Table of Contents

These are quotes and memos from Ideaflow written by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn. It is the final post on Ideaflow. How can we widen the channel of Ideaflow? Flows from many sources will guarantee consistency and much-needed volume.

Interdisciplinary collaboration:

The beautify of collaboration is that we each have different blind spots.

Collaboration doesn't have to be limited to someone with whom I can have a chat in person. It can happen via email and idea exchange in threads. As Jeremy Utley pointed out, it can even happen with AI agents.

Since our goal is to generate the widest possible array of perspectives, it's crucial to actively inhibit this instinct, [which is peer pressure preventing them from being opinionated.]

Curiosity drives innovation:

A good question is specific.

So, we may draw our attention to a problem, not a presenter.

Even if you start with a provocative question, there’s only so much you can do by looking at a problem from one angle. When ideaflow ebbs, move your frame.

The whole point of having a meeting is not to bolster what I believe is true. On the contrary, we need to shake things up.

Nearly every good frame begins the same way: How might we...? A good HMW question allows for plenty of exploration while leaving enough structure to keep the discussion focused.

Even as we approach the end of a project, we should still raise a question, "how might we...?"

Feed the flow:

We connect what we have, bringing together two or more elements in a new way. Abundant ideaflow requires enormous amounts of raw material to make more of these unexpected combinations.

You don’t innovate in the pickle business by eating cucumbers all day. The more 'distant' the origins of your inputs, the more valuable and interesting the resulting combinations will be.

"Wonder Wander":

Walking alone is a powerful aid to creativity.

“Walking outside produced the most novel and highest quality analogies,” the researchers concluded, but added that moving the body at all “opens up the free flow of ideas.”

On a Wonder Wander, volume is key. Write down questions and connections that come to mind and keep walking.

The idea is to provoke insights in an uninhibited way.

Create space for a difficult problem:

Consciously surrendering the difficult problem invited Einstein’s subconscious mind to step in. The next day, Einstein visited Besso again: “Thank you,” he told his friend. “I’ve completely solved the problem.”

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky coinvented behavioral economics in large part by taking long walks and joking around with each other.

“The secret to doing good research,” Tversky once said, “is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.”

Rather than beat himself [Poincare] up, he spent a few days by the shore. On a morning walk along the bluffs, a solution came to him with “brevity, suddenness and immediate certainty.” Recognizing a roadblock and making the effort to let go of the problem at hand is a counterintuitive but essential creative skill.

If we don’t simultaneously carve away less important uses of our time to create space for reflection and contemplation—distance from the problem at hand—we only undermine the effort to boost ideaflow.

How to tactically withdraw to create necessary space:

• Water (e.g., taking a shower or bath)

• Task switching

• Turn to a hobby

• Nap

• Talk

• Move

When you withdraw, you are investing in the highest value you bring to your work. If you give yourself permission to step away when you’re stuck, your patience will be rewarded.

Creativity is not an option. It's a must in my field. The more I contemplate the sentences that stood out to me, the more obvious they become. The gist of research in my field is far from what leading groups in my own field could have done. I picked up this book with some sense of urgency. If I keep on doing what other people might expect me to do, would I be able to keep my research program?

Creativity is a discipline. Let's walk the walk.