I’ve got an idea – for an improvement, a new product or a service. I start thinking about it. I’ve jotted down a few notes, perhaps a rough sketch… I’m not convinced it’s a good idea. I can’t find the time for a more in-depth analysis – why it’s worth doing, what its strengths are, where it needs refining… Where to start, where and how to write it all down so that it’s still clear in two weeks or months’ time? How to organize it? Who to ask for an opinion… but I think it’s a good idea… it was…

Another idea ‘lived’ for only a brief moment. I’ll never know if it was a good one.

I’m in a meeting with the project team. We’re discussing how to tackle the next challenge. I hear a few interesting ideas. Someone is thinking about how to improve one of the ideas, whilst another shares their opinion – explaining why it won’t work. The project lead has to choose one – perhaps two – hypotheses to test later. They don’t have time for more, nor do they have any idea how to proceed in a specific direction. Did they choose the best one available? We’ll never know.

Those not included in the action plan ‘existed’ only during the meeting; no one will ever verify them. 

In both cases, the same mechanism came into play. When we come across a task that doesn’t immediately seem easy to proceed with, or when we don’t have a plan in mind for the next steps, we often dismiss it in favor of another that stands a chance of being carried out easily and quickly. This doesn’t require any assessment. It’s simply how we function.

Sometimes, however, we choose this ‘difficult’ path. In order to understand the possible consequences, we go through – more or less consciously – a process of analysis. We break the whole task down into smaller parts, analyze them separately and then bring them together through a process of synthesis. During both analysis and synthesis, we discover new aspects of the task. Some of these are opportunities to make the product or service more attractive, whilst others reveal previously unknown risks. This process enables us to make a decision – whether or not to continue. The basis for this decision is the knowledge we have gained during the process.

The analysis process often ‘gets stuck’. We reach a point where we do not know which direction to take next. In such situations, a facilitator, coach or mentor – who is often not to hand – is invaluable. Such a person, with a ‘fresh’ perspective, is able, once familiar with the project, to ask a few facilitating questions. The answers to these questions then get the analysis process moving again.

Limited time, sometimes chaotic decision making conditions (e.g. during a meeting), and a lack of facilitation when we hit a deadlock – these are the main reasons why we are reluctant to analyze cases that seem difficult at first glance. This reluctance seems to be directly proportional to experience. If we have encountered such situations in the past, we instinctively avoid them.

Are we, then, doomed to abandon ideas because of time constraints, chaos – understood as a lack of analysis and synthesis – or a lack of moderation? 

Not necessarily. 

There are certainly tools and methods that make it easier to maintain a proper process and reduce the time needed to complete it. Widely available artificial intelligence tools allow us to optimize these processes. The challenge lies in the vast amount of feedback we receive for further… analysis.

My solution turned out to be an app that:

• quickly and easily analyses an idea based on a written or verbal description,
• asks questions from perspectives that need to be analyzed in more detail,
• highlights the areas with the greatest potential,
• enables me to decide on the direction I consider to be the right one,
• prepares an action plan ready to be implemented straight away

And all this in the time it takes to have a quick lunch… you can give it a go too www.makemyidea.work