Ideas with Friends
Photo by bonivity
Saturday evening I met up with Keith Stoeckeler Jesse Brightman and Eric Mayville for an evening of pints and to brainstorm a few ideas that would hopefully lead to an interesting pet project (or at the very least distract us from the crap weather that’s been plaguing NYC lately). No formal structure or agenda was planned in advance and our ideas ranged from very good (nice one, Keith) to quite silly (sorry guys!). Without getting into the specifics of our discussion, each idea was casually presented in plain English and once the basic concept was clear, we took it a few steps deeper. This lasted for a couple hours and we all went our separate ways with a shell of an idea we all felt good about.
Sunday morning I remembered a blog post I had read earlier in the week by Mike Laurie of Made by Many titled Are You Designing The Wrong Thing? I’m a sucker for quick and dirty testing techniques but this really resonated with me. In his post Mike goes on to describe a testing technique coined Pub Propositions in which you describe in the simplest form an idea for a product. This is done in a small group of around 8 and should last no longer than 45 minutes. Once the basic idea for the product or service has been clearly communicated to the group, you can then go on to add detail. Finally, each member scores the idea from 1-5.
It dawned on me that our group actually conducted a version (although slightly bastardized) of Mike’s agile testing technique. Besides the fact that we were indeed in a pub and drinking pints, we also each took turns describing an idea at a super high-level. If the idea resonated with the group, it was then taking a level or two deeper and further fleshed out. Our rating system wasn’t based on a 1-5 scale, but rather on the amount of sips/drinks consumed while discussing each idea. Some only lasted a few sips while others lasted well over a beer. Though it remains to be seen if anything will come from our brainstorm, this technique proved to be a useful and effective way of getting through a number of ideas in a short period of time eliminating the weaker and building upon the stronger. Most importantly, it forces you to clearly define a thought and get it out in conversation at the earliest stage thus saving you countless time and energy later on. I look forward to trying this again in a formal environment with my colleagues and friends at Code and Theory.
