Ideation is the process of generating many ideas and concepts without judging them, with the goal of coming up with innovative solutions. It involves techniques like brainstorming, mind mapping, and the Six Thinking Hats method. The document discusses ideation and design thinking, provides examples of ideation techniques, and proposes a topic - the future of work - to ideate solutions for challenges like rapid technological change disrupting jobs. It acknowledges potential challenges in ideation like generating vague ideas or getting stuck in old patterns of thinking.

1. Ideation –
what is it and how
can I use it?
Dr. Stella Lee, Paradox Learning Inc.

2. What is
Ideation?
‘Ideation is the mode of the design process
in which you concentrate on idea
generation. Mentally it represents a process
of “going wide” in terms of concepts and
outcomes. Ideation provides both the fuel
and also the source material for building
prototypes and getting innovative solutions
into the hands of your users.’
– d.school, An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS
GUIDE
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3. An approach to solve
problems/challenges.
It is people-focus.
Sometimes you hear
the term “human-
centered design”.
What is
Design
Thinking?
It is a mindset – only
through contact,
observation and
empathy with end-
users can you hope
to create a solution
that fit into their
world.
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4. The Process
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5. The idea
behind it
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□ Get people to start thinking about
something differently/look beyond the
usual methods of solutions
□ Withholding judgement
□ Quantity over quality
□ Bounce ideas off each other
□ Time-limited

6. Ideation
techniques
□ Brain dumping + mind
mapping
□ Reverse brainstorming
□ Six Thinking Hats
□ Bonus: Alter ego
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7. 7Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash

8. Six Thinking
Hats
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■ Blue Hat – looking at the bigger
picture, set objectives, organize,
summarize
■ White Hat – call for the facts
■ Yellow Hat – explore positive
aspects
■ Black Hat – devil’s advocate,
dangers, barriers, things might go
wrong
■ Red Hat – feelings, hunches,
intuitions
■ Green Hat – creativity, new
concepts, opportunities

9. Topic we will
ideate today
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The Future of Work
challenge

10. The problem
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□ Rapid technological change and
globalization are accelerating the need for
workers to learn and develop new skills
□ The World Economic Forum predicts AI
in the workplace will create 133 million
jobs while 75 million jobs will be
displaced by 2022
□ 65% of today’s school children will
graduate into jobs that do not yet exist
□ Canadian employers do not invest enough
on training – one of the lowest in OECD

11. Some
possible
ideas
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□ Universal Basic Income (UBI)
□ Coding bootcamps/ teach everyone
coding skill
□ Government of Canada job/skill
matching program

12. Topic we will
ideate today
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Let’s try to ideate!

13. What to keep
in mind
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While ideation workshop is awesome to
run, here are some potential challenges to
keep in mind:
□ Fuzzy ideas – great ideas that are
not clearly defined
□ Lack of participation – hard to get
people to switch gears and get into the
activities
□ Stuck at old patterns of thinking
– hard to break down assumptions
and look at a problem with new eyes

14. Some
resources 10 ideation techniques and methods
https://ozcontent.com/blog/ideation-techniques-and-processes/
Brain dumping
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/learn-how-to-use-
the-best-ideation-methods-brainstorming-braindumping-brainwriting-
and-brainwalking
Design Thinking Process
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-
design-thinking-process
Edward de Bono Six Thinking Hats
http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php
Mind mapping
https://www.mindmapping.com/
MindTools
https://www.mindtools.com/
Reversed brainstorming
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_96.htm
Standford d.school
https://dschool.stanford.edu/
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15. thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stellal
stella@paradoxlearning.com
https://twitter.com/stellal
?
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