Michael Ray Hopkin wrote recently about the importance of capturing ideas:

Ideas are the fuel for great products. [...] The more ideas you capture the more likely you are to get the perfect new product or feature. Many times ideas will seem silly or absolutely unobtainable; write them down anyway. Over time circumstances change, technology improves and opportunities appear that you do not expect.

The conversation only lightly touched on the mechanics of capturing ideas, and knowingly avoided the sometimes difficult and awkward process of sorting ideas, so I thought we’d talk about the former today and the latter next time.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Everywhere! Trusted customers. Not-so-trusted customers. Sales. Customer service. Your own head. The competition.

There’s potential to trip over good ideas all day long. Sometimes from unexpected people in the most unexpected of places.

How Do You Capture Those Ideas?

Some people do it the old fashioned way with a notebook and pen. Some prefer online services like EverNote or Google Docs.

My old system involved Post-It Notes. Actually, my old system was Post-It Notes. It worked for awhile, but wasn’t very efficient (“Where did that note go?!?!”). Eventually I started to look and feel like Leonard from Memento, and knew something needed to change.

My Personal Approach

I’ve developed two different methods for how I capture ideas these days, one for work and one for home.

At work, I take a single notebook with me everywhere to jot things down. Product ideas, regardless of source or my personal snap judgment, I transfer over to our idea Wiki and sort them into categories (new game ideas, billing, networking, etc.).

In real life, I have notebooks everywhere–one next to my bed, one in my backpack, one in my car–so I can jot down ideas as they strike me. I’ll then transfer the more pressing ideas to Stickies on my iMac, and pick them off one at a time. (Apparently, at a smaller scale, my Memento-style approach still works.)

I’m an amateur screenwriter in my spare time, and I’ve started using Voice Memo in my iPhone to specifically capture ideas for scenes I’m writing or in the process of re-writing.

Why Two Different Approaches?

I didn’t develop two approaches purposefully; they evolved naturally. I think some of it has to do with scale–there are simply more ideas for work than for some of the personal matters I work on.

Speed and turnaround time are also a factor: In real life, the ideas I have can usually get knocked out pretty quickly, much faster than the time it takes for ideas at work to move through the validation process and (if merited) into production. As a result, my desktop stickies are much more manageable.

A big factor, maybe the biggest factor, is the ability to share ideas. What I like best about the Wiki at work is that it’s viewable to everyone on the team and everyone in the company. There’s a level of transparency there that encourages people to keep contributing ideas and encourages new ideas, riffing off some of the ideas we’ve already captured.

How About You?

What’s your process like for capturing ideas? Do you leave voicemail messages for yourself at work? Tattoo your body with product ideas you need to remember? What works, what doesn’t?

New Around Here?

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Today, we’re using that story recap as a springboard into a discussion about seemingly predator-free environments.

The real trouble with Tribbles? They taste awful.

Tribbles Are Fuzzy & Cute

They even emit a trilling noise that soothes the savage breast. But Tribbles give birth at an alarming rate. Or, as Doctor McCoy remarks, “‘They reproduce at will. And, brother, have they got a lot of will.”

The Blue Ocean Looks Serene

As a product manager, you’re likely looking to create a Blue Ocean — an uncontested market space where you can make and capture new demand. Sounds good, doesn’t it? (And it definitely seems to have worked for Nintendo.)

Instead of slashing prices to capture bloody market share, who wouldn’t want to add “value” to products & services and claim that untapped market?

But Here’s The Thing

That Tribble you’re so proud of? It’s born pregnant. Without a natural predator to keep its population in check, it will spread uncontrollably and fill up that Blue Ocean you’ve created.

“Blue Oceans” don’t stay that way forever. Why? Because you can’t raise demand ad infinitum. Eventually, the predators will sniff out those Tribbles and come charging right at you.

The more successful you are, the greater the chances that someone — perhaps one of the direct or indirect competitors you’ve been siphoning sales from — will find a way to emulate (or, worse yet, improve upon) what you’ve done.

And then, depending your metaphor, you’re either back in a “red ocean” or you’re looking something like this:

By all means, dive into the Blue Ocean. Just be prepared for the Tribble Effect.

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Bonus Content!

Enjoy this overview of the Blue Ocean strategy…

… and these excellent criticisms of same.

Today, we’re going to use that story summary as a springboard into a discussion on new approaches to discovering unique requirements that lead to better products.

This user experience? Memorable. But I don’t know that you’d call it “good”.

Five Great Experiences to Nurture

Last week, jyamasaki pointed me to this thought-provoking presentation…

… which, naturally, started me thinking about that episode of Josie & The Pussycats where the villainous Hawk captures Melody and tries to extract the secret “force field” formula embedded in her brain by a desperate scientist.

Sometimes it feels like we’re all chasing after that secret formula– that One Big Thing–that will reveal that single, secret unique requirement that will lead to a better, beloved product.

Depending on whom you talk with, the secret to finding the secret is to:

• Talk with customers!
• Analyze market trends!
• Adhere to a framework!
• Look at emerging technologies!

Two drivers are sadly overlooked in all the excitement…

Overlooked Driver #1: User Experience

One argument that particularly resonated with me in the AdaptivePath presentation was this:

When is the last time you heard someone say how they love visiting the nursing home? Nursing homes, hospital wards, homeless shelters, funeral homes, prisons: Though the residents may long for company, no one wants to visit.

My own grandmother is in a nursing home. Nice facility, staff seems friendly. But you know–you know–this place reeks of death. These are old people who can’t live on their own; never will again; and are inches from death’s door.

Could a better design experience–one centered around the visitors, the friends and families of the patients–actually encourage visitors to visit more? Honestly, I don’t know.

But could a better design experience benefit your non-death-and-sadness-oriented product? Yes.

Look at Amazon.com, Dell, and Nordstrom. These are very different companies who understand one thing: Positive customer experience design can create positive returns in revenue and loyalty.

Customer design is not a one-time process. It’s an ongoing, evolutionary experiment in creating a pleasant, consistent, understandable experience.

Put it this way: If your product has all the features your market needs, has a terrific design, but is confusing and painful to use, your product is doomed because no one will want to use it.

Overlooked Driver #2: Gut Instinct

Billionaire Richard Branson once famously said, “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics.”

That idea flies in the face of much of what we’re taught about product management: That it’s not about opinions, it’s about reading the market; it’s not about you and your ideas, it’s about your customers and their needs.

Except, it’s not. At least, not 100% of the time.

Many consultants push product management frameworks on PMs because we’re all looking for that secret formula, that repeatable process that means we don’t need to re-create the wheel every time we want to launch a new product or feature.

Frameworks have their place. But so do your instincts.

Both Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely have cited or conducted credible research showing that snap decisions stand up better than decisions made after careful analytical considerations.

I’m not suggesting we abandon reason, or stop testing business concepts, or stop listening to the market.

I am saying we need to broaden our repertoires to include gut instinct. Not personal opinion or conjecture, but that almost indefinable “pattern recognition” based on experience which Jack Welch credited for helping to reinvent GE decades ago.

What does your gut say?

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