Engineers are, by necessity, innovative. There is a constant need for new answers to everyday problems but at the leading edge of technology there are no textbook answers. It is an engineering necessity to know ‘how to invent’.

Invention starts with an idea but turning an idea into a product requires a wide range of technical skills. While engineers excel in the area of design implementation, the creation of the idea is a neglected skill possibly because idea-creation is believed to be a natural skill. To some extent this may be true, however idea creation skills can be learned to a very high level. These skills supplement traditional engineering techniques and, crucially, they enable engineers to produce ideas on demand.

So how is it done? How are the first ideas formed that will produce a new invention? UK Idea has broken idea generation into a four step process, easily remembered by the IDEA acronym:

I=increase
D=decrease
E=educate
A=analyse

If you can remember this you will always be able to create new ideas. Even the shape of the letters will help you remember.

Increase

Increase is a divergent process. Normally you will start with a single thought and then generate multiple ideas from it. The single thought is known as a ‘point-of-stimulation’.

The prime object of ‘increase’ is to increase your number of ideas. More means better, so do not judge the quality of ideas and do not throw any ideas away. Even if you know the idea is unworkable, or unoriginal, keep it.

For example, how can we invent a new way of rectifying a sine-wave? In other words, replace the standard diode bridge rectifier that has endured since 1897. To create new rectifier ideas, we will use one of many possible techniques called ‘random stimulation’.

First choose a word at random from a dictionary. This word will be the point-of-stimulation. Do not choose a word that you think will help but rather make sure it is a random selection. The word should be a noun, and in this example it is ‘petrol’.

Second write down everything you know about, or associate with, the chosen word. Write this as a list of bullet points. For petrol this could be: taxed; pump; multi-grade; spill; delivery tanker; ignites; and liquid.

This example list is short, but it is important to stretch yourself to produce a long list. Give yourself a target of 20 items.
Next associate each item on your list with the idea-objective - in this case a full wave rectifier.

This is when you produce the real ideas. You need to hold two images simultaneously in your mind - the list word and the idea-objective. Once you have both in your mind, try and find commonalities or associations between the two. What properties do ‘taxed’ and ‘rectified sine wave’ have in common? When you have an answer, note it down either as drawings or word descriptions. Aim to produce an idea for every word on your list.

Let us consider the first word ‘taxed’. Taxed may suggest additional cost. Mentally mapping cost onto the objective gives an association with component cost. Remembering that cost reduces with increasing quantity suggests more components - more bridge rectifiers. Perhaps two bridge rectifiers in parallel, which doubles the quantity, and halves the current carrying requirement (what about three in parallel?).

Do not develop the idea too far at this stage, just draw or write it down. There is no definitive answer and two people can easily produce different results.

Now move on to the next word of your list and repeat the process of associating it with the objective. Having generated a list of ideas, the next thing to do is check if they are any good.

Decrease

Decrease is a convergent process, so reduce your number of ideas by eliminating those that are not suitable. To eliminate effectively you need a goal or criteria to judge against which could be cost reduction, power consumption, reliability, or a combination of many factors.

This may seem a trivial task, but the ability to skilfully decrease your idea list is extremely important for success. You need to be able to pick winners and reject the least likely candidates. Your idea list will not all be original and may already be patented or published. Some ideas may not even be workable, but occasionally you will hit gold and you need to recognise it when you do.
Decreasing requires engineering skills and experience. It may be necessary to perform some calculations, check textbooks, refer to patent libraries, or consult your colleagues. You can build a league table or scorecard of key parameters. If you are part of a team, it may be necessary to organise a consensus vote.

It is possible that during this stage you will reject all of your ideas. In this case you can start the ‘increasing’ process again by using a different random word. When one idea is ultimately chosen, it moves on to be fully developed as a working circuit.
Using the two steps of increasing and decreasing is a way of improving idea creativity instantly but there are also strategies for improving creativity long-term.

Educate

Random stimulation works by accessing your existing knowledge and to improve its effectiveness requires you to expand your knowledge. So what knowledge should be acquired?

The first priority for knowledge expansion is in your specialist subject. One reason for this is that, as an expert, you will be working at the leading edge, and your ideas are less likely to have been thought of before. Another reason is that your judgement and ability to ‘decrease’ will improve as you gain greater insight.

The next priority for knowledge expansion is outside your specialist area. This could be in a totally unrelated subject, such as a hobby. Your objective is to build knowledge diversity. Diversity increases your chances of cross fertilising ideas onto your specialist subject. Diverse experience leads to higher quantity and quality of ideas.

Analyse

Analysis is fortunately very natural for most engineers, but it is important that it does not interfere with the creative process. To avoid interfering, use analysis immediately before and immediately after the increase stage.

Consider a circuit board that is experiencing many field failures. Inspection of failing boards shows multiple failure modes and detailed analysis of these modes shows the majority of failures are due to the power supply circuit.

Technical analysis may then lead you to consider alternative bridge-rectifier designs. In other words, this analysis could have been used to reach the starting point of the example used above for increase and decrease. Statistical tools and this type of procedure in the form of a Pareto Analysis are typically used by six-sigma practitioners.

Another example of analysis applies to market research. In this area, analysis of market trends will highlight where new ideas are needed for product innovation.

Ideas are essential for innovation, and for engineers. Creating ideas is a skill that can be learned and improved over time, and while many engineers may not use formal techniques, such techniques offer the ability to produce ideas on demand.

David Archibald is innovation consultant at UK-Idea