image How to make a good IDEA 2017-03-31 @ unexplored junior camp Unexplored Camp Director / Cybozu Labs NISHIO Hirokazu This slide is a 10 minute presentation given to 1017 year old creators at the Unexplored Junior Camp.

image 2I recently received the following consultation

image 3My subordinates come up with only ideas that score about 80 points, but no ideas that score 90 or 95 points. How can we help them come up with better ideas?

image What is this phenomenon? 4 When does the phenomenon “few ideas above 90 points” occur?

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  • 5Focusing on decentralization (variation in quality), of course it occurs when the quantity of ideas produced is small or when the average quality of the ideas produced is low. However, even if there is no difference in the quantity or average quality of ideas, it will occur if there is a difference in decentralization (variation in quality).

image Variation in quality is not a bad thing6The greater the variation, the more ideas are above 90 points.

image Variation in quality is not a good7 The greater the variation, the more ideas that fail below 60 points.

image Line to be crossed8 60 points or more is good 90 points or more is good The good and bad of the variation depends on the line to be crossed. Which situation are you in now?

image Think of it in terms of dice9 dice2 sum of dice1 double7 average probability of getting 12 1/36 average probability of getting 2 1/36 average probability of getting 12 1/6 average probability of getting 2 1/6 7The greater the variation, the higher the probability of getting a good or bad roll.

image How to get good ideas10The probability of getting a good eye is high if you increase the variability, but the probability of getting a bad eye is also high. There are ways to improve this.

image Do it three times and pick the best one 11 average 9.06 average 9.92

image Doing it over and over and selecting the good ones12 You don’t get a “good idea” from the beginning, you get a number of ideas and keep only the good ones, which become “good ideas” after the fact. And the greater the variation in quality, the higher the quality of the final remaining ideas. Average 9.06Average 9.92

image Note: Maximum value, not average value13If you get a lot of ideas and opinions, and then try to incorporate all of them by “adding them up,” you will have limited time and less time to multiply each idea, so you will be closer to the average, which will reduce variability. The only exceptions are combinations where 1 + 1 equals 10.

image Summary 14: To come up with good ideas, you need to increase the variety of quality, come up with a lot of ideas, and choose one idea instead of trying to do them all.

image Supplement 15 p.12 originally stated “Discard the bad ones and keep only the good ones” but the first half was deleted. Dr. Toshiyuki Masui pointed out: -If you discard what you think is bad, the variation after that will be less. If you keep it, it may be useful later. -I agree with this opinion.

image Supplemental Appendix 16There is little harm in having a lot of ideas on record. On the other hand, if you try to do many things at the same time or talk about them in one presentation, the time you can spend on each one will decrease. It is important to note that “recording/storing” and “doing/talking” have different characteristics.


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