Evolutionary ideas are those that surpass traditional ways of thinking and create new perspectives. They involve discarding all existing knowledge about a problem and coming up with new and original ways of doing things. Therefore, the method promotes unbounded imagination and avoids imitation of existing knowledge and systems. It can be applied within a group context, but is most appropriate at the individual level.
Using ‘Revolutionary Idea Generation’
Step 1: The focal problem is defined and analysed to build an understanding.
Step 2: Suggestions are made regarding what is required to solve the focal problem without specifying how this will be achieved.
Step 3: Ideas that immediately come to mind are summarised. ‘Analogies’ are then used to make the familiar strange where, for instance, the problem is restated where the user of the technique is an element of it, analogous situations in other contexts are identified, or the problem is translated to a fairy-tale context.
Step 4: A fit is forced between the solutions emerging from the analogies and the actual problem.
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