Idea Creation Tools

Quality Glossary Definition: Idea creation tools

Idea creation tools are defined as tools that encourage thinking and organization of new ideas around issues or opportunities, either individually or with other people. Examples are brainstorming, the Delphi method, role-playing, TRIZ, and visioning.

Tools for Idea Creation & Generation

Use tools like these when you want to create new ideas or organize many ideas:

Affinity diagram: Organizes a large number of ideas into their natural relationships.

Benchmarking: A structured process for comparing your organization’s work practices to the best similar practices you can identify in other organizations, and then incorporating the best ideas into your own processes.

Brainstorming: A method for generating a large number of creative ideas in a short period of time.

Nine windows technique: When you’re looking for ways to break out of a mindset and spark innovation, use nine windows.

Nominal group technique: A structured method for group brainstorming that encourages contributions from everyone.

Idea Creation Resources

You can also search articles, case studies, and publications for idea creation resources.

Dancing Around Innovation (Quality Progress) Struggling with idea creation? Use BOSSA NOVA as an acronym to help with brainstorming new ideas.

Tools@Work: More New Twists on Traditional Quality Tools and Techniques (Journal for Quality and Participation) Tips for using fishbone diagrams and Pareto charts in non-traditional applications.