Invention Team Processes
An invention team should consist of between five and ten inventors. Two or more teams can participate together on an invention if each team has few members. This minimizes the churn within the team surrounding innovative ideas.
Brainstorm ideas. See how many ideas the team can list within a given period of time. Do not process these ideas; no idea is considered to be out-of-line or crazy. It is this bundle of ideas that will spawn thinking of other ideas. List them all. Keep notes on comments of each idea, as long as the comments are for purposes of clarification and not determination.
If ideas begin to spawn other ideas around the same subject, bucket them and keep records of each idea. Draw or list them out on a white board where everyone can see them.
Remember, every invention has to solve some kind of problem. So, the team members should keep track of these problems. If there are multiple problems, a team may want to consider creating a portfolio of problem areas. This way, each idea can be associated within this larger portfolio, and problem areas can better be classified according to some schema. This schema could be related to areas of technology, manufacturing, design, finance, life sciences, and medicine—virtually any topic of importance. Categories of classification for each idea should include consideration of whether or not the idea is high-value or low-value.
Perhaps occasional incentives to the inventors for certain topic areas of interest would be in order. Let's say that due to some external marketing force affecting a particular topic area, it is now inviting intellectual property to be created. This can strengthen your invention portfolio in areas that need more substantiation. These incentives can be monetary awards, specialized monogram clothing, dinner certificates, or online gift certificates—basically anything that might be an appropriate award for the intellectual property contribution of the inventor(s).
An outstanding example of how invention teams can be managed while engaging in practice business development activities is noted at the Information (IT) Leadership Academy, founded and directed by Michael Mino. In the ITLA,[1] hundreds of young people from many different New England High Schools gather each year to explore challenging mock-business development ideas, and at the same time, they develop vast numbers of inventions that help them to expand these business opportunities and ideas. These young adults are instructed on aspects of becoming inventors, how to define problems and solutions, and how craft these ideas into inventions that those skilled in the art have not yet considered. These young adults are learning about business leadership through technologies and invention approaches. This program is a worldclass, role-model program and demonstrates how innovation can be managed to a common end, using invention-teaming approaches.
[1] For more information on the IT Leadership Academy, please reference http://www.itacademy.org, or contact Mr. Michael Mino directly at [email protected].
Organizing an invention team can be a rewarding experience, and at the same time a very engaging process. More good news is that almost anyone can become an inventor. It is our basic human nature to solve problems, and it is this tendency that makes the invention process so natural for many people.
As shown in Figure 4-6, it is the idea that triggers a series of events.
