Skip to main content

"Yes and" & "Yes if" - Disney Creative Thinking Tools

I did a second Ideation session at Barcamp06 on popular demand from the Techies. They found the "Reverse your Assumptions" session very cool and they wanted to learn more. I chose two demonstrate the power of two very simple tools - "Yes and" & "Yes if". I had learnt it from two Disney Imagineers in a Disney Creativity Workshop. These are great tools for triggering creative thinking in a group. I used it recently at Xchanging (Bangalore) with Tansen's Six Sigma team and it was great fun.

"Yes and" - A problem is posed - the first person shares his Idea - a second person says yes and .... - i.e he accepts the first idea and adds a little more to it - it is a small increment that strengthens the idea further. The second person's idea is not too different but it builds up on the first Idea. By the time idea goes through one round it becomes real strong. This tool encourages you to build up on the previous idea, In the absence of this tool, each person tends to give a new idea in a different direction. Stengthening of ideas does not happen naturally.

Lets us go for a movie - yes and we will eat out - yes and desserts at baskin Robbins - yes and we will invite Shreya too - yes and we will pick her up from work - yes and ...

"Yes if" - How do you respond to an Idea that sounds impractical - do you reject the Idea ?
you could tell that

Shankar's Idea is good ... yes if we are given 1 yr time to market and $1M budget - yes if the lab is ready by Jan - yes if the equipment can be run round the clock - yes if we can hire atleast two technicians....

This tool makes you think about the conditions under which an idea makes sense. It moves you away from a judgemental thinking mode and forces you to think about implementation aspects.

Use "Yes and" and "Yes if" when you want to trigger creative thinking in a group.

Comments

  1. Shankar,

    I liked all your postings. Among them, I liked 'Yes and' & 'Yes if' the most. This is a cool way of positive attitude to churn best in the team.

    I appreciate, (1) if you could list the books you liked and (2) post a blog on 'how to motivate ourselves and others'.

    Vinay

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Innovation Flow - TEDx Live Talk at Pune

Transcript of my talk at TEDx Live event at Pune on 28 April 2017 Friends, I am here to share with you a secret – a secret recipe . It took me ten years to figure this out – it is a collective learning from coaching about a thousand innovators – I will share with you, in the next ten minutes, how to grow your idea into an innovation . 1.1 The challenge of converting ideas into innovations – the fear of rejection Most of us are reasonably good at spotting a good idea – but not all good ideas become innovation – innovation seems be a totally different animal. If you start with a hundred good ideas, can you guess how many will convert to successful innovation? It is hardly two or three – the conversion is very poor. Of the many barriers to converting ideas into innovation, I would like to take up the most powerful one. It is the fear of rejection – the fear of being laughed at for suggesting a crazy idea. How do we overcome this barrier? 1.2 The Logical Brain Vs th

Why & How we should study AI & Machine Learning (6 Easy Steps)

AI & ML are fundamental new technologies that can create immense value to humankind. It is very important for us to learn AI & ML and apply this knowledge in our work.  If you are somebody like me without prior exposure to computers, you may wonder where to begin the journey – I did some homework and found an easy step-by-step using online resources . It takes only 6 easy steps to gain mastery in AI & ML. I will start with sharing with you the talk that Risto Siilasmaa (Chairman, Nokia) gave in Nov, 2017 – “Why you should study AI and Machine Learning and how I did it”. Step # 1 - Risto Siilasmaa started his journey into AI & ML by asking, “Where could I find good material explaining how machine learning works in terms that would speak to an engineer who loves to understand how things work?” Step # 2 - “ Why not study machine learning myself and then explain what I learned to others who are struggling with the same questions. Perhaps I could motiva

Future Mobility Technology Trends - Insights from Paul Masceranas

Future Mobility Technology Trends a fire-side chat session with Mr Paul Masceranas, President SAE International at Mahindra Research Valley. When the SAE International President Mr Paul Masceranas visited Mahindra Research Valley on 24 June 2019, a small group of Inventors and Innovators had a fire-side chat session with Paul. The topics discussed covered a wide spectrum – from new-gen technologies like electric, autonomous, connected vehicles to the future of current technologies internal combustion engine (ICE) technologies, Diesel etc. Since Paul’s views on these topics could be of interest to a larger community of engineers, we thought of sharing a summary of the discussion here. Dr Shankar Venugopal (Vice President, Mahindra & Mahindra), Mr Paul Masceranas (President, SAE International) and Mr Murli Iyer (Executive Advisor – Global Affairs, SAE International) at the Mahindra Research Valley, Chennai (24 June 2019) The session started with the modera