# Brief Notes on the Idea Maze - Commoncog **URL:** \ **Category:** Blog Comments\ **Created:** [August 23, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.commoncog.com/t/brief-notes-on-the-idea-maze-commoncog/1193 "2022-08-23T03:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/user_avatar/forum.commoncog.com/cedric/32/3_2.png) [@cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/u/cedric)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.commoncog.com/t/brief-notes-on-the-idea-maze-commoncog/1193/1 "2022-08-23T03:50:04Z")
We’ve seen a number of Idea Maze cases so far. What leaps out at you? What doesn’t? In this piece, I  want to talk a little about what’s leapt out to _me_ while I wrote and researched these cases. If your conclusions are different from mine, don’t fret — it’s likely that your takes are just as (if not more) valid than my conclusions, especially when read in the context of your operating domain. * * * This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://commoncog.com/brief-notes-idea-maze/](https://commoncog.com/brief-notes-idea-maze/) ---
**Author:** ![cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/user_avatar/forum.commoncog.com/cedric/32/3_2.png) [@cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/u/cedric)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://forum.commoncog.com/t/brief-notes-on-the-idea-maze-commoncog/1193/2 "2022-11-30T07:44:10Z")
A reader, Michael Webb, just sent me his list of notes that he made while reading through the Idea Maze. I thought some of these takeaways were really insightful — and things that I didn’t even think about. I’ve gotten permission to share his list here: - Often you need to do **lots of experiments**. You don’t know in advance what will work! (e.g. iPhone keyboard; ByteDance multiple new apps) And **generate lots of ideas** (which may seem stupid); can then **do analysis** to consider before progressing/discarding (e.g., Amazon had lots of ideas to increase convenience of shipping before Prime idea; did rigorous analysis to figure out which ones were worth progressing). - Put **people who have the idea on/in charge** of the problem the idea solves, even if it’s not their area of expertise (e.g., Apple promoting the guy who had the keyboard idea to be DRI for it; Amazon taking an engineer who had similar Prime idea and putting him on what was a business project; Microsoft promoting Sinofsky who had idea for bundling Office as Technical Assistant to Gates to be Group Program Manager of new Office business unit). - It’s fine to do stuff that **looks stupid** at the beginning. (iPhone keyboard designs) - Adjust your **internal structure** to **reflect your strategy** (Microsoft re-org’ing Office) - If you expect customer behaviour to change as a function of some new feature/opportunity, think too about how long you expect it will take and **be prepared to wait that long**! (Prime: took **2 years** before data showed Prime customers doubled spending on Amazon; not so surprising given most customers shopped online only a few times a year.) - Do rigorous **resource prioritization**. This requires knowing what the priorities are (e.g., the keyboard for the iPhone). Double down on the things that start to look like they’re working (making the inventor of the best prototype keyboard the DRI). - Go after the **obvious people** who need to use your product. Don’t build stuff for yourself because it’s technically interesting. (General Magic) - Don’t **bite off more complexity** than you need to. (General Magic) - You can get away with early failures if you **keep iterating** in response to feedback. (PayPal) - If something fails, **draw the right lesson**. It could be the concept was bad, or it could just be it was badly executed. (ByteDance) - Figure out **what your users like** , and do more of that. (Instagram) - Set **deadlines** to get things done (Bezos Prime membership, starting mid-Oct, “by end of the year”). - Even if you’re growing, may not be **fast enough**. Amazon Q3 y-o-y was 15% vs 12% previous year; Best Buy at 17%. Recognise as “house-on-fire” issue. - Big companies **spend lots on marketing**. (E.g. Microsoft spent \>$200m on marketing for release of Windows/Office 95.) ---
**Author:** ![cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/user_avatar/forum.commoncog.com/cedric/32/3_2.png) [@cedric](https://forum.commoncog.com/u/cedric)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://forum.commoncog.com/t/brief-notes-on-the-idea-maze-commoncog/1193/3 "2022-11-30T07:44:11Z")