You’re reading Signal vs. Noise, a publication about the web by 37signals since 1999.

Excellent Illustration. Too often the first iteration locks in the design which we then “refine from”.Thanks for diagramming the concept.

I think I’ve seen this concept in the “Sketching User Experiences” by Bill Buxton. Great read, by the way.

@Kirill – You have indeed – Bill Buxton is a genius and his book is excellent.

John Allen Paulos would say you should reject the first 38% of the designs you think you could make and refine the first one after that which is better than all previous ones.

It bugs me when the programmers I work with ask for my requirements and then look for the quickest way to get from point A to B. I tell them I don’t know if B is even where I want to go! I’d really like them to act like a good real estate agent. Get to know me and then suggest a few ideas I wasn’t considering.

Perfect illustration. I love how it just takes five seconds to completely understand the point being made.

It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how fast you go, and how long you persevere if you are going down the wrong path to begin with!

I guess this scientifically explains why I drive myself nuts with a thousand and one iterations before finalizing the decision.

“Local Maxima” in many parts of mathematics, Neural Networks being the one where I found it the most intriguing.

Great post! Reminds me of the old Bell Labs innovation model. They were THE masters of this type of divergent thinking. Too many businesses avoid this approach because it can feel like it consumes inordinate resources. It really is the best way to capture true inspiration and build unique value for your customers.

Second illustration is looking a lot like a mind map. Good stuff.

You just described A* for designers. Well done. :-)

This illustration is SO good. Thanks for drawing attention to it.

I recently heard Intuit’s Joseph O’Sullivan describe a similar concept as: “go broad to go narrow” http://www.frontend2011.com/video/joseph-osullivan.html

... and in IDEO ’s book “Change By Design” they talk about diverging to create choices, then converging to make choices.

https://www.google.com/search?q=diverge+converge&tbm=isch

I think it’s really important that the team knows which way they’re going – is it time to talk about ideas? or time to kill your darlings?

That misunderstanding is the cause of a lot of friction in meetings – each person wearing a different one of Edward De Bono’s “six thinking hats”!

Instead of one long brainstorming meeting, I like to schedule two small meetings: one to diverge in the morning, another to converge in the afternoon. And in between, you get some free time to trace through the pathways person-to-person or in small groups.

What if you explore, then find what you THINK is the best solution, and refine until you find the real best? Then you just wasted time exploring.