The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

Creative ideas make people uncomfortable. It turns out that, at least subconsciously, we can have a hard time recognizing ideas as both new and useful at the same time

Behind all these issued designs is a simple truth: even if you can build a better mousetrap, there is still a lot of work involved in selling the world on your new design

Constraints are advantages in disguise,” Fried and Hansson write. “Limited resources force you to make do with what you've got. There's no room for waste. And that forces you to be creative

Many of the most prolific and creative people understand how stifling a blank slate can be. All creatives need some constraints. All artists need structure

Constraints Myth—the myth that creative potential is dampened by constraints

Once this process is done and the final prototype is settled on, IDEO ships the final design to the client organization

As they receive feedback, they continuously modify and combine prototypes to improve incrementally

ypes to visualize their new concepts and imagine how customers will use them. These prototypes work best when they are three-dimensional models instead of pictures or drawings. It's too easy to dismiss a drawing outright, but people will interact with a model, and that can trigger surprising insights.
With several prototypes built, the team then evaluates each one. They get feedback from other designers, the client team, subject-matter experts, and even the target users

Even after generating ideas, however, the teams don't usually begin evaluating right away. Instead, they prototype, another vital element of their overall process

he design teams at IDEO adhere to a specific method for brainstorming; they don't just get in a room and throw out ideas.18 Every session is led by a trained facilitator. The walls of most conference rooms are even painted with the rules for brainstorming, including “Encourage Wild Ideas” and “Go For Quantity