One Tool That Will Help You Ride The Innovation Wave.

Happy New Year!  2019 gave us many breakthrough technologies; from custom cancer vaccines to cow-free burgers it was a year of invention across industries. 2020 will likely bring innovations most of us can’t even imagine yet.  I’d like to share one tool that will help you and your team to keep up.

Remember when we’d have brainstorming sessions and come up with three or four great ideas? Then spend six weeks preparing a PPT presentation to show everyone how those ideas will work?  
 
Today that same process has to happen in a few hours.  There’s no time to make a PPT, but we still need visual aid because the fastest way to communicate an idea is to show it.

One tool that will expedite this process is drawing. I don’t mean drawing like an artist. I mean drawing like you’re playing Pictionary. Drawings that look just good enough to get your idea across.  In fact, 30% accuracy will do it because our brains will fill in the gaps.  That’s how we know the above drawing is an elephant when it really doesn’t look much like one. We see something that looks a little like a trunk on a 4-legged animal and our brain says “elephant”. 

I’m often invited to meetings to help companies with rapid prototyping.  A team will come up with an idea, explain it to me, and I’ll quickly sketch it out for them to present to a larger group for feedback. This process is repeated throughout the day.  With only 10-20 minutes to sketch each idea, the drawings are messy and simple, but they give the presenter more than words to work with.
 
You can do this yourself by simply putting on your Pictionary hat, or channeling your 4-year-old self.  Grab a sharpie, step up to a flip chart and go for it.  You’ll probably inspire other people to draw too, which will get even more ideas going and creativity flowing. Then BAM. You and your team could innovate something amazing and make the top 10 list in 2020!
 
For a little drawing instruction to get you started, check out my simple drawing tips for people, more people, vehicles, and banners.