SIT: bottomless mug

Now we need to do some hard work. We start with manipulation number 1 on part number 1 i.e. removing the bottom. Which application ideas do you get when seeing a mug without a bottom?

Here comes the creative effort in. To start up use any source for inspiration. Your kid, colleague, internet, whatever. Allow your mind some time to shift from a rational and judging mindset into a curious and investigating mindset. After a while your mind adapts and ideas flow more easily. Keep in mind that it's not important that the ideas are feasible. That's for later. Important for now is that your mind start to generate ideas.

1. A very common use is the cup holder.

2. In a cup holder the cup fits in nicely. But we can make the holder bigger just as a protection on the table against pushing down, for example a child's glass lemonade.
Or we could place such a mug over something to prevent it from toppling or rolling off the table. For example we could make a kind of sleeve to put around a narrow top-heavy vase.

It is important not to stick to heavily to the initial use. Look at the bottomless mug as something totally new and try to imagine what kind of uses it can have.

3. When we open up the bottom we could eventually fill the mug from the bottom. Why should we want to do that? Well because it's quicker, see http://www.bottomsupbeer.com.

Or because the coffee cools down less during filling. Or because the milk and coffee can filled very gently without mixing together.

4. Come up with one or two more ideas for a bottomless mug.

Next time we remove the cylinder. In the meantime visualize it and imagine some uses of it.

SIT process

Ok, the process (in stead of product one can read service as well):

1. Take a product,
2. Tear it down into its parts (not really, we just describing them),
3. Manipulate those parts (one of the five SIT techniques),
4. See if we can make some value out of the new product (THE creative step).

Indeed we don't start from the end (e.g. a customer desire), or from the beginning (e.g. a new available technique), we start just in the middle from an existing product.

1. Let's take a product, a coffee mug for example.

2. A mug (or any object for that matter) has two kind of parts, internal and external parts:
The internal parts of a mug are:

1. the bottom,
2. the cylinder,
3. the ear,
4. a picture, text or the like on the mug.

The external parts are in fact endless, they describe the surrounding world of a mug:

1. spoon
2. coffee
3. cocoa
4. cinnamon
5. water
6. milk
7. sugar
8. tea
9. biscuit
10. table
11. laptop
12. book
13. game
14. newspaper
15. coffee machine
16. kettle
17. cupboard
18. dishwasher
19. tray
20. kitchen
21. living room
22. breakfast
23. coffee time
24. lunch
25. after dinner
26. coffee beans
27. coffee plantation
28. etcetera

SIT concentrates in the first place on the controllable internal parts.

3. Now we come to manipulating the (internal) parts. Five kinds of manipulations cover 70% of the innovations. Those five kinds are:

1. removing and replacing,
2. multiplying,
3. merging,
4. dividing and rearranging,
5. changing dependencies.

Removing the bottom of a coffee mug, what value can be in there?

4. Be creative!

SIT essentials

What is SIT essentially?

Essentially in SIT an object is teared down into its parts, one or more of its parts are manipulated in some way, all parts are then put together again and finally we look if the new object has some value.

Nature is doing this several billion years already.

Nature shows the limits and power of SIT. Nature never invented the wheel as we know. But nature innovated the human brain as it is now. SIT is capable to extract all innovations that are potentially already within the object. Innovations outside the object will not show up.

So if you want to innovate your product portfolio and keeping it recognizable, doable and controllable use SIT.

If you want to go beyond put yourself in a tree, elephant or amoeba and let them solve your design problem.
But don't be surprised if the market needs some centuries to appreciate your product.

Systematic Inventive Thinking: innovation for SMEs!

I pick up my blog again with SIT.

The most important thing of SIT is that we are going to be innovative with products, services, techniques and knowledge we already possess. We don't need extra knowledge or techniques from an outer source such as an university or a knowledge institute like TNO.

1. And that last one is a big advantage because innovation processes already involve some uncertainties. So eliminating language difficulties which may arise between us and universities and the sort is a good thing.
2. Another advantage is of course that we can develop innovative products and services within our own company where we have more control over the process which makes it faster and cheaper.
3. A third advantage is that the resulting innovative product or service has some similarities with our existing products or services which makes it more recognizable and therefor more acceptable for clients.

These three advantages make SIT very effective and efficient and especially suitable for SMEs (MKB) and self-employed (ZZP-ers).

So what I'm going to blog in the next weeks is practicing SIT. I'll just start with products and services that pop up with me. Be welcome to bring in your product or service. I'll be happy to look what SIT can make of it.

And you would make me very happy if you pick up the many opportunities that SIT can offer you and you start to innovate by yourself!