Idea Frame
“Research turns money into ideas;innovation turns ideas into money”.
Anon
EXTRACT
innovation turns ideas into money”.
Anon
innovation turns ideas into money”.
Anon
Role of this tool
There are, of course, many ways to describe an idea. The Idea Frame is a neat way of defining an idea to summarise it quickly and concisely. It’s important to be able to do this as it will help us recall our idea, communicate it better to others and make decisions about the idea.
We can use Idea Frame cards in a brainstorm session to record the best ideas there and then. Or we may want to sit down after the session having given the ideas the ‘overnight test’ and flesh out the best ones using the Idea Frame.
How do we use it?
1. Give our brilliant idea a catchy title.
An idea with a catchy title seems to develop a life of its own within organisations whereas a poorly named idea often gets forgotten or overlooked.
2. What is our idea in a nutshell?
It’s important to describe our idea in a nutshell – more hazelnut than coconut! One short sentence containing a real benefit to the user should do it.
3. What unmet need is our idea satisfying?
What is the real and specific user need that this idea is meeting? (Use Unmet Need to explore this more fully).
4. Make a sketch of the idea here.
Take a moment to attach a sketch of the idea to help it come to life. If it’s a service we could append a cartoon strip of what would happen, or use Storyboard Template. If it’s a website, what would it look like? If it is a more abstract idea how would we draw it?
5. Why is our idea productive, practical and pioneering?
This helps us to make an initial assessment as to whether the idea has potential and to make a decision on whether it should be progressed or archived. These assessments (also see PPP Filter) can help to assess whether the idea should be developed as an incremental improvement or whether it has wider potential. We either assign a score out of 10 for each P or write in a reason why.
Source: 100%Open
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Worked Example
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