Ask HN: Can you train yourself into having good ideas?
14 comments
You can train yourself to get better at generating a lot of ideas. And you can train yourself to get better at evaluating ideas. Combine those and you can generate good ideas.
Also, I think there's a bit of a trap that you can fall into where you get too skilled at dismissing bad ideas. Most really groundbreaking things that I've seen started out as terrible ideas, but working on them revealed good ideas as a byproduct. If you work on things that are interesting, even if they feel not-mainstream-applicable, you might find something. Just be aware that the idea itself might not catch on.
And remember, if this is something you want, it's very likely that there are other people like you who want the same thing. So it's not a matter of finding ideas that appeal to everyone, just making sure the scope is right for the market. If you build something that 5 people will be willing to pay $10 for, that's not worth spending too much time on but could be a fun weekend project. If 5 people will spend $10k on it, or if 5k people will spend $5, that's a different story.
I personally think there is a big open space for projects that are "too small" to support a startup, but big enough to support a single dev.
Also, I think there's a bit of a trap that you can fall into where you get too skilled at dismissing bad ideas. Most really groundbreaking things that I've seen started out as terrible ideas, but working on them revealed good ideas as a byproduct. If you work on things that are interesting, even if they feel not-mainstream-applicable, you might find something. Just be aware that the idea itself might not catch on.
And remember, if this is something you want, it's very likely that there are other people like you who want the same thing. So it's not a matter of finding ideas that appeal to everyone, just making sure the scope is right for the market. If you build something that 5 people will be willing to pay $10 for, that's not worth spending too much time on but could be a fun weekend project. If 5 people will spend $10k on it, or if 5k people will spend $5, that's a different story.
I personally think there is a big open space for projects that are "too small" to support a startup, but big enough to support a single dev.
out-of-touch with anything any normal person would actually want/benefit from.
It’s because you are artificially lending yourself to problem spaces that you have no intuition or interest in. For example, you’d had to have be in X problem space and an actual consumer/user in that space to even know what the pain points are. If you do that your ideas and solutions are going to sound dumb to people in those spaces.
However, if you pick something you yourself deal with regularly, no matter how stupid, your solutions will be intuitive.
Developers struggle with this constantly because we think ‘this is probably what SaaS consumers need’. How fuck do you know? You just don’t, unless you’ve been in it.
You can’t fake this one believe it or not. Great writers always give the advice that you shouldn’t just become an author, first live a little, so when you write you have something to write about. The same goes for devs.
That’s why 90% of us look at stuff like TikTok and Snapchat and are baffled at their success. Many of us shun social media or how different age groups value it, we fail to understand what makes these things compelling. We simply don’t know because we don’t tweet, we don’t dance in videos, we don’t post stories, so the whole thing seems stupid to us. If we showed up to that space and tried to make something, we’d fundamentally get Google+.
Can’t fake it bro.
It’s because you are artificially lending yourself to problem spaces that you have no intuition or interest in. For example, you’d had to have be in X problem space and an actual consumer/user in that space to even know what the pain points are. If you do that your ideas and solutions are going to sound dumb to people in those spaces.
However, if you pick something you yourself deal with regularly, no matter how stupid, your solutions will be intuitive.
Developers struggle with this constantly because we think ‘this is probably what SaaS consumers need’. How fuck do you know? You just don’t, unless you’ve been in it.
You can’t fake this one believe it or not. Great writers always give the advice that you shouldn’t just become an author, first live a little, so when you write you have something to write about. The same goes for devs.
That’s why 90% of us look at stuff like TikTok and Snapchat and are baffled at their success. Many of us shun social media or how different age groups value it, we fail to understand what makes these things compelling. We simply don’t know because we don’t tweet, we don’t dance in videos, we don’t post stories, so the whole thing seems stupid to us. If we showed up to that space and tried to make something, we’d fundamentally get Google+.
Can’t fake it bro.
Very true, this is why ive started to only look at problems in communities im actually a part of
Yes you can, creativity is not a talent, it's a skill. Google "design process". There are some variations, but it's all very similar. Specifically I think you are looking for product design.
In a way it does come down to trial and error, but by using a process you can make informed guesses, try things quickly, and set yourself up for learning and improving, meaning it's much more likely you end up somewhere good in a reasonable amount of time.
Also look into brainstorming techniques. It might seem a bit "strange" at first but you'd be surprised how easy it is to force yourself to come up with ideas. Best way to train the idea muscle imo.
Another helpful thing is to look into innovation types (there are a few variations, but again very similar). It can really help to give you direction.
> any normal person
I would also suggest to specify a target audience. Easiest is if you are in the target audience. It doesn't have to be big, there are plenty niche businesses that do very well.
Good luck!
In a way it does come down to trial and error, but by using a process you can make informed guesses, try things quickly, and set yourself up for learning and improving, meaning it's much more likely you end up somewhere good in a reasonable amount of time.
Also look into brainstorming techniques. It might seem a bit "strange" at first but you'd be surprised how easy it is to force yourself to come up with ideas. Best way to train the idea muscle imo.
Another helpful thing is to look into innovation types (there are a few variations, but again very similar). It can really help to give you direction.
> any normal person
I would also suggest to specify a target audience. Easiest is if you are in the target audience. It doesn't have to be big, there are plenty niche businesses that do very well.
Good luck!
I do these things, and I believe that they make me a better idea-conjurer:
1. Write ideas down. No matter how "obvious", trivial, or small it might be. Just write it down. Get into a habit of documenting your ideas that are not even related to your work. Your brain is for having ideas and not for storing them. You will not only have more ideas, but your ideas will also evolve while you write them down. New stuff will just " click".
2. Communicate your ideas to others. Talk with them. Take their inputs. Hear their criticism. I have found that often after talking with people, I have a much better-shaped, more robust idea than I had before doing the talking.
I am not a PM or designer. I do these both in my job and in my research and personal life. I can recommend them to you.
1. Write ideas down. No matter how "obvious", trivial, or small it might be. Just write it down. Get into a habit of documenting your ideas that are not even related to your work. Your brain is for having ideas and not for storing them. You will not only have more ideas, but your ideas will also evolve while you write them down. New stuff will just " click".
2. Communicate your ideas to others. Talk with them. Take their inputs. Hear their criticism. I have found that often after talking with people, I have a much better-shaped, more robust idea than I had before doing the talking.
I am not a PM or designer. I do these both in my job and in my research and personal life. I can recommend them to you.
There are many books on the subject
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-0-387-3561...
https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Custome...
https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.html
There is a lot to say for having conversations with possible users, it helps to have some "visual aids" such as a low fidelity mockup, printed-out screenshots, etc.
My current "side project" is that I create "three-sided cards". These stand alone or can be put together to make constellations like
https://gen5.info/$/XQ*42RXF-TLY:$B.8/
whenever I show people the cards and let people interact with them I learn something. The cards are so good at this I am thinking about making a psychological profiling tool based on them. (One thing I've learned is that HN users want to see a manifesto for the cards, but that's been slow coming.)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-0-387-3561...
https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Custome...
https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.html
There is a lot to say for having conversations with possible users, it helps to have some "visual aids" such as a low fidelity mockup, printed-out screenshots, etc.
My current "side project" is that I create "three-sided cards". These stand alone or can be put together to make constellations like
https://gen5.info/$/XQ*42RXF-TLY:$B.8/
whenever I show people the cards and let people interact with them I learn something. The cards are so good at this I am thinking about making a psychological profiling tool based on them. (One thing I've learned is that HN users want to see a manifesto for the cards, but that's been slow coming.)
You should make difference, generate TECHNICALLY good ideas vs generate ideas which will be adopted.
Second in many cases is matter of not idea itself, but can you implement this idea with limited resources (or with fundraising), and/or can you make good enough wrapper, so people understand idea and could easy install to their environment.
For literally looking for technical ideas, nothing is better than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ
But implementation with limited resources (fundraising) are about management, project management, politics. And making wrapper is about marketing, psychology, humanitarian sciences, arts.
So I mean, create product which will be used by other person, is much wider, than technical question.
In developed countries this problem more or less solved by startup infrastructure, where you as engineer, could make partnership with marketing person, and/or with art person. In developing countries, person wish to create new product, should do all himself.
But in any case, you will need to make lot of conversations, and to bend your mind, to accept, what other people want to say, and to understand, how to make concept of product from those words, or may be from drawings made by other people.
And in many cases, you could ask experts, how to implement your idea, how much it will cost, how long it will take, similar ideas, etc. This is comparatively well established market and fortunately I answer such questions, so you could as here.
Second in many cases is matter of not idea itself, but can you implement this idea with limited resources (or with fundraising), and/or can you make good enough wrapper, so people understand idea and could easy install to their environment.
For literally looking for technical ideas, nothing is better than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ
But implementation with limited resources (fundraising) are about management, project management, politics. And making wrapper is about marketing, psychology, humanitarian sciences, arts.
So I mean, create product which will be used by other person, is much wider, than technical question.
In developed countries this problem more or less solved by startup infrastructure, where you as engineer, could make partnership with marketing person, and/or with art person. In developing countries, person wish to create new product, should do all himself.
But in any case, you will need to make lot of conversations, and to bend your mind, to accept, what other people want to say, and to understand, how to make concept of product from those words, or may be from drawings made by other people.
And in many cases, you could ask experts, how to implement your idea, how much it will cost, how long it will take, similar ideas, etc. This is comparatively well established market and fortunately I answer such questions, so you could as here.
> anything any normal person would actually want/benefit from
> what people’s actual problems are? (for which tech may be a solution, maybe that they’d pay for)
You're confusing two different topics. Normal people don't pay to solve problems but pay to get an experience. Businesses pay to solve problems to get more money.
What do you want to achieve in life or the product you build?
> what people’s actual problems are? (for which tech may be a solution, maybe that they’d pay for)
You're confusing two different topics. Normal people don't pay to solve problems but pay to get an experience. Businesses pay to solve problems to get more money.
What do you want to achieve in life or the product you build?
You might be pointing towards the Openness To Experience dimension of personality. If that's what you're talking about, I'm sad to say it's pretty baked in, for the most part. It does change over age and sometimes with psychedelic drug use.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/openness-to-...
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/openness
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-els...
That said, there are algorithms for creating novel things in the marketplace.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/openness-to-...
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/openness
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-els...
That said, there are algorithms for creating novel things in the marketplace.
I try to lead as ordinary a life as possible, within reason, and use general problem-solving techniques for any issue I need to solve. 99% of the time, this doesn't happen by writing software. Which, it turns out, is actually a pretty good thing, because writing software is slooooow for most mid/big-sized problems, and overall if I'm not getting paid for it, it's usually a net loss. Plus it means more time off the computer, going out and actually being an active member in society.
James Altucher has written a lot about generating ideas. I would look for some of his articles to read.
He used to publish them on another domain, so I haven't read this, but it looks like his normal stuff.
https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becomi...
He used to publish them on another domain, so I haven't read this, but it looks like his normal stuff.
https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becomi...
It is more a question of listening. Talk to people, find out what causes pain in their life. Find out what they are trying to accomplish in the first place. Figure out an alternative way to reach that goal that avoids their pain points. And build it.
It is a process that is easy to say, but harder to do. The start of it, though, is simply to get out in the world and talk to people.
It is a process that is easy to say, but harder to do. The start of it, though, is simply to get out in the world and talk to people.
Can you train yourself into having good taste? Essentially the same thing.
Of course there’s no silver bullet, but is there any way you’ve found to systematically figure out what people’s actual problems are? (for which tech may be a solution, maybe that they’d pay for)
Or is it a sheer volume of output/trial-and-error type of game?