Ideation Skill

The 6 ideation methods

The six ideation methods to use in the field of TO-BE design.

Operating ideation and evaluation as a pair

Ideation alone runs wild. Accuracy rises through the round trip of ideation (ideation skill) → evaluation (analytical skill) → next ideation. Example: produce 5 options with SDF → narrow to 2 with sensitivity analysis → re-ideate with the idle economy → finalize the last one.

The "act before thinking" anti-pattern

"Let's just brainstorm" is the weakest ideation method. Gather without choosing a method and you drift to the ideas of the loudest voice. Choose one of the six methods, have everyone set the same question, and then diverge — the quality of the ideas that emerge rises a level.

Operating ideation and analysis as a pair (the implementation template)

The round trip of "ideation skill (produce) → analytical skill (evaluate) → next ideation (revise)" decides proposal accuracy. Ideate alone and you run wild, fixating on the first option you produced. Explicitly cycling ideation and analysis as separate steps secures the flexibility of the options.

• ─Step 1: Diverge into 5 options with SDF or lateral expansion (ideation skill)
• ─Step 2: Score impact ÷ difficulty with sensitivity analysis, narrow to the top 2 (analytical skill)
• ─Step 3: Apply re-ideation to the narrowed 2 with the idle economy or time-axis shifting, and polish
• ─Step 4: Finalize the last option with MECE comparison (analytical skill)

Start from "other companies' cases"

The core of RTOCS (Real-Time Online Case Study) is starting from "how does another industry solve it?" Gather only same-industry cases and you can't escape the industry's frame. For a delivery issue, bring in the solutions of medical logistics, convenience-store replenishment, and e-commerce returns. "Resolution outside the industry" creates the difference in TO-BE design.