How-To Generate Ideas #10: Ask, Ask, Ask Questions

“Computers are useless.

They can only give you answers” (Pablo Picasso)

Albert Einstein, the famous scientist, was once asked: “What would you do if you have 60 minutes to save the world from the collision with a large meteorite?” Einstein wittily replied, “I would spend the first 55 minutes asking questions and the last 5 minutes to find a solution.”

Asking questions is a great way to explore any problem and discover many new solution ideas. When we ask questions, we awaken our sense of curiosity – a gift that we all had since we’re born. Curiosity will breed new idea but first it must start with a right question. Vanessa Redgrave advices: “Ask the right questions if you're going to find the right answers.” Asking the right questions in a more targeted way with a good questioning process will give us a better understanding of our problem at hand and thus be able to generate more practical ideas.

5W’s and 1H (or the 5 Wishes and 1 Hope): Who, Why, What, When, Where and How questioning process is very helpful. For example, let’s say I want to create new ways to experience the Bible daily. My questions can be:

Why I have to read the Bible story only through book? How about audiobooks, songs or movies? Why not reading or listening to different versions every year? How about learning to read the Bible in other translations? How about organizing a conference where people continually reading the whole Bible nonstop until it finished? Why not make the Bible drama? Or expressing it in a group dance? When is the best time to read it? Early morning or mid-night or every tea breaks? Where? Under the bridge, in the wood, up on the tree or by the lakeside? Read to Muslims in the mosque or Hindus and Buddhists in the temple? How about listening to audiobook while stuck in the traffic jam? Since the Bible is quite a bulky book, why not tear it into each single book and carry it along anywhere you go and proceed with the new book after you finished reading it? Why not speaking the Bible instead just reading it? Why not creating a Bible when I press the words the book will make sound and read it for me?

Surprisingly, when I asked these questions to a group of people I was sometime considered a ‘rebel’ person (and laughed at). But as the Chinese proverb said: “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” Ask, ask, ask questions and many fresh and exciting new ideas you will get.

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)