Function follows form

- Most people think the way you create an idea is to start with a well formed problem and then brainstorm a solution to it. Well, what if you turned that around 180 degrees? It sounds counterintuitive, but you really can innovate by starting with the solution and then work backwards to the problem. Imagine I'm holding a baby's milk bottle. The milk bottle changes color when the temperature of the milk changes. Now quickly ask yourself, why would that be beneficial? Well, if you're like most people, you would see that this concept would help you prevent the baby from being burned with milk that's too hot. In the systematic inventive thinking method, we call this direction of thinking, the "Function Follows Form Principle." Here's how it works. First, you start with an existing situation. That situation can be a product. It can be a service or perhaps a process. You take that item and you make a list of its components and its attributes. Then you apply one of the five thinking tools. They're called subtraction division, multiplication, task unification, and attribute dependency. Now, when you apply one of the five tools to the existing situation, you artificially change it. It morphs into something that at first might seem really weird or even absurd. That's perfectly normal. In fact, as you get more comfortable with this method, you'll come to expect it. Now we consider this strange thing a virtual product. It doesn't really exist except in one place. Right up here in your mind. Now take your time when applying one of the five thinking tools. You have to mentally define and visualize this virtual product. I like to close my eyes at the step and mentally see an image of the item once it's been manipulated. Now, as you practice the method more, this will get a lot easier. At the next stage, you ask yourself two questions and you do it in this specific order. The first question is, "should we do it?" And the second is, "can we do it?" Now, here's what I mean by that. Does the concept help people in any way? And if so, is it feasible to make? Hey, if it doesn't meet these simple criteria, don't waste any more time on it. If you pass through both questions, you move to the adaptation step, or you allow yourself some degree of freedom to modify the concept, to make it even stronger. You may have to iterate through these steps several times before you end up with what I would consider an idea.