Berkun reading group discussion

Discussion and questions on CHP 5 start here.

The Terry Gilliam quote summed up chapter 5 for me I like working with good people because if I come up with an idea, they come up with a better idea, then I come up with an even better one, and so on: it's a leapfrog process, and the work becomes much better than it would be if I only did exactly what I want



I've done many exercises to learn how to come up with new ideas. The one exercise that seems to be working well for me was suggested by James Altucher & Michael Michalko in Creative Thinkering. Both authors suggest practice writing any ideas daily. Michael Michalko provided a set of keywords that can be used to help create new ideas. I agree with Scott that anyone can learn to come up with new ideas by applying certain techniques. I think we all have an "idea muscle" in our brains that need more exercising. I've been writing at least 10 new ideas a day for the past two months and it has helped me a lot.


The main problem that I've observed with the idea generation process is that some members of the team don't want to suggest ideas because they think that they'll look silly or their is a VP in the room that is narrow-minded.


From my experience, sketching the UI and explaining how this project will help the customer as you iterate through the design process is the single most important item for success during the design stage.


I wish we had more examples on working with constraints. It's very difficult to find clever ways to work within constraints.

A favorite book about finding and working with constraints is Gerald Weinberg's "Are Your Lights On?" - http://www.amazon.com/Are-Your-Lights...

Idea generation is very easy. And the smaller the group of people in the room the less politics you'll have. When a brainstorming session is uptight, it means there were too many people in the room, or the wrong people (or both).

Keeping an idea journal is a fantastic habit. Most artists, painters, musicians and writers keep some kind of sketch book. Anyone who wants to be more creative or productive with their ideas would be wise to follow suit.

Hi Scott, are there more modern books about creative thinking that you would add to your recommended list since this was originally published?

I'm glad that chapter 5 is its own chapter. I'd hazard to say that *every* project I've been on has underestimated the time needed for idea generation and design exploration.

Also really appreciate the section which states plainly there *are* bad ideas and sometimes you do need to think *inside* the box. (p. 95-98) In today's constant discussion of interruption and disruption, there is something to be said for regularly reminding our teams of this quote:

Big, radical ideas are rarely needed to succeed. More often, it's a handful of basic, solid, good ideas—applied correctly—that are needed. (p. 98)

The section on asking good questions (p. 99-102) provoked the most thought by me. I know this is probably the PM skill I need to work on the most. I really like the dynamic of focusing vs creative questions (while avoiding the evil rhetorical question). I'm curious about the wording of the "master question." Scott, was there are specific reason you chose to use the pronoun "you" instead of "we" in the question?

Problem solving is a big part of the projects that I'm involved with and its at least as tough as the execution component of any given project. In my experience, it seems very easy to over-emphasize execution.

Hey everyone,

Another question that just popped into my head (even though PM isn't about tools & tech): are there any tools like mind-maps or outliners that you've found to be exceptionally helpful in capturing, organizing and sharing ideas in this phase?

I'm not a fan of these kinds of tools and I mean that personally. I've never found them useful for my own thinking or for team projects but clearly other people do.

The biggest problem with these tools is most people aren't willing to learn new ones and they create friction if they're not integrated with the communication tools you already use.

All put together I'd start with the simplest tools we have - a wiki, a blog, a Google Doc - I'd use whatever the team is already using to capture ideas. Organizing can be done elsewhere perhaps, but for capture I want the lowest friction possible.

Chapter 5 is really great. Design is usually seen as a process that's either too fuzzy or esoteric for project management. This chapter reins in that notion by showing that design is accessible by anyone if the right strategies are used and the right questions are asked.

It's interesting how the notion of time is key to design and creativity — it's not some godly gift bestowed on a privileged few; rather it's a skill to be honed through discipline and persistence.

Shiran: Sometimes I wonder if the problem with design so many people never seen it led in the right way. This is probably true for many fields but there are just some things you can't learn from a book or a course - you have to be on a project led by someone who gets many of the little insights and attitudes that make good work possible, especially when it comes to working with ideas.