. Whenever there are people with mechanical experience at a meeting, they propose something mechanical, automation specialist something from automation area, programmers some algorithm, etc… Hence, the conclusion is, that in the process of generating ideas we refer to our knowledge, but also to experiences, observations, thoughts, insights, interpretations, doubts, experiments conducted, mistakes made, visualizations….

While the first resource – knowledge – is often shared by a large group of people, the second is already more individual in nature. There I would look for the main resource of creativity. 

The following answers to the questions posed at the beginning of the article, may not be exhaustive. However, I hope that this brief tour through the process of generating an idea from noticing and defining the problem, through asking the right question, taking into account the natural predispositions of those involved in the process, will provide a fresh perspective and inspire new ways of creating ideas. 

„How to ensure that ideas are creative?”

To the team looking for ideas/solutions, it is worth inviting people who have knowledge in different areas, who are willing and able to use their experiences, observations, thoughts, insights, interpretations, doubts, experiments conducted, mistakes made, visualizations….

„What inspires an engineer to define a good idea?”

The best inspiration is a well asked question, a well presented problem. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same person. As practice shows, it is often not the same person. 

As for a good idea – what we mean by “good” and how to look for “good” ideas – that’s a topic for another article coming soon. 

„Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to start down the path of inspiration by leaning into the human factor as the source from where ideas flow?”

Ideas comes from:

• questions asked,
• curiosity,
• personal „drive”
• observation,
• perceptiveness,
• analysis and synthesis skills,
• associating and combining seemingly unrelated facts,
• knowledge,
• passion,
• own thoughts,
• conducted experiments,
• …