Ideation

The ideation step has been the most straightforward part of the innovation process. It is the step that comes most naturally to me. When I am tasked with generating ideas for innovative solutions I immediately jump to the ideation step. Because of this I was most effective at ideation due to the previous experience I have had with it solving other problems. Since the other steps were/will be new to me, I will naturally find them more challenging. A major takeaway from this step has been finding a good balance between structure and creative freedom in the ideation process. Without structure ideas can be easily lost and time is often wasted. However too much structure hinders the creative process. Utilizing a process that has an effective structure is paramount to generation of useful ideas. An example of this is having a group member acting as a backseat leader, who is tasked with keeping the group moving and focused. If there are any obstacles it is very helpful to have someone specifically designated to address them. But that group member doesn’t dictate every step of the process and potentially hinder other members creativity.