The Power of the ‘Back of the Napkin’ for Innovation and Quality

Many powerful ideas have humble beginnings

A few days after returning from a speaking engagement at the Innovate for Excellence Summit in Chicago last September, I spoke to Susan, an old classmate. We chatted for a while, and naturally the conversation drifted toward innovation—something we’re both passionate about. She asked me about my presentation, and I mentioned how often I use the phrase, “Been there, done that,” in my talks about TRIZ (a Russian acronym for Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch, which translates to “theory of inventive problem solving”). The perplexed look on her face made it clear I needed to explain further.

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Comments

Existing book: The back of the napkin

I am just surprised tha you did not mentionned the existing and popular book: The back of the napkin.

Regards

Robert

Back of the Napkin Comment response.

Hello Robert,

Thank you for your comments and for pointing out this anomaly. I did not know of the book, although I now feel that I might have seen the title somewhere at an airport during travels, intrigued by it, and it stuck in the back of my head. I'm going to get it; and I'm sure I'll get some new ideas. Additionally, I'm adding it as a PS at the end of my forwards of the article folks on my mailing list. So, again, Thanks, and hope you found some value in this article, even if only to re-invigorate dormant ideas. Feel free to reach out / connect on Linkedin.

Cheers!

Focus

Good insights. The limited space on the “back of a napkin” also forces concise expression of the idea. That helps keep focus on the essential aspects without extraneous detail.

Thank you Rolf. I hope it…

Thank you Rolf. I hope it helps re-ignite dormant ideas and re-invigorate folks into collective doodling, building on ideas, and letting the creativity flow.

BTW, Rolf, another reader commented that there is a book by the same name: Existing book: The back of the napkin

and I plan to check it out. Perhaps you may want to as well. Again, thanks.

Akhilesh