All new ideas have a beginning somewhere. The history of innovative ideas is littered with examples of innovations that first arose in the mind of the innovator 10 or 20 years previously. Our best really good ideas don't come fully formed, or named, or with clear benefit. They are fleeting, vague and hard to grasp.
New ideas appear in a flash and vanish just as quickly. They defy description. Hopefully, the best of these ideas return again and again.
It takes courage to put time and effort into exploring such vague ideas; to turn them into a strong, practical idea with a clear use value. I call this process "Elephant Mapping" based on the idea of a blind man trying to imagine what an elephant is like, by exploring it's parts with his hands. This new idea is an unexplored territory, you can't yet tell how big it is or what advantages or disadvantages it may hold. To begin to understand you need a "map" to explain what you are exploring.
The "map" is only a plan of the territory. The history of innovation is littered with first "maps" that were wrong in some critical way. Every innovation has a "hiding hand" somewhere. As a result the innovator has unexpected problems. There is often a reluctance to examine and revise the "map" since so much depends on the "map" being right.
Think of your new concept as a "elephant" and try to understand what it's really like.
Adapt to Experience Homepage