The Idea Box = FDD (Feature Driven Development)

If you are like me, you are always thinking of new ideas.  Perhaps, like me, many of your ideas are not that great.  If you also have a habit of jumping from one idea to the next without finishing many of your projects then you and I have a lot in common!

Coming up with new ideas is great!  But chasing your tail trying to switch gears in the middle of a project leads to what I call "Grass is Greener-itis".  For me, each new idea sparks new energy and new potential.  Every new idea has the potential to be the next "big thing".  If I don't work on this new idea I might miss out on the best opportunity ever!!

I've found if I don't govern the tendencies to jump ship for each new idea I never complete anything.  If I never complete anything, I never truly learn anything.  Without learning I can't properly implement new ideas.  And so on, and so on....

To help cure my "Grass is Greener-itis" I have started using an idea box.  The concept is very simple, I use a $1 plastic pencil box and not down my ideas on note cards and place them in the box.  This does two important things for me.  It lets me write down my idea so I don't have to keep it in my head.  It also give me time to further ponder the idea over time.  I treat my idea box like my own personal suggestion box.  Much like you might find a suggestion box at a restaurant.

I note my ideas on 2.5" by 3" card stock.  The small size helps keep my ideas brief, which I find also helps me.  It keeps me writing out complex ideas for example: "build a terminator, teach it track people, give it gun, take over the world".  That complex idea would break down into 4 ideas with 4 cards.  On my idea cards, I try to draw pictures, add concept ideas in bullet points and I always note the date!  The date lets you track your ideas over time.  In this example, you could track the ideas over time. 

Here is a picture of my idea box.  I made a divider out of paper because my idea box is used for ideas and small sketches. 

The idea box plays into my personal implementation of AGILE.  Part of AGILE is to focus on feature driven development or FDD.  The ideas in my idea box represent features in my overall robotics and creative endeavors.  I weed through these ideas through a review process.  On a regular bases I sort through my ideas and arrange them in relevance to things I want to work on or things that might add value to my work. 

I never throw out the ideas; bad ideas simple are moved to the bottom of the pile.  In my example above, "take over the world" would be moved to the bottom.  "Teach it to track people", now that might be moved to the top as I would actually like my robots to do that.  When I am ready to work on an idea or two, I take them out of the box and tack them to a cork board.  From there I can further review the ideas, work on them or reject them.  Completed ideas, I mark them complete and save them in a complete box. 

If you are serial inventor, tinkerer, always thinking of new ideas, or just have some big projects like a house renovation I encourage you to create your own idea box.  You'll find it, a good idea.  :-)