An axe has been basically the same for 8,000 years, then a Finnish inventor noticed that an asymmetry in the head could convert a linear strike into rotational energy and AHA!, you have an axe that is leaps ahead of other axes with regards to splitting the wood.

In our analysis of the history of inventions, the least noticed feature always becomes cornerstone of something radically new. But how do you notice the least-noticed? We have a way.

Here's how to notice the least-noticed.

We created 50 Viewing Lenses from all our analysis of breakthrough inventions throughout history. Examine your object of interest through each of these lenses and you will notice what you have been overlooking.

By examining a typical axe through each lens, you will notice that all axes are symmetrical and think about the consequences of an asymmetrical axe. 

Reducing Concussions

We examined a typical football helmet through the 50 Viewing Lenses and noticed 6 least-noticed features that could lead to new ways to reduce concussions. One of our ways reliably turns direct helmet hits into glancing blows. Researchers at Penn State, a premier concussion research center, want to meet with us.

Contact me for more information about the 50 Viewing Lenses.

tony@innovationaccelerator.com

Introverts shine in the silence of Brainswarming; while in the chatter of brainstorming they are often stifled.

Nearly 50 percent of us are introverts. We are known to be very creative. Susan Cain's bestselling book,  Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, nicely details all of this. We need quiet and alone time in order to manifest our creativity. Why then would managers engage in a group problem solving process that may stifle half of their team and result in loss of productivity for the whole group? In other words, why use brainstorming?

Brainswarming is a new group idea-generation process conducted in silence while people write on Post-Its and place them on a structured graph so the group can build on each other's ideas. The graph stays up on a wall so people don't even have to work together at the same time. It is ideal for introverts, but actually is better for the productivity of the whole group. See the Harvard Business Review video for an example.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/why-you-should-stop-brainstorming/

Brainstorming requires talking and supposedly the facilitator keeps the extroverts from dominating. But why use a possibly expensive facilitator to try to keep the talkative ones under control when the silence of the Brainswarming process does this for you? Or, why use a team member as the facilitator when that team member should be focusing on producing ideas?

Osborn had great goals in mind when he invented brainstorming. The problem is brainstorming never lived up to those goals. And brainstorming can be a horrendous and unfruitful experience for nearly half of the population (us introverts). Brainswarming lives up to Osborn's goals much better by keeping the good parts of brainstorming and getting rid of the bad. One nice effect is that it lets us introverts shine. 

See more about Osborn's goals how Brainswarming achieves them better in the following blog.

http://ahauniverse.weebly.com/1/post/2014/04/brainswarming-keeps-the-good-of-brainstorming-and-gets-rid-of-the-bad.html

Contact me with comments and questions: tony@innovationaccelerator.com

Brainswarming is a new process featured in a video at the Harvard Business Review.
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/why-you-should-stop-brainstorming/

Let's see how it upholds Osborn's original goals by keeping the good of brainstorming and getting rid of those things that hinder the achievement of those goals.

Keeps the Good of Brainstorming. Brainswarming upholds Osborn's original goals:

• People can work together: You can combine and build upon each other's ideas.
• No judgement is possible because no talking takes place.
• People can go for quantity of ideas. They reach a greater quantity faster than in brainstorming because they work in parallel.
• People can easily submit unusual ideas. Again no talking takes place so there is less fear of judgment. Also, making the contributions anonymous encourages more risk taking, honesty, and wildness.

Basically, Brainswarming achieves all of Osborn's goals that he envisioned; but, as seen below, Brainswarming gets rid of the problems that hinder reaching Osborn's goals.

Gets Rid of the Bad That Hinders Osborn's Goals from Being Achieved

• No more talkative few dominating the session. There is no talking.
• No need for a facilitator to keep people from dominating or judging. The Brainswarming process itself keeps people in line because there is no talking.
• No more sharing one at a time. People work in parallel so the work goes much faster.
• No one needs to be a scribe, because everyone is writing and placing their ideas at the correct place on the master graph.
• No one needs to interpret and summarize the results because the master graph holds all the results--and everyone built it together.
• No one needs to create a summary of the session. Take a picture of the graph and send that out or just keep the graph up on the wall for later use.
• No one needs to read through a textual summary of the session. The graph  contains short phrases and places all the ideas in their relationship to each other.
• No one needs to later group the similar ideas together because the grouping is already done as the graph is built.
• No more "wordy" ideas. All contributions are brief as they must fit on a Post-It note.
• No more remembering what people said. It is all visible on the master graph throughout the session.
• No more having your train of thought interrupted. The silence allows you to fluctuate between thinking quietly, writing your ideas, placing them on the master graph, looking at other people's ideas, and building on other's ideas.
  
• No more struggles between top-down (big picture) thinkers and bottom-up (detail oriented) thinkers. The master graph integrates both seamlessly.
• No more fear of the boss and colleagues. Silence and anonymous postings on the graph encourages honesty, risk taking, and wildness of ideas.
• No more forcing everyone to be present for the session. The master graph remains on the wall so people can contribute at different times. (Online Brainswarming will allow remote groups from around the world to work together.)

When to start talking again...

After the idea generation wanes, people can then return to their talking ways. Perhaps, small groups will form as people gather around their favorite ideas to flesh them out as small groups. Perhaps, the group ranks the ideas by placing small Post-Its next to their favorite ones. Perhaps, the entire group re-assembles to discuss the ideas as a whole group. The choice is up to you.

Creating New Variations and Uses for a Consumer Product

Here, I explain Brainswarming using a different type of graph for a different type of problem.

One key to crafting new variations and uses for a product is to notice what other people are overlooking.

Here is a simple technique called the 50 Viewing Lenses to help you notice what you are probably overlooking about your product. Here is a link where I used the technique to create new candleholder designs.

http://ahauniverse.weebly.com/1/post/2013/12/50-viewing-lenses.html

If you like the technique, here is how I would suggest using it as a group.

Using the 50 Viewing Lenses, have your group silently list all the features they can about your product. Write each feature on a Post-It note and place it on a wall in no particular pattern so everyone can look at them. (Contact me if you would like the full list of all 50 Viewing Lenses.)

Now, have your group silently place the listed features that seem promising to vary in a circular pattern around a picture of your product (e.g., gift bag). They move the promising Post-Its into a circular pattern on a different part of the wall.

This pattern helps people see all the potential variations in one glance. For each promising feature, also list some possible values for that feature (e.g., compartments have the value of 1 compartment or multiple compartments).

For the gift bag example, you might consider multiple-compartment gift bags, which might lead to a new use for gift bags. Have a long, narrow compartment for wine and a broader compartment for cheese. This is a made-up example (and this wine gift bag might already exist), but I have successfully used this basic technique in helping a marketing company derive variations for a product.

People can either continue to work silently or start to talk as they create new designs or uses that emerge from this wheel of promising features.

Dr. Tony McCaffrey is available to lead groups in the Brainswarming process and teach more of the heuristics.

Contact me at tony@innovationaccelerator.com

I am open to hearing about feedback and questions from your Brainswarming sessions.

Transforming Problem Solving is our goal.

Phase 1: Brainswarming with Post-Its
A structured process of Post-Its where each participant can silently contribute to a problem solving graph. (This is where we are currently.)

Harvard Business Review video: 
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/why-you-should-stop-brainstorming/

Phase 2: Online Brainswarming
An online graph so remote groups can work together. (We are currently raising funds for this step.)

Phase 3a: Online Brainswarming with AhaBoost Technology
As a cognitive scientist, I can tell you what you are overlooking—which is crucial to innovation. Software running in the background helps uncover overlooked features and assumptions, as well as make unnoticed connections (i.e., our AhaBoost Technology).

Phase 3b: Online Brainswarming with Automatic Patent Extraction
For engineers, we encourage group goal refinement followed by automatic patent extraction to find the patents that accomplish each of the goal expressions.

Automatic Patent Extraction for Diverse Goal Expressions    

Example: A company designing robotic window washers expressed the diverse ways that the robot could distinguish between glass and non-glass. Automatic patent extraction finds the known ways that each goal could be accomplished.

Automatically Find Patents for Ways to Accomplish Each Goal    

Next Step: Search scientific journals and corporate data, as well as patent databases. Find any resource that accomplishes your goal.

Contact me to receive published papers that articulate the science and technology behind phases 2 and 3.

tony@innovationaccelerator.com

I want to live in a world where people break down their silos and solve problems together across the globe. Brainswarming is my contribution to this goal.


Step 1: Brainswarming with Post-Its: A structured process of Post-Its where each participant can silently contribute to a problem solving graph. (This is where we are currently at.)

Harvard Business Review video: 
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/why-you-should-stop-brainstorming/

Step 2: Online Brainswarming: An online graph so remote groups can work together. (We are currently raising funds for this step.)

Step 3: Online Brainswarming with AhaBoost Technology: As a cognitive scientist, I can tell you what you are overlooking, which is crucial to innovation. Software running in the background helps uncover overlooked features and assumptions, as well as make unnoticed connections (i.e., our AhaBoost Technology).

Contact me to receive published papers that articulate the science and technology behind steps 2 and 3.

tony@innovationaccelerator.com