In 1968, Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, tried to make a super-strong glue, but he failed. He got a weird, weak, reusable glue that nobody knew what to do with.

For six years, it just sat there, a solution without a problem.

Then one Sunday, his colleague Art Fry was at the church. Annoyed that his bookmarks kept sliding out of his hymnbook, he remembered the weird glue.

And that was the "eureka" moment that gave us the Post-it.

The best ideas aren't new, they're a trained ability to observe patterns and connect the dots.

At a cognitive level, generating new ideas usually implies divergent thinking and convergent thinking.

A framework for understanding how new ideas are generated, developed by professor Margaret Boden, introduces 3 main types of creativity:
- exploratory → generate new ideas, like a new dancing style or a new drug.
- transformational → ignoring the rules of the game, like a new Uber.
- combinational → combining familiar ideas, like our Smartwatch (a watch + a tracker).

Brainstorming

Allow messiness and “no-wrong ideas”. This very first step of the ideation process welcomes volume over quality. Here, we focus on divergent thinking. Brainstorming done right starts with a central and simple question, and it lets the mind go in every direction. Your “be all over the place” moment.

The crazy 8s

This is inspired by a design principle, sketching 8 ideas in 8 minutes. But I find it useful for any kind of exploration that needs a sense of urgency.

Mind mapping

It helps see relationships between concepts. Starts with a central topic/problem and branches freely. Let's take a “pencil” as a central theme. We can define the first branches as use, users, environment, problems, etc. And we start adding sub-branches, and so on.

Brainstorming vs Mind mapping
Brainstorming - for generating a lot of ideas and early ideation
Mind mapping - for organizing thinking, exploring how concepts overlap

Cross-domain analogies

Building bridges between domains is key nowadays, when AI makes the blend easier.
Start with the thinking framework: This problem is like [random object] because…
One example on my end:
AI is like a drug.
The right drug dosage, in a specific context - the drug does the job.
Change the circumstances, and it's a 'no'.
Same with AI.
Sometimes it is a vitamin that helps daily. Other contexts are delicate, and it should be targeted (and limited).
I am an AI enthusiast, but I was taught to look for side effects, secondary effects, and interactions.

Go for a walk

Walking helps generate new ideas.

This Stanford study found that walking increases divergent thinking and creative ideation, especially in the early stage of problem solving.

Walking is a diffuse thinking mode, when the mind is in a relaxed state (instead of a focused one) and has the freedom to wander.