Final reflections

The picture on the Innostutaan-blog that presented one of the group’s changing moods towards the task on the camp was hilarious, and it described our group’s feelings pretty well too. Here’s a summary on our journey:

1. This is awesome – All of us were pretty excited when we got to the camp and we were eagerly waiting to hear the task assigned to us.

2. This is tricky – Our task was pretty wide and it wasn’t that easy to get a grip on it. We started with defining “a community” and what SparkUp stands for at the moment. Then we listed the problems SparkUp is facing and did the NABC-analyze of SparkUp as well. Later in the evening when everyone was getting tired we decided to gather mixed ideas, even crazy ideas, on the paper. We discussed with the other SparkUp-group and tried to clarify our thoughts and tasks in that way. The next day we changed the ideating place from the common space to our own room and passed on 5 papers with 5 ideas and developed them further.

3. This is shit – One of the coaches told us to go back to basics and get more focused, we were going into a wrong direction.

4. We are shit – We felt stuck and felt like everything was already said and done. We didn’t know how to proceed and decided to take a break, some of us went outside for a walk and some of us took a nap.

5. This is okay - While resting in our beds we listened to some TedX-videos about start-ups, communities and idea creation and got some ideas from them. We decided to continue with destroy & save-tool, which we all feel familiar with and came up with ideas that we then gathered to a final mind map with ideas of how to brand SparkUp-community so that it will appeal to people. We were pretty satisfied with the outcome but also so tired that it was hard to guess if it would be something that SparkUp would appreciate.

 6. This is awesome – We feel that the presentation went well and the immediate feedback was positive; they said that they got a lot of new ideas from our presentation. It was nice to end the course this way and to know that our efforts were appreciated.

Workday #4 - Lastenklinikoiden kummit

The fourth workday was held at the Mauno conference center in Biocity, Turku. First off Saara-Sofia Sirén held a presentation of the organization Lastenklinikoiden Kummit ry, which she works for. The organization is twenty years old and funds the children’s hospitals in Finland.

The task at hand was to come up with new ways in which Saara-Sofia could raise more money to the organization. The organization gives companies the right to use its Teemu-logo (which is very well known in Finland) to indicate their goodwill donations, to the price of 10 000 €.

We faced the challenge head on by just sharing our ideas. All the viable ideas were taken into consideration and basically we used an affinity diagram-tool, without any post-it notes. As we got stuck much on the details, we took a break in order to check our focus. The break was very refreshing and we were able to get some perspective on the ideas we had. After the break we started mind-mapping. The previous ideas formed the basis of the map and we went on to specify which parts were related and also continued with specifying the core traits of the ideas we had come up with.

By the end we suggested that Kummit try to make a similar phenomenon as there was around the fundraising to the children’s hospital in Helsinki. A part of this suggestion was that core representatives (voluntary) from different age and social groups would be active on social media and in their networks to spread the word about the cause. We also suggested that there be a different logo to brand this local fundraising campaign. Another idea was to arrange a pre-Christmas party for companies to network, have fun and most importantly raise money for the cause. We also wanted to highlight the importance of setting a goal for the fundraising as to show the donors that “this is what we need” and to help show how every contribution actually matters. Most of the ideas we presented were already taken care of or being thought of, so although they were good ideas they were not new ideas.

We thought we had good ideas, but the feedback gave us valuable insights – the first ideas you come up with, someone else probably already thought of. Also we did not consider it specifically that Saara-Sofia was already working half-time and that her biggest challenge was that there was no more time at her disposal. We realized we did not consider the actual problem in our solutions.

The lessons learned were very valuable and we look forward to applying everything we have learned so far at Kunstenniemi. 

The art of innovation

A funny man with great thoughts on innovation. Guy Kawasaki is a popular author, speaker and evangelist who has worked for companies such as Apple, Google, Nike and Microsoft. In this TedX keynote speech he presents his "top 10 of the art of innovation".

Enjoy!

Preparations for workday #4

Some serious thinking...

Hi!

Today we all met up to discuss about the upcoming task on Thursday. We don't have any given structure for the fourth workday so we had to plan how we are going to divide the tasks in order to be as efficient as possible. We came up with following schedule:

1. 8:30 - 9:30 In group: Figuring out what the challenge is, uncovering the real question

2. 9:30 - 10:00 Individual tasks:

Mikaela - collecting information about the company
Youma & Jonas - defining the need of the customer
Micaela & Ha - deciding which innovation tools should be used for the task

3. 10:00 - 11: 00 In group: Presenting the results of individual work and application of the selected innovation tools

4. 11:00 - 11:45 In group: Preparing the report

5. 11:45 Report ready

Let's see how it works! This is a really interesting way to measure how well we can work under pressure and how quickly we can adapt our plan in case it is not working.

Workday #3 - Reverse thinking

The morning started in Hanken in the same lecture room in Åbo Akademi that we had for workday 1. As first we were divided into new random groups and got as a task to think of how the future is going to look in year 2040. All of the six groups got a different theme to focus around. Our SuperVision group members were placed into two groups: one with the focus on future ways of moving and the other one on future ways of working.

The main ideas that came up with the topic “ways of moving from place to place” where that future transportation is going to be more automated, more sustainable, more secure and faster than today. And that there is probably going to be some kind of common fee for all the public transport taking place in one city.

Both of the groups had some difficulties, as most of the people were new to us. The other group had a slow start whereas the other started of very quickly, without a common ground to stand on. Most of us didn't feel that comfortable in the new working environment, which caused that the contribution wasn't at the same level as in a task with our own group.

After finishing the first task we went around in groups and discussed about the other topics with the aspect of what needs to be done in 2020 to reach what was presented for 2040. One person out of every group stayed at their place and explained the ideas they’ve had with their group. The so called ”collaboration” didn’t work well all the time as we sometimes couldn’t give any additional ideas for a new group or couldn’t develop the idea flows further due to ineffective time management or disagreement among us. It was also pretty overwhelming to hear all the previous ideas in the beginning because it felt like we didn’t have anything to add. Nevertheless, we still kept the atmosphere positive and fun.

Finally we got back with our own team, SuperVision. It was really nice and comfortable to be back with people you know and share common dynamics with. Our group was tasked to destroy the industry of spatial design, which is the focus for us in this course and suggest 40 things that would destroy it. As we already knew each other it was easy to decide which tool to use and how to proceed with the task. We used our own modified version of the affinity diagram with post-its. We came up with a lot of ideas and the best was that everyone contributed. The next task was to “build up the industry” in other words taking the destruction threats into consideration and counter them with actions that would boost the industry. We did.

We found the ideas provided by the destroy-rebuild-tool really useful. The ideas could be used both to protect the industry and also promote it. We think that this tool also is useful in order to take into consideration the risks of the surrounding. In overall, the workday reminded us that we don’t always need to follow the traditional flow of ideas when trying to find the solutions. Instead of thinking about the consequences of the issue from this moment to the future, from near future to the further time, we can also play a trick with our brain and release our imagination by making a reversed flow from the far future back to this day or the near future. And though most of us didn’t get into an innovation mood with the first task it was nice to meet and talk with new people.

Spatial design for premises

Today we all met up at a cafe to discuss and brainstorm about the industry that was given to us, namely spatial design industry. It's a term that no one of us was completely familiar with and therefore we needed to do some research on the topic. We found out that spatial design deals with the design of interior and exterior environments by crossing the boundaries of traditional design disciplines such as architecture, interior design and landscape architecture.

Because the term was new to all of us, we started with the basic mind mapping tool. The whole design process starts with the question: what is the purpose of this particular building/space and what is it used for? The second question is that: how can the designer design the space so that it in the best possible way serves the goal? Things that we associated with the main word "spatial design" were for example architecture, interior design, 3D-design, knowledge of materials and regulations in construction and landscape architecture. The descriptive words / adjectives that we linked with it were sustainability, functionality, (work) efficiency, creativity, comfort, cosiness and adaptability. Spatial design is a relatively new industry and that's why we associate it mostly with modern architecture.

The core words for the industry are aesthetics, functionality, comfort, efficiency and sustainability and the whole design process should build up on them. Spatial design industry has its roots in the beginning of the 20th century and it has been influenced by different modern architects and their thoughts. The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who can be seen as one of the pioneers for modern architecture and who was famous for his stating "the house is a machine for living", believed that efficiency and functionality should not only be applied in the design of assembly lines but also in architecture. The American architect Louis Sullivan is often called the "father of skyscrapers" and known for spreading the ideology of "form follows function", which means that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose. This is even the basis for the architectonical principle called functionalism, which was popular during the 1920s and 1930s.

The next tool that we used was the question tool, which we applied in the task by asking a lot of "why"-questions and in that way researched the core words even more in detail.  The questions were aimed at the personal feelings and experiences of the participants and tried to get us to understand why we need aesthetic, functional, comfortable and efficient places. Aesthetics have to do with the visual look of the premises that affect our mood. A well designed and beautiful environment can make us feel ourselves happy, energized, playful, cosy and comfortable, and to stop and to be amazed for a while. A functional environment is an adaptable and flexibel space where we can move with less restrictions, do things faster and enjoy of convenience and comfort. When people want to stay longer in a place and can concentrate (because there are no extra distractions), they become efficient.

Our last tool was called "I wish", with what wishes can be turned into general theories of needs/emotions behind them. Existing theories related with spatial design can be put into creative practice with the tool. One could for example start the wishing with aesthetic perspectives in mind and then continue with wishes that have to do with functionality, comfort and efficiency. Wishes are continued as long as they get more concrete and start to develop some solutions. We tried to apply the tool but it didn't function well because we don't have anything concrete to start with, this tool would probably be more useful later when we get to know our company. Instead of that we decided to create a simple mood board with emotions and colors that we associate with spatial design.

Workday #2 - Exploring Theme

For this work day we moved again and this time we were in a room in kåren, empty but with a platform suggesting that usually it must be a theater.  The main task of this work day was to explore a given theme through different tools. We were given the topic “Idea flows and creativity between people” to work on.

The first task was to develop ideas related to the topic by drawing a tree. First, we started to discuss the topic but our ideas being limited, we decided to open our mind with internet and luckily we found an interesting article regarding idea development and human creativity management, skimming through the article, we extracted some key words. 

We found some really good points to place as big branches for our tree, including Exploring, Communication, Diversity, Spreading, Combining and Anticipation. Also, we noticed in the text that Evaluation and Elimination are other important words linking the above main points together. We placed those two in the picture as the air surrounding the whole tree. Some fruits were also drawn to symbolize innovation gained by effective idea flows and people’s creativity management. This task was really useful to help us to figure out all the ideas we have about the subject. We were first a bit skeptical because we didn't got from the beginning the goal of this tree but it became more clear when we start the second task. Taking this into account, next time we will certainly manage this tree better. Regardless to that we can quickly see the limits of this tool that´s why, this tree worked well as a warm-up for the assignments that we got to discuss widely about the theme but it seems difficult to use it alone to create innovation or even figure out new ideas.

After the tree-drawing exercise, we had a short break and we started playing “sculpture game”, in which, we had to form small  group of two or three and help each other forming shapes of the a ballet dancer and ice-hockey player. It was funny, and it helps also to awaken our imagination. 

Then we came back to the main task and in the next activity we were supposed to apply one of the two new tools we have chosen during the week, thus, we applied the Lotus Blossom.  According to the description we made in a previous article (http://supervision58h.blogspot.fi/2015/03/this-week-we-decided-to-present-two-new.html), we tried first to bring out eight main ideas linked to our theme i.e.  “Idea flows and creativity between people. Pursuant to Joachim suggestion about the importance to let the ideas going before starting to analyze them ; we gave each member about 5 minutes to write down her/his thoughts on sticker notes. After that, each of us read out loud her/his ideas for other to cross the overlapped ones and collected 8 statements for the next step.  Thanks to this method we underlined eight related subheadings as: Communication/Network, Diversity, Exploring, Anticipation, Spreading ideas, Idea combination and Outsiders consulting. 

 We continued our ideas development by doing the same thing with each of the statements had from the previous step. This tool works really well in terms of creating a lot of ideas and helping group members understand each other’s thoughts. It is a clear and systematic process to keep the flow of ideas to a very specific and practical result. But our time being limited, it was not possible for us to finish to explore every idea deeply, thus, there are also some weaknesses of the tool such as time costing. Furthermore, we also realized that this tool will certainly not suitable for a big group. Fortunately or unfortunately during the first part of the work day we were three so it was easier to work on it.

After a short presentation of our ideas and the tool we used, the next task consisted to use the last tool left. Thus, we used the Visioning tool (http://supervision58h.blogspot.fi/2015/03/this-week-we-decided-to-present-two-new.html).

At the beginning, most of us thought that the tool is good for a business situation rather than such case of a simple statement. So we were uncertain whether we should use it at all, since we thought it would be hard to create a vision of merely a concept. Rather than giving up, we decided to take it as a challenge and keep going. We had the idea of creating a vision of what the circumstances would look like in order to support the “Idea flows and creativity between people”. Everyone took some time to think about our own real experience on the best situations for new ideas creation, we combined all those separate notes together.

Based on that, our vision regarding idea flows and creativity between people has been built: Teams built on the foundation of trust, engage to the problem solving process by stopping to think, focus on the context, comparing alternatives and dare to share. This vision built on the core element, would give us direction for future creative work, which is the purpose of a vision, it would be our director thread.

This work day was really interesting. We learned more about the skills and weaknesses of everyone and therefore, we are more and more able to deal with. Consequently we think that we can say that we are becoming more and more efficient..