In this three part series, inKNOWvations guest author Anders Hemre discusses the benefits and management approach of guided ideation.

Co-inventor of cubism, Pablo Picasso, once described his way of working as “I start with an idea and then it turns into something else.” This is a good description of the creative process and not only as it relates to art. On a high level it also applies to new product and service innovation in business enterprises, pointing as it does to the need for inspiration, search and exploration.

The importance of creativity and new ideas in business is of course widely recognized. Today ideation has established itself as a front end extension to the well known Stage-Gate process for product innovation. Ideation here loosely refers to the acquisition, creation and evolution of ideas in organizations. Following this notion, idea management would then be the process and associated discipline of facilitating ideation from a management perspective. Even though the process concept can be applied to ideation, it must be recognized that innovation also involves serendipitous discovery as well as significant human cognitive and social activity. To emphasize the thus somewhat less traditional management approach required, it may be more appropriate - at least in some respects - to refer to idea management as guided ideation.