making a difference, making things different Minds at Work presents October 2004

what would I change? what can I change? what would work?

what would I change? what I teach? how I teach? who I teach? who teaches who? when I teach? where I teach? why I teach?

Minds atWork seeing what might be

substitute? combine? rearrange? reverse? adapt? modify? magnify? minify? eliminate? repurpose? "It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one." Alex Osborne

combine? What else is like this? Could we mix other products/services in? What else would you use at the same time? How would it crossbreed with other ideas?

modify? What could alter or redesign? Update the technology? Rethink the adjoining bits? Any old assumptions we could lose?

magnify? What would it be like if it was huge? What if we just enlarged one bit? Increase number, strength, range, capacity? How could we magnify the market?

Can we pinch something from another idea? Could we copy other processes? Could we swipe the technology? Who else is doing this? adopt?

minify? What if it was tiny? Could we shrink one bit? Reduce the cost, effort, weight? Is there a smaller, richer market?

substitute? What could we use instead? Try different materials? Try different markets? Try different components?

How would it fit somewhere else? Can it become part of another thing? How would it work on the beach? In traffic? In orbit? Underwater? adapt?

rearrange? How many ways could we reconfigure it? Can we restructure the process? Can we rebuild the marketplace? What isn’t doing it’s best where it is?

repurpose? Forget what it was made for, what can it do? Would it be in a fire? In a flood? At a party? What would an alien do with it?

reverse? What if we did the exact opposite? Would it work backwards? Inside out, upside down? Let’s zig when the market zags!

eliminate? What could we lose? What’s weighing this idea down? What would it be without this component? What would we do without it?

substitute? combine? rearrange? reverse? adapt? modify? magnify? minify? eliminate? repurpose? "It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one." Alex Osborne

time craziness

time craziness 1 30 been done INTERESTING! what are you, NUTS?

time craziness first lull second lull wave

Just Think.

Minds atWork picking the winners

How many choices? 3+ Multiple decision making WALLET TIE? HOUSE BEEPER? SELF CLEANING GLASSES? THE MULTI-FONT PEN? GROW-SHOE? COFFEE PATCH?

How many choices? 3+ Multiple decision making PRICELESS WORTHLESS VALUE WALLET TIE? HOUSE BEEPER? SELF CLEANING GLASSES? THE MULTI-FONT PEN? GROW-SHOE? COFFEE PATCH?

PRICELESS WORTHLESS GREAT IDEA NOT SO GREAT IDEA WEAK IDEA PISS WEAK IDEA BLOODY BRILLIANT IDEA VALUE

GREAT IDEA NOT SO GREAT IDEA WEAK IDEA PISS WEAK IDEA BLOODY BRILLIANT IDEA NO SWEAT NO WAY EFFORT

NO SWEAT NO WAY EFFORT TIME? RESOURCES? TECHNOLOGY? POLITICS?

EFFORT PRICELESS WORTHLESS VALUE NOT SO GREAT IDEA WEAK IDEA PISS WEAK IDEA GREAT IDEA BLOODY BRILLIANT BUT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE IDEA V10 E10 NO SWEAT NO WAY

EFFORT PRICELESS WORTHLESS VALUE NOT SO GREAT IDEA WEAK IDEA PISS WEAK IDEA V10 E10 V9 E3 GREAT EASY IDEA BLOODY BRILLIANT BUT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE IDEA NO SWEAT NO WAY

EFFORT PRICELESS WORTHLESS VALUE WEAK IDEA PISS WEAK IDEA NO SWEAT NO WAY V10 E10 V9 E3 GREAT EASY IDEA BLOODY BRILLIANT BUT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE IDEA V6 E8 NOT SO GREAT REALLY HARD IDEA

EFFORT VALUE How many choices? 3+ Multiple decision making DO IT NOW WORK UP TO IT DELEGATE OR DUMP TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

EFFORT VALUE How many choices? 3+ Multiple decision making Can we make it more VALUABLE? Should we even BOTHER? Can we make it EASIER? Can we get STARTED?

Just Think.