Module 4: Ideate - Creating Many Ideas

🎯 What You'll Learn:

✅ Generate 100+ ideas using proven techniques
✅ Master brainstorming rules that actually work
✅ Learn 5 powerful ideation methods
✅ Evaluate and select the best ideas
✅ Avoid common creativity killers

📖 The Flipkart "Big Billion Days" Story

🛍️ How a Crazy Idea Became India's Biggest Sale

The Challenge (2014): Flipkart wanted to compete with Amazon entering India. They needed something BIG to capture attention and increase sales dramatically.

The Ideation Session: Team gathered with this problem statement:

"How might we create a shopping event that makes Indians excited to buy online, even if they've never shopped online before?"

Ideas Generated (Crazy to Practical):

💡 Give everything for free! (Too crazy even for brainstorming!)
💡 Celebrity delivers your package personally (Expensive, not scalable)
💡 Create India's version of Black Friday (Interesting...)
💡 One-day mega sale with massive discounts (Getting there...)
💡 Make it like a festival - Big Billion Days! (BINGO! 🎯)
💡 Gamify shopping with hourly deals (Added to the winning idea!)
💡 Flash sales every hour to create urgency (Perfect addition!)

The Final Idea: Combine Indian festival excitement + massive discounts + time-limited deals = Big Billion Days!

💡 Result: First Big Billion Days crashed their servers due to overwhelming response! Now it's an annual event with billions in sales. All because they had MANY ideas, not just one, and combined the best parts!

🎨 What is Ideation?

Ideation is the process of generating MANY different ideas to solve your problem. It's NOT about finding THE perfect idea immediately. It's about creating options!

🏢 Why Quantity Matters:

Research shows: The first 20 ideas are usually obvious and similar. The breakthrough ideas come after you push beyond the obvious!

📊 Ideas 1-20: Obvious solutions everyone thinks of
📊 Ideas 21-50: Getting more interesting
📊 Ideas 51-100: Where innovation happens! 🎯

📜 The Golden Rules of Brainstorming

🚫

No Criticism

ALL ideas welcome! Judge later, not now.

🎢

Go Wild!

Crazy ideas often lead to great practical ones!

📈

Quantity Over Quality

100 rough ideas beat 10 "perfect" ones!

🔗

Build on Ideas

"Yes, and..." not "Yes, but..."

⚠️ Creativity Killers to Avoid:

❌ "That won't work because..."
❌ "We tried that before..."
❌ "That's too expensive..."
❌ "Management will never approve..."
✅ Instead say: "Yes, and what if we also..."

🛠️ 5 Powerful Ideation Techniques

1. 🧠 Classic Brainstorming

How it works: Group gathers, shares ideas out loud, someone writes everything down.

Best for: Getting team energy high, building on each other's thoughts.

🇮🇳 Example: TCS team brainstorming how to improve employee onboarding:
"Virtual reality campus tour → Gamified learning modules → Buddy system app → AI chatbot for FAQs → Welcome kit with surprise elements..."

Pro Tips:

Set a timer (15-30 minutes)
Start with warm-up questions
Use big whiteboards or sticky notes
Appoint a facilitator (keeps things moving)

2. 🤫 Brainwriting (Silent Brainstorming)

How it works: Everyone writes ideas on paper, then passes to next person who builds on them.

Best for: Shy team members, preventing loud voices from dominating.

📝 Process:

Everyone gets a paper with the problem at top
Write 3 ideas (5 minutes)
Pass paper to left
Read previous ideas, add 3 more
Repeat 5 times

Result: 30 people × 15 ideas = 450 ideas in 30 minutes! 🚀

3. 🎭 SCAMPER Method

How it works: Use these 7 prompts to transform existing ideas:

Letter	Meaning	Question
S	Substitute	What can we replace or swap?
C	Combine	What can we merge together?
A	Adapt	What else is like this? What can we copy?
M	Modify	Can we change color, size, shape?
P	Put to other use	Can we use it differently?
E	Eliminate	What can we remove or simplify?
R	Reverse	What if we do the opposite?

🚗 Example - Ola Cabs using SCAMPER:

Substitute: Replace regular seats with more spacious ones (Ola Prime)
Combine: Merge ride with bike service (Ola Bike)
Adapt: Adapt auto-rickshaw concept online (Ola Auto)
Modify: Smaller cheaper rides (Ola Micro)
Eliminate: Remove driver for some routes (testing self-driving)

4. 🔄 Reverse Thinking

How it works: Ask "How can we make this problem WORSE?" Then reverse those ideas!

Problem: How to improve customer support calls?

Reverse: How to make customer support calls TERRIBLE?

Keep them on hold forever
Transfer them 10 times
Give confusing answers
Be rude and unhelpful

Now Reverse! Real solutions:

✅ Answer within 30 seconds
✅ One-person resolution (no transfers)
✅ Clear, simple explanations
✅ Friendly, empathetic service

5. 🌟 "What Would X Do?"

How it works: Think like someone else - a famous person, competitor, or even a child!

Problem: Make office meetings more engaging

Ask:

🎬 What would a Bollywood director do? → Add drama, energy, music breaks!
👶 What would a 5-year-old do? → Make it fun, with games and prizes!
🏃 What would Virat Kohli do? → Set clear goals, celebrate wins, team huddles!
🍕 What would Domino's do? → Time-bound meetings (30 mins or free pizza!)

🎯 Interactive: Practice Ideation!

Try This Exercise:

Problem: How to encourage employees to use stairs instead of elevators?

Brainstorm below! Write ANY idea - don't judge yourself!

Your ideas will appear here... Aim for 10+!

💡 Some starter ideas to inspire you:

Paint stairs like piano keys that make sound
Fitness tracker integration (earn points for steps)
Make elevator slower than stairs!
Monthly raffle for stair users
Motivational quotes on each step

📊 Selecting the Best Ideas

Great! You have 100 ideas. Now what? Use this simple matrix:

Impact vs. Effort Matrix

🎯 HIGH IMPACT LOW EFFORT DO THESE FIRST!	HIGH IMPACT HIGH EFFORT Plan carefully
LOW IMPACT LOW EFFORT Quick wins	❌ LOW IMPACT HIGH EFFORT Avoid these!

🇮🇳 Example: Swiggy Selecting Ideas

Idea	Impact	Effort	Decision
Live order tracking	High ⭐⭐⭐	Low ⚡	✅ DO FIRST!
Drone delivery	High ⭐⭐⭐	Very High ⚡⚡⚡	⏰ Future plan
Multiple payment options	Medium ⭐⭐	Low ⚡	✅ Quick win
Virtual reality menu	Low ⭐	High ⚡⚡	❌ Skip

💡 Module 4: Ideate - Creating Many Ideas