Where Do Great Ideas Come From?

For me it's opposite, the moment I start writing it down is when I start to build it, I get it mostly built in my head before I start putting down code or wire.

With some components having basically "don't even think about it once the prototype is in and you can do more educated guesses.

> if you want inspiration, there's also halfbakery https://www.halfbakery.com/user/chronological

That's funny, I remember having few ideas that I thought were interesting but someone just.... did them, I just didn't knew. So I started browsing.

> https://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Backup_20tester#1583186965

That's a feature enterprise backup software kinda have; you can run verify job that do that , and full "restore environments from backup" is already a thing in big enterprises

Some, sadly mostly in form of config validation, also have the "verify whether files are correct in batch mode"

> https://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Backward_20pricing#168063049...

That's kickstarter.

> https://www.halfbakery.com/idea/URL_20Powered_20Computer#167...

I've so far seen few apps in k8s environment doing that. Like for example in Victoriametrics' vmagent you can instead of config post an url that will be polled

I think here we can assume it's not someone completely ignorant in the field(they did mention "outsiders in analogous fields"), so it's really about someone with a good understanding of an adjacent field, whose skills and knowledge can often be applied to the field in question, like bringing a computer scientist to robotics or biology, not like asking an accountant to design a rocket.

Anecdotally, I was brought in to improve data processing for semiconductor manufacturing quality control. To say that wasn’t exactly my field is an understatement. Working with an amazing team that was open to change was a great experience and we managed to implement significant improvements for many aspects of the processes we looked at.

>Not from these guys.

Good call.

>Certainly, ideas cannot impact society without “effective placement,” but there would be nothing to “place” without them. They are the seed of all progress, the beginning of every great invention.

They're correct about this, but as I mentioned just recently the proper attitude can make a world of difference.

They're also correct about Intrinsic Motivation.

>They subsequently analyzed this information alongside the number of hours worked per week (a proxy for effort) and the number of patents issued in the past five years (a proxy for creative production).

>The authors found that effort and innovative production were much more correlated with intrinsic motivators. R&D scientists who chose their positions because they provided more independence and fulfilled their curiosity worked more hours and had more patents to show for it.

These are not very good metrics, nor even ideal test subjects, but still point toward the realistic conclusion. It takes a lot to hide this, unfortunately there is usually more than enough effective obscurity in place to conceal more widespread recognition.

>Nor are ideas abundant. Indeed, there is evidence they are growing rarer by the year.

Wrong.

Misguided research organizations are bound to be less effective than free-flowing creativity.

>What incentives encourage originality?

Real natural originality requires no incentive.

>Who should you hire to boost an organization’s innovation?

Someone who doesn't need any incentive to create, only to perform their best without undue limitations.

>And how do you harness the abilities of a collective?

If the collective has less-effective creativity than a single individual, you don't. You can't lead by committee.

Like I said, you don't harness this, you unleash it!

I think the best ideas come from people who do not have the resources to implement hardly any of them.

The ones that don't let that stop them, eventually do come across something sensible to implement and go forward with the resources they do have.

And continue not to let that stop them from the endless stream of new ideas which are still out-of-reach to take action about, including those that will certainly never come within reach. They're too busy taking action at the scale they do have. Like a train that can't be stopped.

The action they are taking may seem so small and insignificant, for so long compared to one of their more lofty but out-of-reach concepts, these are most often considered merely "idea people" with no big concrete accomplishments.

Usually those with the resources to build rails across the continent are often the least likely to seriously consider a small-scale model railroader to have anything worthwhile to offer. Far below the radar of someone or committee who is already in a position of moving & shaking in a more noticeable way at bigger scale, even when they recognize the need for new ideas other than their own.

Too bad.

That's valid if you're too well off to have any other serious problem. And that's sure how we got most of our philosophy in the west, Descartes was is no way struggling to survive.

For comparison, double entry accounting was surely not invented through boredom.

I can't agree with this more. I've never been able to "think" my way into a good idea. I always have to daydream and have an idle mind about it for a while

Or the toilet.

Agreed.

Back when I was commuting on Caltrain (SFBay area train the runs mostly through SV), rather than doom-scrolling on my phone I tried hard to get into the habit of just mindlessly looking out the window, sometimes thinking about problems I had this day/week and how I would prevent/solve them using a tech solution.

Having a notepad and pen on my lap (electronic devices can be hard to avoid temptations) gave me the ability to jot things down. Sometimes solutions to unrelated problems can spark ideas for current ones.