CONCEPT GENERATION
Lecture Notes
ver: 23-sep-99
(c) 1999 by W. Durfee
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Generating ideas and selecting among competing ideas are two of the most important determinants of successful design. Good detail design will never rescue a poor concept. This lecture is concerned with how you generate ideas and then how you choose which is the best idea to pursue.
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CONCEPT GENERATION
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BASICS
- A "concept" is an idea which provides a solution to the product design spec (PDS).
- Can be a complete solution, a partial solution or a far out idea which at first glance looks like it is way too wild. Many levels of detail are possible.
- Idea generation is cheap. Doesn't cost much (time, resources) to generate lots of ideas, so do it.
- A good concept generation process will produce ALL of the ideas.
You may get 100's --- great!
Leave nothing for the follow on team
Leave nothing for your competitor
- Any project with a team of at least three should generate NO FEWER than 10 ideas, but 10 is an embarassingly small number. 20-30 would be the MINIMUM to shoot for.
- Concept generation is more than just brainstorming. Brainstorming is simply a method which can generate some (but not all) concepts. (See below.)
- Start the formal concept generation phase AFTER the PDS is written.
Must have at least a rough idea of the PDS.
Does not have to be a formal PDS.
You need some idea of what product is to do.
Waste of time/resources to spend significant time
on concept generation without a PDS.
- Use a structured process
Ensures that you undertake the task.
Provides a guideline when things get bogged down.
Be systematic, but not too rigid
- DOCUMENT the ideas
Even if you don't use them now, you may later.
You need documentation for the selection phase.
Record on paper (or other quick recording means)
- Preliminary ideas generally take the form of
Quick hand sketch
A few trigger words
A picture of an existing device
- Common mistakes in the generation process
All ideas generated before PDS drafted
Concept judgement mixes in with concept generation
Too small a team involved in process (everyone must buy in)
Too few ideas generated (leave yourself wide open to
competition)
Ideas found in competing and related products not used
(NIH syndrome)
Not accepting concepts which are partial solutions to PDS
Equating "brainstorming" with concept generation
THE STEPS
1. Review the PDS
2. Divide the Problem
3. Concept generation through Information Gathering
4. Concept generation through idea sessions
REVIEW THE PDS
- Team members should agree on what the product is to do
- Should have some form of a written PDS at this point, perhaps just a bulleted list
- Must have a clear idea of the problem statement before proceeding.
- Must have a clear idea of customer needs before proceeding.
DIVIDE THE PROBLEM
- Divide and subdivide into manageable chunks.
Granularity of layers depends on complexity
(new personal transport system different from
new screwdriver).
- Tackle idea generation one chunk at a time. Combine later.
- Divide by FUNCTION rather than by embodiment
e.g. "sorting" vs weighing
Be careful of embedding possible solutions into
the chunk descriptions; you don't want to skew
the process
CONCEPT GENERATION BY INFORMATION GATHERING
- Avoid the "NIH" (not-invented-here) syndrome. Lots of existing ideas are available out there.
It's up to you to ferret them out.
Can be daunting, there's a lot of info out there.
Can combine existing ideas into a new idea to create
a unique product
Using others' (good) ideas is inexpensive, easy, quick
- Reverse engineering of competitive products
Direct competitors
Analagous products
CONCEPT GENERATION THROUGH IDEA SESSIONS
- Should try both individual and group activities
Group activities alone do not maximize ideas
"Forced" individual activities guarantee that all
will participate
- Set aside sufficient amounts of time for these activities. Think about it. How often have you given yourself the luxery of sitting in a quiet room with no interruptions for the space of several hours with the sole task of generating ideas???
- If possible, include customers and other stakeholders in the process. Need to determine in advance if they can make a useful contribution.
- Basic principles:
1. As many ideas as possible
2. Do not evaluate or rate for feasibility
3. Encourage participation by all
4. Record all ideas (efficient recording process)
5. No interruptions
- There are lots of ways to conduct brainstorming sessions. Many references exist. What follows are some suggestions which do work, but use whatever way works for you or your company.
- How to run a brainstorming session
* Appoint a facilitator/moderator
* Advertise the session in advance
* Advertise the topics in advance (the team has to have
done the job of splitting the overall product function
into manageable subfunction tasks in advance).
* Don't have any one team do too much at a time. With
many subtasks, split the team into several groups.
* Each member buys a deck of 3"x5" index cards.
* The admission ticket to the brainstorming session
is 10 ideas for each topic, one idea per card.
Enforce this policy rigidly; it's the only way to get
team members to think of ideas on their own. These
preliminary ideas should be done without collaboration
and without discussion before the group session.
* Have plenty of blank cards available.
* Start the session by going through the individual ideas.
Tape on wall (or table if big enough) organized by topic.
* In group session, go at it, one topic at a time. As new
ideas are generated, record on a card and tape on the
wall (PostIt pads can also be used). Ideas can be
documented with a quick sketch or no more than 5 words
* Remember, no judgement, even if the idea is totally off
base (it may trigger other ideas)
* Wild ideas are encouraged
* Record all ideas when done
- Ways to help your session (or individual activities) if it gets stuck (many involve paradigm shifts). The facilitator should coordinate this
Think of analogous tasks
Shift the scale (twice as fast/slow, heavy,
as big as a house...)
Combine ideas (addition and subtraction)
Relax one spec (it can cost $1,000,000)
Imagine new technologies (novel materials,
super-fast computer)
Try relaxing (but don't eliminate) physical laws
What if product were being used on the moon ...
or under water
For 1-of product, imagine if mass produced, for
n-of product, imagine if building just one
Imagine inverted functions (disassembly machine rather
than assembly machine)
Switch topics in mid-stream
Take a (short) break
- Helps to categorize ideas. Can be done as a joint activity. Tape category headings to wall. Group moves around room rearranging cards. Can overrule any other team member. Seemingly stochastic activity will reveal fundamental sorting.
- Now you have 10's or hopefully 100's of ideas. Chances are that few will be a complete solution to the PDS or subset task. Take the time to sort and combine to produce alternative concepts at about the same level of detail and realization. For example, if Concept A is missing something to completely satisfy the subtask, borrow from Concept B.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
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- The methods presented here are a suggestion. Each design team will customize to fit their own personalities and needs.
- The steps will necessarily overlap. Don't worry.
- Go back and look the "Common Mistakes" sections above. Is
your team guilty?
- If you take away nothing else, take away these four points:
(1) Do not generate or select concepts until at least
a partial PDS is written
(2) Generate LOTS of ideas
(3) Resist temptation to run with first idea
(4) Use some type of rational, structured selection process