Two weeks ago where we discussed creating an innovation timeline and last week we then discussed on to take the items from a timeline and do prepare scouting reports for each item. This week we are going to take the next step and discuss how to take all of this and generate ideas  by understanding the rules of brainstorming.

In my experience, most brainstorming sessions fail because they lack an effective plan. Brainstorming is an invaluable and essential tool—when it works. 

There are a set of common mistakes that can derail a brainstorming session and severely limit its chances of coming up with a killer idea that will accomplish anything substantial.  None of these mistakes are flaws of character, passion, or ability on the part of the participants.

They are simply inherent weaknesses in the way brainstorming have been done in the past.  

Here are the 6 golden rules of brainstorming to help you avoid the common mistakes:

Rule #1: Set a focus. Focus is essential in order to give people a targeted, specific area of investigation.

Rule #2: Assign homework (Killer Question). It’s critical to ask your group a set of well-written questions that will force them to look beyond the obvious.

Rule #3: Encourage investigation. Get out in the field and actually investigate.

Rule #4: Don’t filter. Be aware of the biases that are going to pop up in your head.

Rule #5: Set a schedule for generating ideas—and stick to it. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll do the idea generation when you have time, because odds are it won’t get done.

Rule #6: Ranking isn’t a dirty word. Don’t create lists just for the sake of it, because then you lack the focus about which ideas to go after.

I've prepared a document that at gives a more complete description of the rules of brainstorming. You can download it by clicking the button below.

Killer Questions

We tend to assume that any customer is a good customer. However, if you find that you’re working like crazy and have a solid and reliable customer base, but you’re still not making the profits you expected, then ask the Killer Question, Who do I not want to use my product?

Do you remember back when dial-up Internet service first started to transition to the mainstream? In the early ’90s companies like AOL, CompuServe, and EarthLink began offering access to the web that was billed by the minute. The more you used, the more you paid. Logical, right? These three companies essentially offered the same product on the same terms. Very quickly, the people who used the services they offered divided into two camps. The majority logged on once or twice a day, checked their e-mail, read some sports stats or gossip, and logged off. However, a small minority logged on for hours or days at a time. These people quickly ran up bills in the thousands. Now—pop quiz—is this a good thing or a bad thing for your business? These high-volume users love your service, but paradoxically their passion for what you offer will almost inevitably force them to stop, or drive them into an untenable situation if they try to continue. So, if you were running AOL, CompuServe, or EarthLink, what would you do? Continue the same pricing structure that strongly disfavored your most ardent users, or figure out some way to continue improving profits without punishing the people who really, really love what you do? In other words, would you decide to keep or push out these high-use customers?

In the end, AOL was the first to take a radical step to address these questions. In 1996, they switched from a pay-per-minute system to a fl...