Unleashing Creativity in my private projects: Idea Generation and Prototype Testing in Product Development

On a daily basis, I participate in IT #productdevelopment and to boost my creativity I try to have many ideas not only in the #B2B IT area but also in other aspects of my life. Today, I want to share one of them to present you with my way of thinking and encourage all Marketing Managers to join prototype testing of the new products we create at Reffine .

Basically, I believe that you have to create A LOT OF IDEAS! You need to stay creative but also learn how to throw most of those ideas in the rubbish bin without getting overly attached to them. Of course this is hard since it is YOUR IDEA! :)

I do most of my creating in the evenings, at night, or when I’m listening to audiobooks while cycling. Some concepts are connected to Reffine , some aren’t. Today, I want to present one project that became a reality.

How many ideas?

A lot! Really, it should just be a habit. I do it as an exercise for my brain similar to cycling as an exercise for my muscles.

Still there is plenty of good, average, bad, & very bad ideas. You need to get rid of them quickly and focus only on the best.

In my idea funnel channel I have:

100 initial Ideas, all while keeping in mind that one idea can often grow into few.?

Out of those 100, I kill 95% before even writing them down:

1. 40% are killed off because initial research shows that they already exist?
2. 20% won’t work because they target markets I don’t know enough about
3. 10% end up killed by my wife
4. 10% are too abstract or not feasible (for example connecting the globe with satellite by cable)
5. 10% are too complex, too technical, or resource heavy to develop further.

For around 5, I leave some kind of note, even if it’s just a message to myself on Slack.

2 of my ideas end up being developed into an initial concept draft or a sort of very initial MVP.

Finally, I progress 1 draft, shape,? or idea from the prototype stage to further MVP development.

In this case, I had the idea of installing a Dolby Atmos sound system without changing my new living room into cinema. Now, that concept has evolved into a completed project.

From this point on, I’ll walk through this idea using ? the “Jira epic” format with which we use to describe projects at Reffine.

User Story

As a homeowner, I want to experience a real Dolby Atmos system without ruining the design of my living room.

Project:

I want to create a 5:2:4 杜比实验室 Atmos system in my living room

Don’t s:

1. Lower the ceiling. I love as high ceiling as possible.
2. Do not cut holes in any existing ceilings for speakers (it is reinforced concrete)
3. Do not compromise on quality (the Atmos set that reflect sound from ceiling is not an option).

Definition of done:

I can watch the movie Dune (2021) using a Dolby Atmos system in my living room without hearing any complaints about the design from my wife, Daria Rudnik , and friends.

LETS START:

Step 1: DELIVER THE PROTOTYPE ASAP!

I believe that when you decide to do something, you should aim to put together a prototype or an MVP as soon as possible. It might work. At the very least, doing so will bring you closer to your concept. It helps to iterate.

Below is a photo of me trying to show the concept to my wife (image taken after her initial feedback).

There, you can see a rubbish bin covered with aluminum foil to bring texture. Initially, I thought that I could make some nice-looking covers for speakers out of raw aluminum. At that stage, though, it had nothing in common lamps, but then evolved quickly.

Step 2: Budgeting & project spikes

I started to consult with design & audio experts. Father and with Jacek Tryc & Pawe? Filocha from cyfrowedomy.pl

Step 3: It will be lamp!

After a series of initial discussions, I came to the conclusion that maybe we could adapt lamps to visually hide the speakers! Here are the 1st design iterations showing the lamp concept! by Jacek Tryc team.

Our initial impression was not good. All we had was a set of unattractive lamps on the ceiling. We started to iterate and Jacek Tryc found Marset Djembe, which was designed by Joan Gaspar to be used in groups and as the, "echo of light."

After some iterations, rebudgeting, & picking Marset , we arrived at a concept that looked good to both me & my wife.

Step 4: Technical drafts

Next, we moved on to technical drafts & another less spectacular set of technical iterations:

Step 5 Equipment purchasing

We contacted Internity Home & Marset to buy a lamp without a lamp inside :D?

Next we checked everything. All of it looked promising.

Speakers FX-265 by Monitor Audio Group were picked to match rest of audio:

Lamps ( Marset ):

Speaker in the lamp:

Step 6: Cables implementation & visualisation checks.

This was a less spectacular but challenging step. We checked a lot of cables only to find out at the end that they were all working properly. In the end, we had put all of those cables in conduit to protect them from the environment.

Step 7: Pre-production testing & QA:

Step 8: Connecting lamps with speekers.

So, at this point I had an issue. We had a lamp, a very heavy speaker, and no idea how to connect them.

First, I tried buying flowerpots and connecting them with speakers and lamps. But that failed miserably (my gardening shops tour was so bad that I don’t even have any images). Flowerpots are not designed to fit speakers in a lamp.

I decided to draft some kind of cylinder and asked PROTOPLASTIC - druk 3D | prototypowanie | skanowanie 3D to produce it. They prepared technical drafts, validated concepts, and checked the connections between the cover and ceiling to guarantee that a 2kg speaker would not fall on someone's head or unscrew thanks to speaker vibrations. Working from my initial draft, they delivered a good product:

At this point I descoped the project from being about a lamp at all. The goal was now to install a fake lamp.

Step 9: Connect dots.

At this point, we cut the lamps and connected them with cylinders using glues, screws, silicone, and some noise cancelation mats to avoid vibrations and unnecessary noises:

Step 10: Final effect:

Ok it worked but to review:

1. We exceeded the budget, but luckily my wife still loves me
2. I picked more colors for speakers/lamps
3. It took way more time than expected
4. My kid was born shortly after, so I cannot listen to anything loudly enough to fully utilize it
5. Still, I love that our set-up is custom, self-made, and creative.

From my perspective, the main takeaway is that you can create a lot from scratch and the initial prototype can be very different from the final version.

I think it’s very important to not let yourself get weighed down by seeing your initial concepts and focusing too much on idea & iteration & proper execution.

?? If you liked this, please let me know! If you work in marketing, please help me and Justyna Rafalska validate our business orient idea that is currently at step 1 of development!