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The Power
of Bad Ideas
@steveportigal

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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We help companies discover and
act on new insights about their
customers and themselves
Portigal

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/user-interviews/

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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Unleashing the bad-idea-
creative-impulse
Bad ideas, from the sketchbook
into the world
What can we do with all this?
Today
Who‟s bad? Shamone.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleDTDT: What do ya mean by bad?
Bad is not the absence of good. It‟s not meh.
Bad ideas go beyond prompting "That's stupid!" to eliciting a
much stronger response.
Bad ideas are worse than ineffective, unpleasant,
unsuccessful, and ridiculous…they can also be dangerous,
immoral, and bad for business!

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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Bad Ideas in the Creative Process

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleExercise: Come up with a really bad idea
Write or sketch the worst
idea for a product, service,
feature that you can come
up with
Tweet your idea
use #MyBadIdea

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleExercise: Hand off your bad idea
Pass your bad idea to
someone else…

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleExercise: Hand off your bad idea
Pass your bad idea to
someone else…
Design the circumstances
where that bad idea
becomes a good one.
Tweet your reframe
use #MyGoodIdea

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleThe ideation process
Time
Pace of idea
generation
Addressing
needs with
low-hanging
fruit

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleDon‟t forget your second wind
Time
Pace of idea
generation
Addressing
needs with
low-hanging
fruit
Innovative
Breakthrough
Wacky

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBridging the humps
Time
Pace of idea
generation
Addressing
needs with
low-hanging
fruit
Innovative
Breakthrough
Wacky

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleWe need a safe place to enable bad ideas
Laugh at ideas, not people
Trust and listening foster
collaboration
If you don‟t create that safe
place for each other, this
creativity won‟t happen

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleTwo types of bad-idea-sharing
The tentative, unfinished
idea (“Okay, this isn‟t very
good but…”)
The deliberately zany idea!
Recognize and support each of these appropriately

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleThat makes me think of something else…
Learn to hear that impulse
where something presented
as a “bad idea” starts you
thinking...

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleMcDonald‟s Theory
I use a trick with co-workers when we‟re
trying to decide where to eat for lunch
and no one has any ideas. I recommend
McDonald‟s.
An interesting thing happens. Everyone
unanimously agrees that we can‟t
possibly go to McDonald‟s, and better
lunch suggestions emerge. Magic!
It‟s as if we’ve broken the ice with the
worst possible idea, and now that the
discussion has started, people suddenly
get very creative. I call it the McDonald‟s
Theory: people are inspired to come up
with good ideas to ward off bad ones.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleCombinatorial Creativity
This is one vector for creativity, based on combining stuff
• Found in remix culture
For us, it‟s about how the brain wants to reorient and
redesign dissonance (e.g., a bad idea)
The bad idea is valuable because it‟s a trigger to generate
the next (possibly good) idea.
Good design has an element of surprise or
provocation, of grit in the emollient flow of appropriate
aesthetics. -- Gillian Crampton Smith

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleFrom improv: Yes, and…
Process words are insightful
• Throwing an idea
• Accepting offers
None of this great stuff
works if you respond with a
negative (e.g., reject the
offer)
All ideas are good; “bad”
ideas may create more
narrative advancement
Chris Miller emphasizes that your task in improv is to
make your partner look good.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleImprov Dark Patterns

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleWhy is that a bad idea?

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleRehearsal Note: That Bad Choice Could Be Useful

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleDeep Thoughts About „Deep Thoughts‟
I brought in a bunch of “Deep
Thoughts” for my student poets to
read, discuss and, finally, imitate.
They produced some of their best
in-class writing to date: concrete,
specific, original. Like Handey,
they began with a form of writing
that traffics in phony
enlightenment and demonstrated
how the form is more often in
effect tranquilizing.
Kathleen Rooney in the NYT Magazine

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas make great batting practice
Simply translating insights
into solutions (even bad
ones) is a win.
We build up understanding
of insights from working with
them.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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When Bad Ideas Go Good

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBreaking Bad Ideas

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleSnakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Spielberg has a moment in those
transcripts, He‟s just sort of sitting
along, going along with Larry and
George. He‟s tossing some ideas out;
frankly, a bunch of them are bad.
You‟re thinking, “Gee, Steven
Spielberg has some bad ideas.” Feet of
clay, I‟m heartbroken somehow. And
then suddenly he goes “I have a great
idea. When he‟s in that temple he
should set off a booby trap and there
should be this enormous rolling boulder
that comes after him. And he‟s running
and this thing is just right behind him.”
And you go, “Oh my God, he really did
have a great idea, fully formed.”
Scriptnotes podcast

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleCow Clicker
The Curse of Cow Clicker
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_cowclicker/all/

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleJotly
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleA joke in one context…
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleRock „n roll in the next
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleIsn‟t rock „n roll really about pursuing the bad idea?
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleAbraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleAbraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad and Good Food Ideas

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad and Good Food Ideas

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad and Good Food Ideas

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad and Good Food Ideas

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas stay bad

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad is judged by the marketplace

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad is judged by the marketplace

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas feed art
Mona Hatoum - Silence
Made of glass, this life-size crib
threatens any child in its care with
shattering collapse and inevitable
injury. In spite of its title, neither the
crib nor the child would be likely to
remain silent for long…She has
said, "I see furniture as being very
much about the body. It is usually
about giving it support and comfort,"
but Silence is part of a series of
furniture pieces the artist made
which are more hostile than
comforting.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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(Bad) Idea Thinking

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleChallenging all of our assumptions
The site Big Think has a
series of provocations they
call Dangerous Ideas.
"These ideas may at first
seem shocking or counter-
intuitive—but they are worth
our attention, even if we end
up rejecting them."

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleSatire and social commentary
A Modest Proposal is the
classic example of a
deliberately bad idea used to
critique circumstances where
such an idea could even be
articulated.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleBad ideas ignite our imagination

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleComedy and tragedy
Appsurd: In Silicon Valley, It's Hard to Make a Joke
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303505504577404284117534706.html

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleThe horror. The horror.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleThe horror. The horror.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleContext is King
Open to surprises
Let your audience tell you
Engineers say “if it works, it‟s
not a stupid idea” (check this)
Consider your context in order
to assess
• Art
• Social change
• Entertainment
• $
• Technology
• Etc.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleContext is King
Open to surprises
Let your audience tell you
Engineers say “if it works, it‟s
not a stupid idea” (check this)
Consider your context in order
to assess
• Art
• Social change
• Entertainment
• $
• Technology
• Etc.

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleLessons from ideas that might suck
Consider your context
Engineers say “If it's stupid but works, it's not stupid”
Be open to surprises from yourself and your audience
Wonder where it might lead
Consider your criteria for success

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title styleThe sublime
and the
ridiculous are
often so
nearly
related, that
it is difficult
to class them
separately.
Thomas Paine,
The Age of
Reason, 1795

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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It’s such a fine line between stupid
and clever!

The Power of Bad Ideas ‹#› Portigal
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Portigal Consulting
www.portigal.com
@steveportigal
steve@portigal.com
+1-415-894-2001
Thank you!