Think Tank – Daniel 22

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 27 July 2020 and more recent episodes.]

[Relevant back story links also within text.]

Daniel was sat in the dark. It was the best place to be while trying out innovative blue sky thinking. He’d often close his eyes mid-way through a work session just to aid focus and clear his mind. And sometimes the people who he was working with at that point would accuse him of going to sleep. However, sitting in the dark was really the best way to dredge alternative ways forward from the back of his mind, conjuring ideas, surprise and value from the darkness that surrounded him. 

Without being able to see anything, he reasoned, he wouldn’t be influenced by anything and therefore would start from a blank canvas. Although literally speaking he couldn’t even see the canvas at the moment, although that in turn meant his ideas could be any size or shape. And then he realised he’d been thinking about thinking for too long and should probably just come up with some ideas for the Crown app solution that he could present to Sandra.

Puppets:

Marketing obviously, but what else? Could they be a useful internal communication tool? Could they actually be used among teams for discussing ideas, venting views and designing solutions? By enabling everyone involved to speak through a puppet rather than having to talk out loud maybe ideas would be more creative because they’d be less self-conscious. But then they may be more self-conscious about performing through puppets and get hung up over how well they can manipulate them rather than considering the freedom they gave. Idea value 8. Practicality: 6 or 7.

App extensions:

This was an interesting area of consideration. Crown was about organisation – getting certain things recorded and presented in a certain way but also linking those things together so that users could find what they needed and see how each part interlinked. Mr Sparklehat, for example had ‘hat’ in his Everyday Items area, but it was also linked across with the Monthly Maintenance section because how would a hat sparkle if it did not get a new coating of sparkles every month?

What could happen then is there could be a link to external resources – a list of hat sparkle maintenance companies. And taking this further maybe there should be links to the latest trends and styles for sparkle hats – just so people could be certain they were on trend at all times.

External links, that was what was needed in order to raise profile and go beyond what was there now. Do it right and the app would become a neat all in one solution for everyone. Idea value: 9. Practicality: 8.

Social side

OK. Foot down, take this further. What if Crown also extended to give users links to other users (helpful experts, co-workers, sharing job opportunities)? What if Crown enabled you to share photos, music, multi-media to make life and work essentially fun? But then would this distract from the essential reason why people would want to use Crown in the first place? Why would anyone who wanted to work more efficiently care about being able to share a playlist with someone else? Idea value: 5, 7 if feeling generous. Practicality: 8.

Other ideas flitted through. A ‘Lite’ version of the app which would give users a taster but not the whole thing. Cheaper, but still a subscription service. Industry specific versions (although this might just require careful renaming and marketing rather than anything greater).

And then suddenly Daniel was thinking about a different way of using the technology entirely. Something personal, effective and with a clear deliverable. What if he used the app in order to get Daisy back into his life? He could use the initial think lists to weigh up the pros and cons. He could use the free thinking function to toss around ideas about what it would be like to have her back and what they would do. He could even use the Everyday Items and Monthly Maintenance sections to demonstrate how well equipped he would be to look after his daughter. It might even help him put together a watertight argument if they ever got into a legal battle over custody.

And now his mind had him in a court room, sharing screenshots with a judge while also suggesting he listen to a couple of really fantastic tracks from his playlist and watch a video presentation of all the lovely times he and his daughter had had together. This would be supported by a clearly thought out timetable of activities, management of getting her to school and clear evidence of the financial stability to deliver exactly what she wanted when she wanted it. Financial stability, which in a neat circular fashion would be additionally supported by the work and presentation made today in this court, m’lud.

Daniel opened his eyes and turned the light on in the kitchen to make a cup of tea and write some notes up. He might have gone a bit too far. But there again…