Practical Methods for Idea Generation and Validation

A hackathon (ハッカソン) is a co-creation event where developers, designers and others gather to build prototypes intensively over a short period and compete on how good they are.

Participants split into teams of a few people and, following the organizer's theme, go straight from generating ideas to building a working prototype. The event usually lasts from one day to a few days, and ends with teams presenting their results for judging. Companies sometimes host one to bring in outside talent and ideas and to look for seeds of new services.

AnalogyIt is like the day before a school festival, when each class finishes its show in the limited time left, then performs it and compares how well it turned out.

How to rememberA blend of hack (cleverly building a program) and marathon (running a long course to the end).

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Design thinking (デザイン思考) is an approach that takes the standpoint of the people who use a product or service, finds their real problems, and works out solutions.

It starts not from the maker's technology or convenience but from empathy, gained by observing users' behavior and listening to them. You then state the problem clearly, generate ideas, and check them by having users try a simple prototype. If something does not work, you return to an earlier stage and repeat the cycle many times.

AnalogyIt is like a doctor who, before choosing a medicine, listens carefully to the patient and even asks about daily life to find the real cause of the illness.

How to rememberHere, "design" does not mean visual decoration; it has the broad sense of designing how something will be useful to the people who use it.

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The persona method (ペルソナ法) portrays a typical user of a product or service as one fictional person, with a name, an age and even a lifestyle.

With a broad grouping like "office workers in their 30s", each person involved tends to picture someone different. Narrowing the profile to one person lets the team judge whether a feature is needed and how easy it is to use by asking how this person would feel, so everyone shares the same picture. It is used, for example, when design thinking (デザイン思考) needs a concrete image of the user.

AnalogyIt is the same idea as letter writing: words come more easily when you write to one particular person than to "everyone".

How to rememberIn Latin, persona was the mask an actor wore; from the role being played, it came to mean a character profile.

PoC (Proof of Concept, 概念実証) is verification that, before a new idea or technology is fully developed, tests it on a small scale to confirm that it actually works.

If you commit a large budget right away, the loss is heavy when you find out after starting that the method does not work. So you first judge feasibility, such as whether it works technically and gives the expected effect, through a narrowly scoped prototype or trial. Based on the results, you decide whether to move to full development, revise the plan, or drop it.

AnalogyIt is like trying a new building method you are curious about on a small shed before building the house, to see whether it really keeps the rain out.

How to rememberThe C stands for Concept (an idea or plan), so the name reads as "proof that the idea holds up".

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PoV (Proof of Value, 価値実証) is verification that checks how much value a new idea or technology brings to users and the business.

Even if you can build something that works, it will not become a business unless it pays off for users and the business. A PoV judges, for example, whether users would pay to use it and whether the benefits justify the costs. The results become input for deciding whether to keep investing.

AnalogyIt is like selling a small batch of a newly developed sweet in the shop to see whether people buy it once it has a price.

How to rememberThe V stands for Value.

Backcasting (バックキャスティング) is a planning approach that first sets the future goal, then works back from it to the present to find what should be done now.

You trace backward from the goal date to work out the milestones on the way and what must be done by each point. Even for a big goal that the current trend would never reach, you can build a plan from the changes that are needed. It is used, for example, in setting long-term targets such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

AnalogyIt is like counting back from a trip's departure time to decide when to get up and when to leave home.

How to rememberThe word swaps the fore (forward) in forecast (prediction) for back, so you look backward from the future side.

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Lean startup (リーンスタートアップ) is a method that grows a business by quickly building a minimal product, checking customer reactions, learning from them and improving, in a cycle repeated in short loops.

The first prototype released is called an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), and it has only the features needed to test the hypothesis. The process is a loop of build, measure and learn, and depending on what you learn, you may change the direction of the business sharply. Compared with polishing a product before launch, it avoids spending time and money on development that misses the mark.

AnalogyIt is like a food stall that offers a small batch of a different trial dish each day, then changes the flavor or menu the next day based on sales and customer comments.

How to rememberLean means "without fat, without waste", reflecting an attitude of cutting out unnecessary polishing.

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