The Formula for Successful Ideas

During the course of World War II, both sides of the conflicts were iterating new ideas at a fast rate. All of these new inventions and ideas whether successful or not were trying to gain an advantage over the other. Many of our modern conveniences and technologies can trace their origins back to this time in human history.

Geoffrey Pyke was one such Allied scientist/inventor who came up with many ideas for new inventions for the British that were, for the most part, proved impractical. Like the time he suggested that because of a shortage of steel that the British build a 2 million ton aircraft carrier out of ice. And to accomplish this he also invented a new material called Pykrete a mixture of ice, sawdust and wood chips that was harder than concrete and able to withstand melting longer. The British took this idea so far as to develop a prototype ship on a northern lake in Canada that remained unmelted for three summers. But as it turned out it was still not cost effective to build.

Though Geoffrey Pyke had many crazy ideas that almost never worked out the British military continued to employ him simply because he continued to come up with new ideas.

Ideas are great and having many ideas is awesome, there are no bad ideas, but not every idea will succeed in the wild.

Because each idea comes with risk and drains resources and manpower to accomplish it is important to filter ideas to only implement the best ideas. There is a formula for filtering out ideas to find the best ideas for success.

What problem are you trying to solve? What is the Goal? Is it the right Goal? Does the Idea accomplish the Goal effectively?

What problem are you trying to solve? What is the goal and is it the right goal?

Ask yourself what is the problem that you are trying to solve. The goal is the measuring stick to determine the success of your idea. The difference between a solution and a goal is that the solution is the answer and a goal is a state of being. The goal is a change in something the result of the solution. What will solving this problem ultimately do for you? Wouldn’t it be great if…..?

Gather data.

Gathering data isn’t about finding information to support your ideas, it’s about finding information about the problem you are trying to solve. Often this data will automatically begin to filter some of your ideas.

Don’t filter the data with your ideas, instead of let the data filter your ideas.

Does my idea accomplish the goal effectively?

Taking what you know about the problem you are trying to solve and the goal you need to reach and adding to that with the data that you gathered you can now compare your ideas to that information and see which idea is going to best accomplish that goal.

That is the formula for successful ideas.

Benjamin Smith

Owner of IFBDesign

I love designing. I love branding, I love creating experiences, and I love a challenge. I am a self-taught designer that never stops learning. I have extensive experience in multi-media, branding, marketing, graphic, and web design. I also believe that my creativity is a gift from my Creator. When I am not working on a project or enjoying a great cup of coffee then I am spending time with my wife and my two dogs a Japanese Chin-Shih-Tzu named Coco and a Shih-Tzu named Bobo. Or playing Minecraft. I also enjoy music and play the piano, harmonica, and viola.