Write it down. As important as the solution write down the problem you are trying to solve, who the customer is (everyone is not a customer), what the key features and benefits of your approach will be, and what are the real alternatives (could be many different aspects of the status quo) that you are replacing.
To the extent that you are supplying the last piece to an emerging technology (see Business Week "Long Nose of Innovation" article) you may be more successful than something that represents a complete break with existing efforts. This doesn't mean that technology has to come from the industry or discipline that you are focused on, it's also a valid approach to find a solution from one field and re-purpose it in another. Andrew Hargadon offers the example of the developers of the Reebok Pump shoe using proven "air cast" technology to build a pump for a basketball shoe.
Since you get a lot of ideas you should keep two master files: the solutions you have come up with and the problems you have identified. A number of posters have pointed out that good ideas may take a while to percolate so develop a system for writing them down and keeping track of them.
We offer a 97 page workbook called "Mapping the Path From Idea to Revenue" that we make available to anyone willing to answer the first seven questions in the book.
To the extent that you are supplying the last piece to an emerging technology (see Business Week "Long Nose of Innovation" article) you may be more successful than something that represents a complete break with existing efforts. This doesn't mean that technology has to come from the industry or discipline that you are focused on, it's also a valid approach to find a solution from one field and re-purpose it in another. Andrew Hargadon offers the example of the developers of the Reebok Pump shoe using proven "air cast" technology to build a pump for a basketball shoe.
Since you get a lot of ideas you should keep two master files: the solutions you have come up with and the problems you have identified. A number of posters have pointed out that good ideas may take a while to percolate so develop a system for writing them down and keeping track of them.
We offer a 97 page workbook called "Mapping the Path From Idea to Revenue" that we make available to anyone willing to answer the first seven questions in the book.
Mapping Path from Idea to Revenue http://www.skmurphy.com/services/workbook/
First Seven Questions in Developing a Software Product http://www.skmurphy.com/resources/developing-a-product/first...
The long nose of innovation http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2008/id20080...
The Trouble with "out of box" thinking (Hargadon Interviewed) http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/v4i30_hargadon.html
How Breakthroughs Happen by Andrew Hargadon http://www.amazon.com/How-Breakthroughs-Happen-Surprising-Co...