Is every idea a good one?
You’ve got this idea. You want something to move a certain way. You have a clear idea of how you want something to look like. You think you want something to be ‘that’ shape. You want it to function ‘this way’.
The office often receives calls or emails asking for help with an idea that someone was had within a business. Often, an idea might not be able to be put into practice and it can quite easily be seen that something really won’t work either because of the operating environment, the functionality of what you want something to do or because the design just as a fit for purpose.
Everyone is looking to find the very best solution or come up with the right idea to provide whatever they think is an effective solution to a challenge.
Recently we had a conversation about a lifting solution idea to install instead of using the conventional highly expensive lifting equipment. That person had done some impressive research and come up with a potential solution that would cost a lot less. This is great. Real innovation, real thinking outside of the box, an ability to see a bigger picture and to break the norms by not just thinking ‘I can only do it one way’.
However, what was clear was some of the considerations missed like operating functionality, practicality in situ, purpose of lift, and the weight.
They had not missed that if you want to lift something you need to fully understand what it weighs. And they understood that their proposal needed to be able to operate under those conditions’ day in, day out. What they had missed is the combination of both meant their idea needed quite a few tweaks to make sure it did not break down a week after installation.
So yes, every idea is a great idea. And idea generation is at the heart of British manufacturing. The nation is very innovative and continues to develop some interesting tools and technologies and our processes are high quality.
But it is worth making sure that your idea will work. Otherwise it could just be a massive waste of money.
