Note: If you already have a bunch of web application ideas, you can skip these idea generation exercises. BUT, if you only have, say, 2-3 ideas, I’d highly recommend doing at least one of the exercise to get that number up to at least 8-10. If you do skip these exercises, make sure that you still write out your List of Web Application Ideas on a new page in your notebook! Also, note that you do still need to go through the Picking and Breaking Down Your Web Application Idea exercise with your ideas!
The general technique involves three steps:
- Come up with a list of “pains”
- Come up with ideas for ways to fix each of those pains
- Check to see if those ideas would work as web applications
Below, I’ll walk you through each step. And you can see examples of how I generated my own ideas at the very end of this exercise.
1. Come up with a list of “pains”
This is the brainstorming step where you’ll come up with a list of “pains.” You’re most likely experiencing a pain when:
- when you say to yourself “why doesn’t this work like x?”
- something frustrates you
- something inconveniences you
- something annoys you or pisses you off
- you encounter something you think could really be done better
- a friend or coworker mentions something that inconveniences/annoys/bothers them
They come in all shapes and sizes. Below you’ll find a list of prompts — different situations or feelings you may encounter throughout your day — to use to help you come up with your own List of Pains.
Follow these steps to generate to your List of Pains:
- Pick (4) of the prompts in the List of Pain Situation Prompts list below
- In your notebook, or Field Notes, write each of the 4 prompts at the top of four different pages.
- Turn to the page in your notebook with the first prompt listed at the top. Set a timer for one minute and then, on that page, write down all of the pains you can think of related to that prompt.
- Repeat step #3 for all four prompts.
After this, you should now have a nice List of Pains.
List of Pain Situation Prompts
In the various situations and scenarios below, what: are you thinking about; what inconveniences or annoys you; frustrates you; what do you think could be done better?
Situations & Scenarios
- during your morning routine / when you’re getting ready for work
- while driving to work
- work-related tasks you perform throughout your day
- scheduling
- when you’re getting ready for the gym and/or working out
- when do you curse?
- what tools do you use throughout the day? what do you like about them? what not? what tools do you use together?
- what are things you or your friends complain about?
- what takes a really long time that you wish didn’t?
- when you’re using public transportation
- planning to / going out to a bar or restaurant with your friends
- organizing / planning for a trip
- preparing a work presentation / attending a conference
- planning related to your kids
- tracking your money, finances, or expenses
- planning a party
- remembering important dates or birthdays
2. Come up with ideas for ways to fix each of those pains
The next step is to translate those Lists of Pains into a single List of Ideas. To do this, you’ll devise ideas for solutions to fix each of the pains. When coming up with your “fix ideas”, try and think about:
- how you would approach the problem/pain
- how you would alleviate the pain, or make it better
- what the “fix” would look, or feel like; how would you know if the pain/problem was solved?
Follow these steps to generate your List of Ideas:
- Turn to the next page in your notebook and write List of Ideas at the top.
- Go through each of the pains in your different lists and, for each pain, think about solution that would fix that pain. Add each “fix idea” to the List of Ideas in your notebook.
- Perform step #2 until you’ve gone through all of the pains in your lists.
You should now have a complete List of Ideas, with one idea for each of the pains you originally brainstormed.
3. Checking to see if your ideas work as web applications
A lot of your ideas simply won’t translate to web applications, and that’s okay!
But since you’re ultimately trying to come up with an idea that will work as a web application, we need to filter out those ideas that won’t work.
Follow these steps to determine which ideas will work as web apps:
- Using the The Web Application Idea Quiz below, ask yourself the first question in the Quiz. Then go through each item in your List of Ideas, and if you can answer “Yes” to the question for that idea, put a checkmark next to it.
- Repeat step #1 for each question in The Web Application Idea Quiz.
- Circle all of the ideas in your List of Ideas that have at least five checkmarks next to them.
- On a new page in your notebook, write List of Web Application Ideas at the top, and then copy over all of the ideas you circled on the previous pages.
You now have a list of viable web application ideas!
The Web Application Idea Quiz
Does the idea:
- involve information that can be easily input (or information that’s already in electronic form)?
- not require a bunch of people to all be in the same place at one time in order to function well?
- involves, or benefits from, interactions between different people/users?
- makes information available to others that would otherwise be hard to access?
- improves efficiency, or reduces the time it takes to perform a common task (e.g. something that could replace a task for which you currently use an Excel spreadsheet)?
- involve dynamic information that changes or frequently needs to be updated?
- does NOT require a bunch of real-time or location-based data (things much better suited to mobile applications)
- does NOT require access to a lot of hard-to-access, outside data or external systems (financial info., proprietary business info., such as pricing details, etc.)
An example of the completed exercise
Lists of Pains
morning routine / getting ready for work
- running out of tea
- cleaning the cat’s litter box
- scraping off the car windows
- not having ingredients left to make my breakfast
work-related tasks
- scheduling my days
- organizing tasks, staying on task
- responding to coding questions
- writing consistently
going to a bar/restaurant with friends
- paying a check
- parking
- figuring out a place/time to go; meeting up
- what to wear
organizing/preparing for a trip
- packing
- discovering all the things you want to do/see
- buying tickets for events
- if business, tracking expenses
Lists of Fixes
morning routine / getting ready for work
- something to track/predict when i’ll run out of tea and send me a reminder to buy more ✓✓✓✓✓
- a super-duper littler box that cleans itself!
- a button to turn the car on with defrosters blazing at a certain time before i have to get in it
- a system to track all the food in the fridge to help determine what/how much to buy each week ✓✓✓✓✓
work-related tasks
- a better system for setting blocks of time each day for different tasks and tracking what works best when ✓✓✓✓
- a system to add my daily tasks and track how long certain tasks typically take ✓✓✓✓
- a system where people can ask me coding questions and i can respond to them ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
- something that tracks my writing sessions, helps me organize my ideas, motivates me to do it consistently ✓✓✓✓
going to a bar/restaurant with friends
- system to split a check and pay for the bill with X different credit cards ✓✓
- something that points you to the best/cheapest parking right as you’re arriving at your destination ✓✓
- a combination scheduling + voting system to pick both a date/time and a restaurant/bar to go to ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
- something that, based on the restaurant, tells me the dress code and recommends outfit combinations based on what i own ✓✓✓✓✓✓
organizing/preparing for a trip
- a system that tracks what i pack when i go different places and lets me queue up those lists when i travel back to them, or to similar places ✓✓✓✓✓✓
- something that lets you tag things you’re interested in, have family/friends send you recommendations, make recommendations based on your interests ✓✓✓✓✓
- a system that you can give it a max amount of $, and it purchases the best tickets for the events you want to attend, according to the times you’re available ✓✓
- an easy way to just take a picture of a receipt and have it automatically be submitted to your company as a business expense ✓✓✓✓
List of Web Application Ideas
- something to track/predict when i’ll run out of tea and send me a reminder to buy more
- a system to track all the food in the fridge to help determine what/how much to buy each week
- a system where people can ask me coding questions and i can respond to them
- a combination scheduling + voting system to pick both a date/time and a restaurant/bar to go to
- something that, based on the restaurant, tells me the dress code and recommends outfit combinations based on what i own
- a system that tracks what i pack when i go different places and lets me queue up those lists when i travel back to them, or to similar places
- something that lets you tag things you’re interested in, have family/friends send you recommendations, make recommendations based on your interests
