1Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Workshop on De Bono’s Concept Fan: A tool to help ensure you’ve made a thorough search of the concept space Jonathan Weaver & Darrell Kleinke University of Detroit Mercy ME Department & IIA UDM is a member of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network

2Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke References de Bono, Edward, Serious Creativity, HarperCollinsBusiness, de Bono, Edward, Think! Before It’s Too Late, Vermillion, thinking-tools-classroom-two-6463http:// thinking-tools-classroom-two-6463 Powerpoint timer from

3Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Workshop Outline Activity 1: (Individual) Brainstorming exercise Concept generation tools Intro to Concept Fans Activity 1: (Groups) Develop a Concept Fan Activity 2: (Groups) Brainwriting-like exercise Report-Outs Comments/Feedback/Suggestions/Q&A

4Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Activity 1: Brainstorming Exercise (individual) You will be given 3 minutes to individually brainstorm ideas to address a problem we will reveal momentarily Remember rules of brainstorming (but today it’s to be done individually, not as a group) Please put each idea on its own YELLOW sticky note

5Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Today’s Problem How to Instill the Entrepreneurial Mindset in Engineering Undergraduates IDEA 3 minutes

6Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Most of engineering education focuses on detailed design – today’s workshop relates to concept development Concept Development System-Level Design Detail Design Testing and Refinement Production Ramp-Up Product Launch Mission Statement Product Planning

7Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Concept Development Phase Establish Target Specifications Identify Customer Needs Analyze Competitive Products Generate Product Concepts Select a Product Concept Refine Specifications Plan Remaining Development Project Perform Economic Analysis Mission Statement Development Plan

8Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke We typically teach many concept generation techniques Biomimicry Painstorming Functional Decomposition Axiomatic Design Ethnography TRIZ Lateral Benchmarking De Bono’s Six Hats De Bono’s Concept Fans Bisociation Blue Ocean Strategy Nine Windows De Bono’s Provocation Trimming Brainwriting

9Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke A concept fan is an idea generator, breadth expander, and an idea organizer Idea Generator: A method for increasing the number of ideas. Breadth Expander: A systematic way to broaden the types of ideas. Idea Organizer: An approach to group and categorize ideas according to broader “concepts.”

10Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Let’s use this example to illustrate: You want to attach an object to the ceiling in a room of typical height. You plan to use a stepladder but cannot find one. What do you do?

11Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke You might generalize the idea of the stepladder and recognize the underlying concept is “raise me off the floor” Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Attach object to ceiling Objective

12Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Several alternative ideas might arise to satisfy the concept of raise me off the floor Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump Attach object to ceiling Objective

13Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke You may recognize that an even broader concept is at work reduce object to ceiling distance Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump Attach object to ceiling Objective Reduce object to ceiling distance BROAD CONCEPT

14Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Notice the difference when you think about WHY an idea is part of a broader concept, compared to thinking about HOW a concept can be executed. Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump BROAD CONCEPT Reduce object to ceiling distance Attach object to ceiling Objective Why does this idea help? How can this concept be executed?

15Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke The Concept Fan may grow… –From right to left, by asking how ELSE might a concept be executed? Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump BROAD CONCEPT Reduce object to ceiling distance Use stilts Make me taller Attach object to ceiling Objective How?

16Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke The Concept Fan may grow… –From left to right, as a new idea pops up, ask why is (or isn’t) the idea part of the broader concept. Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump BROAD CONCEPT Reduce object to ceiling distance Make me taller Lengthen arm with stick Attach object to ceiling Objective Why does this help?

17Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke The Concept Fan may grow… –Up and down, left and right Stepladder Raise me off the floor IDEACONCEPT Stand on table Have someone lift me Jump BROAD CONCEPT Reduce object “me” to ceiling distance Use stilts Make me taller Lengthen arm with stick Attach object to ceiling Objective Propel object toward ceiling.

18Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Approach #1: Developing a concept fan from scratch Write down your purpose or objective on the right side Move from right to left, thinking of broad concepts, approaches, or directions that would meet the objective Continue right to left, using broad concepts to spawn alternatives by asking “how can this concept be accomplished?” As the idea list grows, look for new concepts by asking “why are these ideas grouped together?” and “Is there a better or different concept here?” If so, work left to right to explore. A partial example follows…

19Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke First, the broad concepts are thought up and listed IDEACONCEPT BROAD CONCEPT Cope with a water shortage Objective Reduce consumption Increase supply Do without

20Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Next some concepts for some of the broad concepts are listed IDEACONCEPT BROAD CONCEPT Cope with a water shortage Objective Reduce consumption Increase supply Do without Increased efficiency of use Reduced waste Discourage use Education New sources Recycling Less wastage from source Education Stop water-using processes Substitute other substances Avoid need to use water

21Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Finally ideas for the various concepts are developed IDEACONCEPT BROAD CONCEPT Cope with a water shortage Objective Reduce consumption Increase supply Do without Increased efficiency of use Reduced waste Discourage use Education New sources Recycling Less wastage from source Education Stop water-using processes Substitute other substances Avoid need to use water Meter water Charge for water use Raise charge for water use Water only obtainable from public sources Water only at certain times Put a harmless bad smell into the water Restrict discretionary use Publish names of heavy users Threaten to ration water

22Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Approach #2: Developing a concept fan from a list of ideas This approach applies when you already have a list of ideas to start with, and want to organize those ideas and ensure a wide breadth of ideas have been considered (typically even more ideas are generated in this process)

23Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Let’s create a concept fan from your brainstormed ideas Form groups of (?) and organize your ideas from the brainstorming activity into a concept fan Please use the BLUE MARKER to draw your fan If any new ideas emerge, please capture them on BLUE BLUE STICKY NOTES

24Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke How to Instill the Entrepreneurial Mindset in Engineering Undergraduates 15 minutes NEW IDEA Why does this idea help? How can this concept be executed?

25Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke A quick intro to brainwriting Source:

26Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke NEW IDEA Brainwriting-like round 2 5 minutes

27Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke NEW IDEA Brainwriting-like round 1 5 minutes

28Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Is there a team willing to report out on their process and results? 3 minutes

29Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Discussion questions Did the concept fan help you organize your many ideas? Did so organizing your ideas help you understand the underlying thinking behind an idea? Did understanding the thinking behind an idea help you get new ideas? Did clustering the ideas by concept and broad concept help you identify entirely new solution concepts (categories of solution)? Other thoughts?

30Venturewell open 2015 weaver kleinke Slides available at: