Sci-Fi thinking as a brainstorming tool.
In our daily life, we are bombarded with ideas, and almost all of them paint an ever brighter future that drives our attention often times from whatever we have to do, or probably I'm just describing myself and my constant daydreaming with the unknown, but if this sound like you probably you'll find some value on the technique I practice to use this in a productive manner.
First of all, what is Sci-Fi, for me, is the fantasy of what could be created or the final picture of an unforeseen moment or state, so from that I derive that sci-fi thinking is to fantasize on the final picture of the idea in hand.
So with that in mind lets propose an applicable scenario, let's say that we have a project for which we need to assess the steps involved, features to include and the process that we are going to follow to get it done.
In that case, the use of this technique would be to imagine a moment (often in the future) in which the project or idea in hand is a prominent part of daily life and that the use of that (technology, method, etc.) is so ubiquitous that it doesn't require major thought to the novice user to do the tasks for which it was invented.
Now breathe into that future, dream it on and when you feel you have explored the vastness of a future with it, step back and ask yourself:
- Why could it be that it became that way?
- How does it look?
- Why people love it?
And so on (many other questions applicable to your idea or project).
After that you have what I call a reference of possibility that lets you know what are the parts of your idea that are more visible to you, what are the best features that you understand will impact people and better yet you will have a feel for what is it that you want it to be.
As an alternative if what you propose would have avoided or solved some past problem, crisis or situation, you can then use this technique projected to that moment in which your idea would have saved the day and how can you position it now so that it becomes the default answer to that situation.
With all that in hand then you can go forth with your process of extracting the steps you need, to create it and to make a reality that what you envision.
As a matter of keeping yourself sane, I usually suggest a timer for this to avoid delving too much into fantasy and too little into action, because at the end you can always imagine but is only with action that you create, i use 15 minutes myself but feeel free to use your own time slots.
Also you could record your session for later reference, personally I use audio to avoid the self-editing process of writing and the insecurities and constraints of video, but whatever form of notetaking would be great to avoid losing your frame of reference later on, I also use a 200 character overview at the end of the session.
Let me know your thoughts on the matter and if you find it valuable remember to comment, upvote, reestem or just shout it out, but use it.
Have a great day
-Flemming
