1. 2.04 Identify methods/techniques to generate a venture/product idea

2. Key Terms
Attribute Listing-focuses on an attribute or an object in order to determine how the attribute can be improved. Ex. Cell phone features.
Lateral Thinking-Solving problems through an indirect or creative approach. Ex. Thinking outside of the box.
Analogies- Similarity of like features of two things. Ex. Comparing
Associations-A mental connection or relation between thoughts, feelings, ideas or sensations.
Brainstorming-is a creative-thinking technique involving the identification of as many different ideas as possible during a certain time frame.

3. Key Terms continued
Synectics-bringing different things together to create a unified connection.
Sketching and doodling-Letting your subconscious do the drawing.
Forced questioning-Force people to choose between two choices when neither of the choices could be the answer or needs further explanation. Ex. Is this yellow or green?
Morphological Analysis-Systematically structuring and investigating many possible relationships of complex problems. Ex. Used to create a new product.

4. The role of criticism in idea creation
Criticism can be difficult to hear.
Don’t take it personal
Some of your most important lessons can come from complaints and criticism.
Discussion points:
As a business owner, how would you address these criticisms?
The package is too hard to open
The cake doesn’t taste fresh
Your services are too expensive
His store is very difficult to find

5. Types of brainstorming techniques
Define the problem
Share ideas without criticism
Build on others ideas
Pose an initial question
Use word association
Identify a challenge

6. Why learn about techniques for idea generation?
Someone somewhere at sometime came up with every item that you see around
So that you can invent the next great product
Product ideas come from different places – existing products made better or brand new products
Ideation is the process of generating and developing new ideas
One of the primary purposes in business is to generate ideas for new goods and services

7. Business need product ideas because
Markets change constantly
They need to stay ahead of the competition
Product life cycles are becoming shorter

8. Where do businesses look for inspiration for new products
Trends – the general direction in which people or events are moving (Fashion, TV, music, etc.) – by studying trends, business get a sense of what customers need – examples: health and fitness, baby boomers needs, communication needs
Customers – observe and notice when problems exist of people seem to have an unfulfilled needs – talk with them (surveys, focus groups, satisfaction cards, one-on-one conversations) – talk to people who deal with the customer (salesperson)
Existing products- Find the limitation and make them better- look to develop complimentary products (they “go with” another product) – look to develop substitute products (takes the place of another product) – examples: Blu-ray to replace DVD and digital books to replace hard/paperback books.

9. Methods of Creative Thinking Used to Generate New Product Ideas
Lateral thinking methods involve approaching an issue from new illogical directions and using illogical methods to develop new ideas
Brainstorming include relay, round robin, brain drawing, free association, forced questioning, synaptic, forced analogies, star bursting, mind mapping
Relay- Teams responding to teammates ideas in a certain order
Round robin- no teams- participants respond in order
Brain drawing- members add to drawings to try to develop a product
Free association- state the first thing that comes to mind
Forced questioning- used to answer a specific question
Synectics- making connections through forced relations (two items that seem unrelated to find a new practical combination) – more time consuming than brainstorming but it is good when other creative methods have failed.

10. Methods of Creative Thinking Used to Generate New Product Ideas continued
Forced analogies- using metaphors and similes to create connections where none exist (ie. Waiting on the bus on a cold day think of other times you wait, like a doctors office to help you come up with a solution)
Star bursting- draw a 6 pointed star and write the product opportunity in the middle- write the following words at the tip of the star (who, what, why, when, where, and how)
Mind mapping- in the center of the paper write the main problem, which the market opportunity that you identified- from the starting point, draw a line to other words and phrases that are related to the main idea- from each of these words, draw other lines that relate to the particular word and so on- this helps to expand thinking and gets a lot of different ideas down on paper.

11. Methods of Creative Thinking Used to Generate New Product Ideas continued
Programmed thinking methods- organized, logical, and analytical thinking techniques
Attribute listing- list the products characteristics that make it unique from other goods then find ways to improve those attributes
Morphological analysis- list a products characteristics then combine some or all of those to create a new product
Making it pay
New product ideas are essential for long term business success
No two business use the exact same method to develop products.