TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
daateku's Blog
daateku's Blog
« previous 5


Murphy's law
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. "If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way." It is most often cited as "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way" or, "Anything that can go wrong, will," or "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment").

Examples

On the hottest day of the year, the air conditioner breaks down.

The computer being "slow" when one is in a hurry

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked
Something.


If, of the seven hours you spend at work, six hours and fifty-five
minutes are spent working at your desk, and the rest of the time
you throw the bull with your cubicle-mate, the time at which
your supervisor will walk in and ask what you're doing can be
determined to within five minutes.

In a mathematical calculation, any error that can creep in, will. It
will be in the direction that will do the most damage to
the calculation.


A component selected at random from a group having a 99% reliability
will be a member of the 1% group.


After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be
Found on the bench.

Do you have any Murphy’s law in mind to share??

March 28, 2008 | 3:09 AM Comments  1 comments

Tags:


Planning a brainstorming session
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Without creative thinkers and innovative ideas, most companies wouldn't survive long in today's competitive market. Thinking outside of the box is essential for companies looking to streamline operations and improve their products and services. The importance of creativity should be self-evident. So why isn't there more focus on innovation during a typical workday? The catch, as usual, is lack of dedicated time and resources. Ideas need space to grow, and employees need opportunities to step outside of their daily responsibilities to look at the bigger picture.

Enter the brainstorming meeting. Whether you work for a highly unstructured advertising agency or within a structured government office, creative team-thinking sessions can reward your organization with improvements to process, products, and services. But productive brainstorming meetings are no accident: A plan pays off.

By using the information that follows, you can learn to set up and facilitate brainstorming sessions that stay on track and get results.

By Lisa Bialecki

Great ideas are the backbone of any successful company. Keeping your business fresh by evolving your strategies is vital to competing with — and hopefully besting — your competitors. Generating wonderful ideas, however, is more difficult than one might imagine. Although it's nice to think that you'll get an "ah-ha" moment in the shower or during your commute to the office, it's more likely that coming up with a great idea will require a bit of work. You might need to arrange a meeting specifically to make time for creative thinking.

If you need to plan a brainstorming session, consider location, tools, and other best practices.

Location, location, location

The head of the marketing department may have come up with some fabulous ideas in conference room B, but everyone else needs to get out of the office and into a fresh environment to develop new and out-of-the-box ideas. Getting away also frees your team from phone calls and e-mail. Hand-held devices and cell phones should be checked at the door, with one person acting as the emergency contact for the entire group.

Budget and personality will determine the kind of environment you choose. To help spark creativity, keep an open mind and look for unusual locations. Think about the personalities of your team members when selecting a property. If they're sports fans, opt for a sports-themed restaurant. The space should be comfortable so that the team focuses on ideas rather than on the temperature or seating arrangement in the room. Here are some options:

Rent an off-site conference room Many companies will rent a conference room in a hotel or restaurant to get away from the office. You may also be able to rent a room at a museum or other unique space.

Stay at a resort If your company's budget allows it, send the team away for a few days to a resort for team-building and brainstorming. Allot time for entertainment, but be sure that brainstorming time is structured and at a scheduled location.

Create a space If your business requires your team to constantly come up with big ideas — for example, if your company is an ad agency — you'll probably want to set aside a location just for brainstorming activities.

Tools

After you find a location and assemble your team, you'll want to provide team members with inspiration, comfort, refreshments, and the tools to collect their ideas.

Inspiration Tables should be filled with fun items that will inspire your team. Some planners choose to throw out random toys; others pick a theme. Modeling clay is a staple — you never know what kind of packaging design can be displayed by means of a sculpture.

It's also a good idea to display your current product along with those of your competitors. Bring along ads, posters, or actual packages.

Comfort Pass out fresh socks, and ask everyone to take off their shoes. Free the toes and the mind.

Refreshments The room should always have lots of water, soda, and juice, as well as coffee throughout the day. Snack breaks are a welcome diversion and can be fun. Provide a build-your-own-sundae bar or a tray of candy bars to reward your team for hard work.

Have lunch brought in so that team members don't have to stop their thought processes midday. Make sure to order a variety of items so that all diets and food preferences are accommodated. Again, this allows your team to focus on the work at hand.

Collecting ideas Make sure that your team has the tools it needs to keep ideas coming. Use a whiteboard with lots of markers or an easel with sticky paper that can be stuck to walls throughout the room.

Some thinkers might prefer using a computer with an LCD projector, but others will feel limited by the structure of technology. Know your team members, but also know that they may change their minds. Keep a computer and projector available as backups.

Other best practices

Hiring someone to help lead a brainstorming session is a wonderful way to keep your team motivated and on track. While a bit expensive, a professional is often worth his or her weight in gold. Expect the facilitator to research and understand the purpose of your brainstorming session but not to share his or her own ideas. He or she is there to ask questions, prompt discussions, and keep the group from straying too far off topic.

When planning your session, don't forget to involve employees from different areas of the company. Big thoughts aren't limited to the marketing department. A representative from customer service — someone who talks directly with your customers every day — should always bring valuable perspective to the table.

Cultures within organizations vary, but one thing remains constant: Big ideas make companies successful. Use brainstorming sessions to help birth big ideas.

About the author Lisa Bialecki is a freelance business travel writer and a full-time online marketing professional. With more than 10 years of experience in corporate communications, including six years of working with interactive marketing initiatives, Lisa is responsible for managing interactive projects and providing senior-level strategic counsel for her clients.


March 27, 2008 | 5:05 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:


Effective brainstorming techniques
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Today's corporations have built up a surplus of routines for monitoring and correcting organizational behavior, but there's still a shortage of techniques for exploring and inspiring new ways of working.

Since the 1950s, brainstorming has been presented as an antidote to organizational rigidity, and a means of releasing group creativity. If more recent research has cast doubts on the value of brainstorming, it has also stimulated some exciting alternatives to it. In particular, electronic brainstorming (or e-brainstorming) has the potential to increase a company's capacity for innovation.

The essence of brainstorming

Brainstorming is a particular way of using the ideas of many individuals to solve a problem creatively. Its supporters claim that individuals can arrive at a better solution by acting collectively.

Advocates of brainstorming also claim that one of its merits is that it distinguishes between the two cognitive activities that are central to all problem-solving:

Free conjecture (having ideas)

Rigorous criticism (testing these ideas)

By separating these activities and focusing on the conjectural aspect of problem-solving — uninhibited by the threat of criticism — brainstorming is meant to release the embedded creativity of the group.

Organize an effective brainstorming session

Successful brainstorming encourages a group of people, led by a facilitator, to voice all of their ideas on a specific topic in an atmosphere of constructive suggestion. The group then explores and prioritizes the ideas that have been put forward, and usually creates new solutions using elements from several suggestions.

Open, honest communication is the key to successful brainstorming. To achieve this, the facilitator should start by creating a comfortable environment and setting appropriate expectations.

The step-by-step brainstorming process

1. Gather a group of people to address the problem.

2. Establish the ground rules for the session.

Four basic rules

o Suspend judgment Refrain from judging the ideas while they are being shared.

o Record all ideas Transcribe every suggestion exactly as it is expressed, however half-baked or far-fetched it may seem at first.

o Encourage piggy backing Let each idea spark further ideas and build on the creativity of others.

o Think out of the box Encourage and pursue seemingly conflicting lines of thought.

3. Set up a system to capture the ideas (chalk board, white board, computer software).

4. Designate one member of the group to record each idea that is put forward.

5. State the problem requiring a solution in the form of a clear question.

6. Encourage every member of the group to "storm the problem" by contributing as wide a range of potential solutions as possible.

7. Withhold criticism or challenges to any of the ideas put forward, however impractical or irrelevant they may appear to be at first.

8. Review and amend suggestions only when the flow of ideas has dried up.

Tips for successful facilitation

Clearly communicate the goal of the brainstorming session well in advance. This gives people time to prepare their thoughts and ideas.

Invite all the people who could make a valuable contribution to the discussion.

Ensure that the participants are relaxed, comfortable, and focused — only then will they make their best contributions and generate ideas.

Discuss the ground rules, and then positively but fi