How do you generate and test original ideas efficiently?

Many times, people accept the problems or the challenges, and it becomes normal. As if there isn't a problem. But ask them what improvement should be there, and they tell us the pain points. Another way to identify a problem or opportunity is to envision the best possible scenarios. Then compare the gap between the current scenario and the best outcomes. That's where we will spot the opportunities.

While these techniques are good the result depends on the participants' ability to move away from their assumptions and experiences. I have found it useful to involve some 'ignorant' people in the mix. People who are from a different domain, or culture, often add new dimensions to the solution generation phase. I know a CEO who would plant provocateurs in her team who would push the ideas to their limit. It frees other people, too.

Researching and refining ideas based on the basis of available information is not the best way to create breakthrough ideas. Because most of the such ideas are 'accepted' ideas. And gets promoted through mutual validation of the experts. I would look at some outliers which might have failed. Many times, ideas fail not because they were bad, but because the execution competency wasn't there. So taking such ideas and working on them might be useful in arriving at breakthroughs.

Getting feedback is key. You can also ask for feedback from clients and prospects as a way to engage with them and to get insights from the marketplace.

Getting feedback is important. Because in its infancy, ideas are rough and often not well formed. Early feedback helps us refine the ideas and develop them further. Most importantly, feedback often leads us to new possible ideas. These have the seeds for the next version of a product or a software.

Getting to the prototype or the 'dirty first draft' fast is useful. In my experience, despite all the preparations and planning, when we present these prototypes to the audience, the reality hits us hard.? Getting to this point early helps us save the time and energy. It gives us a sense of what all is possible in given time and resources.?It also helps us find out the executional and implementation problems early on.? Most of our high-level concepts don't get into the real execution because of these constraints.? How to incorporate them, despite the constraints, needs a different level of creativity. This is the point where our 'testers' become collaborators and we can also utilise their insights for improving the ideas.