Ideation Management: End-User Training and Guidelines for the Implementation

Elena Humeniuk

PPM Consultant

Ideation management is essential for promoting innovation and creating an efficient system to harmonize/streamline the idea intake process. For demand managers, a critical factor is the timely design and creation of proper intake/ideation forms. Also, the method provides support in reducing the training time. This article presents different ideation strategies, including relevant tools and training techniques for improving the end-user experience.

Definition of Ideation

Ideation refers to the creative aspect of how concepts are generated and transformed into new ideas. Ideation is essential in organizations as it facilitates innovation by providing the chance to explore various approaches/methodologies, improve goods and services, and manage and execute processes. Product ideation is critical when outlining unique and novel solutions or defining new or improved forms of services and products. It enables the alignment of ideas with business goals, ensuring these are transformed into actionable items.

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The Ideation Process and Intake Forms

The ideation process typically starts with identifying opportunities or challenges that need addressing, followed by brainstorming and evaluating potential solutions. As organizations increasingly adopt structured ideation strategies, well-designed intake forms ensure consistency in capturing, evaluating, and executing ideas effectively.

Creating these forms involves strategic thinking, clarity, and alignment with company goals. Forms must capture detailed information without overwhelming users. They must also be intuitive, reducing training efforts for end-users.

Ideation Management Training

A significant challenge with ideation management is the lack of proper training. Even if all the ideation tools and processes are perfect, they are unlikely to work if the people who work with them are not properly trained. One of the common pitfalls for many organizations is the assumption that end-users will understand the new systems by themselves. Simple and explicit instructions with live samples in the intake forms need to be added to address this issue.

In this regard, the organization can provide guidelines, examples, or sample entries on the forms in computerized format, removing the need for form development kits. This ensures that the team adopts the right approach to complete the forms at the beginning. As a result, no additional time-consuming training session is required.

Development of Effective Ideation Forms

• Align Forms with Business Objectives. Ensure form fields contain only enough information to help with the ideation strategy.
• Simplify the Structure. It must be easy to use so users can adapt quickly without dealing with a complicated system.
• Embed Guidelines. Include tooltips and pop-ups or even incorporate samples right into the form to limit the training period.
• Use Visual Cues. This makes the content more readable and easier to use. It also makes inserting icons, color-coding, and dividing text into logically connected sections easier.
• Integrate Ideate Software. There will be a need to incorporate ideation software to enhance the efficiency of the idea intake process.

Tools and Software for ideation

Practical ideation management tools and software must be in place for capturing, nurturing, and advancing ideas across the organization. In this regard, PPM Express has emerged as an excellent solution that helps overcome many problems associated with project and portfolio management. In addition, it helps in stimulating the development of ideas and innovative solutions.

PPM Express Features

• Ideation and Innovation Management. PPM Express provides robust capabilities for ideation management. Employees can submit their ideas and vote for them. Afterward, demand managers can proceed with them to align with organizational goals.
• Idea Evaluation and Prioritization. PPM Express allows organizations to set custom evaluation criteria that align with their unique goals. For example, ideas can be assessed based on feasibility, alignment with strategic objectives, ROI potential, or customer satisfaction impact. This flexibility ensures that the evaluation process is tailored to specific organizational priorities. These features help focus on the most valuable opportunities.
• Comprehensive Integration Capabilities. One of the significant advantages of using PPM Express is that it integrates smoothly with other known project management tools like Microsoft Project, Planner, Azure DevOps, Jira Software, Smartsheet, and Monday.com. This feature allows team members to work effectively and collaborate seamlessly, even in an environment with multiple systems.
• Centralized Data Management. The ideation management process is like a workflow that involves generating, collecting, and managing ideas. In this regard, PPM Express compiles all the information using various tools and provides a dashboard to view the ideation process better. The “big picture” approach helps simplify the ideas for demand managers’ detailed consideration and enables them to foresee how ideas fit into the total organizational strategy.
• Intuitive Project Timelines and Dependencies. PPM Express enhances the ideation process by adding project timelines and related constraints. These features provide support in reviewing the progress.
• Real-Time Resource Tracking and Planning. During the idea’s implementation phase, resource management is critical. PPM Express offers real-time resource management. This feature assists demand managers in managing team capacity and ensuring that resources are properly utilized to support and implement new ideas and projects.
• Interactive Performance Analytics. PPM Express provides over 200 pre-configured Power BI reports to support project portfolio management. Using this, you can analyze the important trends to achieve organizational objectives more effectively.
• Automation and AI Capabilities. PPM Express automation features minimize the manual effort required to prepare and execute the demand plans. As a result, demand managers and teams can dedicate their efforts to other important tasks rather than concentrating on manual work. This will speed up the whole process of absorbing ideas.

By implementing PPM Express, you can foster innovation and develop an ideation culture, as the tool provides you with the best possible features for ideation management.

Ideation Techniques to Encourage Participation

The idea-generation process will increase engagement in creative thinking and boost participation. Below are some common ideation methods that you can embed within intake forms:

• Brainstorming is a method for getting as many concepts as possible quickly.
• Mind mapping enables you to see how your ideas relate to one another. For example, when diagrams map an idea, it is easy to arrange thoughts and identify connections between them.

Including these techniques using the intake forms makes users more likely to submit more comprehensive ideas, eliminating the need for many training sessions.

Conclusion

Ideation management is not just about getting ideas; it is about planning and designing the process that includes tools for successfully generating ideas. Demand managers are partially responsible for the form design, which aligns with organizational objectives and ensures that the forms integrate well with existing processes, with minimal training requirements.

Using PPM Express enables organizations to have improved tools that enhance the automation of ideation processes, matching idea flow and strategic direction.

By mastering ideation and ideas integration into the intake forms, organizations can make a powerful addition to their teams’ plans, receive regular actionable ideas, and feel the shift to sustainable growth.