Sharing ideas

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  • duncan drennan
    Email problem

    • Jun 2006
    • 2642

    #1

    Sharing ideas

    I've had this theory for a while that often engineers (or people in general) hold onto their ideas tightly and don't share them, mainly because they feel that they hold some high intrinsic value. This is the source of patents, and so on. Often, I think, good ideas are lost because they were never shared, but instead kept, and not acted on. A good idea not acted on is essentially nothing - vapour.

    Seth Godin just happens to have articulated this well.

    History is littered with inventors who had "great" ideas but kept them quiet and then poorly executed them. And history is lit up with do-ers who took ideas that were floating around in the ether and actually made something happen. In fact, just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed.

    So, if you've got ideas, let them go. They're probably holding you back from the hard work of actually executing.

    Read the full blog post

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  • Dave A
    Site Caretaker

    • May 2006
    • 22807

    #2
    One thing I have noticed - There are lots of people with ideas, but people that have the ability to "make things happen" seem to be a scarcer breed.
    Last edited by Dave A; 14-Sep-07, 08:37 AM.
    Participation is voluntary.

    Alcocks Electrical Services | Alcocks Pest Control & Entomological Services | Alcocks Hygiene Services

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    • Chatmaster
      Platinum Member

      • Aug 2006
      • 1065

      #3
      One thing that I feel is true is that when you share ideas you often end up with something much better. Then again you can probably end up without something better. I often see that the greatest minds keep their ideas to themselves and we end up never to see or experience their fantastic concepts and ideas. My father is one of those that had (as a retired engineer) a great concept on how formula 1 cars could increase their power delivery by almost 70% and reduce fuel consumption by a large percentage as well. The irony is that the idea is very simple and basically one of the parts needs to be replaced. The idea was revolutionary, but will never see the light of day because he never shared it with anyone. Today at 72 he hardly talks about it and I wish I understood the detail the day he actually did talked to me.

      What is also amazing is to see the amount of patents registered with the US patents offices. It is incredibly entertaining to read through these patents, but most importantly it gets the brain juices going reading through it. I often find that I think of ideas of my own that many times is completely unrelated to the patent I am reading, but it was able to trigger an idea.

      Perhaps patents should be openly discussed in a world public forum and we will be surprised on the positive effect it will have on our technology. But then again we are so afraid that our ideas might make someone else allot of money...
      Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
      Enterprise Art Management Software| Rock flaps south africa

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      • duncan drennan
        Email problem

        • Jun 2006
        • 2642

        #4
        Originally posted by Chatmaster
        Perhaps patents should be openly discussed in a world public forum and we will be surprised on the positive effect it will have on our technology. But then again we are so afraid that our ideas might make someone else allot of money...
        My current attitude is that there are some things that I will definitely do, some I would like to do and a lot that I will never actually put the effort into to make materialise. The ones that I will definitely do I discuss rarely, the ones I'll never do are free for anyone to do what they want with, and the rest I'm still toying with what the best approach is.

        The biggest problem I have is discussing the idea openly, and then someone somehow manages to patent, or apply some other protection to the idea so that no one else is able to use it. That is the worse possible outcome, in my opinion.

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        • Chatmaster
          Platinum Member

          • Aug 2006
          • 1065

          #5
          Originally posted by dsd
          The biggest problem I have is discussing the idea openly, and then someone somehow manages to patent, or apply some other protection to the idea so that no one else is able to use it. That is the worse possible outcome, in my opinion.
          Absolutely true. The irony is also that most of those ideas people steal from others and patent it, never materialize either. It is truly sorry that this is the case but I guess it is part of human nature?
          Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
          Enterprise Art Management Software| Rock flaps south africa

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          • duncan drennan
            Email problem

            • Jun 2006
            • 2642

            #6
            I suppose you just have to attach an appropriate license, e.g. creative commons, which would prohibit that sort of action. Theoretically (I think) patents can't be public knowledge, but some small twists of the details and that may make it patentable - at least in some countries.

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            • Chatmaster
              Platinum Member

              • Aug 2006
              • 1065

              #7
              You raise a good point Duncan.

              I honestly do not know into how much detail they go with evaluating the patents but I am sure that they do have to check if their is similarities between patents in most countries, what is the use of having a patent then?

              Something else I have been wondering about is the possibility to re register a patent from the US in South Africa, will it work? Do you have to register patents world wide in each individual country? I know there is some sort of International agreement amongst a whole lot countries that we will not infringe on trademarks, but would like to know more about the conditions on trademarks. Perhaps our resident lawyer can help out a bit?
              Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
              Enterprise Art Management Software| Rock flaps south africa

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              • duncan drennan
                Email problem

                • Jun 2006
                • 2642

                #8
                Originally posted by Chatmaster
                Something else I have been wondering about is the possibility to re register a patent from the US in South Africa, will it work? Do you have to register patents world wide in each individual country?
                This is actually one of the things that I don't understand about patents. I know that you can get worldwide patents. Often people only patent the idea in the country of origin and the countries it will be manufactured and sold in. I'm not sure about the extent of a South African patent, or what the world wide agreements are.

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                • AnthonyVZ
                  Junior Member
                  • Jan 2012
                  • 11

                  #9
                  The Institute of Inventors (www.iii.org.za) is a great place for inventors to network, chat about their ideas and "how to get the ball rolling". They hold monthly meetings in Johannesburg.

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                  • Missnancyalex
                    Email problem

                    • Dec 2011
                    • 106

                    #10
                    I only want to share one thing "Great idea’s are come from nowhere and go nowhere!” by Nancy Alex
                    It looks stupid but true reality…

                    Chatmaster duncan drennan
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                    • adrianh
                      Diamond Member

                      • Mar 2010
                      • 6328

                      #11
                      Duncan,

                      Its a lot more complicated than just sharing ideas. I have many ideas that are viable, no, not pie in the sky, things that can be made fairly easily and turned into viable products / industries. I certainly don't have enough time to make them happen but once they are in the public domain other people certainly will. Some are fairly obvious, given a bit of lateral thinking.

                      How the question are;
                      1. How do I profit from the ideas?
                      2. Why do I give away ideas to people who are unable to think laterally themselves?
                      3. Why should I, they are of my own creation therefore they belong to me?

                      Don't get me wrong, I exchange ideas and techniques with like minded people all the time, the only way to broaden one's knowledge is to teach and learn, but I have a problem with leaches who suck up ideas like vacuum cleaners and give nothing in return. The other problem with such people is that they take your idea or technique, spread it around and destroy your position in the market.

                      There is another problem to consider and that is money which one needs to develop ideas; Hiring engineers cost a lot of money (as you should know) and they may or may not develop the idea properly. Another angle is to give each engineer enough information to develop his little piece, but that creates huge problems when the product is intergrated.

                      Could the answer lie in building a company large enough so that it is able to have contracted engineers?
                      Does the answer lie in having the expertese in-house?
                      Does the answer lie in learning to do everyting yourself...time is the problem.

                      You are into electronics, I can think of numerous electronic products that are viable and can be developed by a skilled person very quickly;

                      1. A product using a microprocessor a 3 axis accelerometer and some light (led or EL) - a real sideways novelty application.
                      2. A slightly off the wall CNC milling machine (mostly mechanical design though)
                      3. Building 5 or 6 axis milling machines (its a lot easier than you might think)
                      4. A USB CNC handheld controller (I developed the hardware using a PIC18F4550 ,some buttons and an LCD) and got quite a bit of it to work - UNI-directionally, I am just to doff to get the C++ based PC interface to give me bi-directional comms.
                      4.1. If you are really bright you could do it via Wi Fi - at least all the USB interfacing nonsense goes away.
                      4.2. Write an android app to run the CNC via Wi Fi, then all the hardware issues go away. If you know C++ and coding for Android this should be fairly simple. (If you do this properly and you know for which machine there is lots of easy money to be made by selling it via the Android market)
                      4.3. Wi Fi based controls with a simple plug and play interface i.e. a Wi Fi based controller for a sprinkler system, garage door opener etc.
                      5. Adapting common communication mechanisms to other products. (You'll be surprised how easily it can be done with a bit of lateral thinking - here is a market that you could putentially turn upside down)
                      6. Led lighting in untapped markets (there is one market that nobody has ever looked at (as far as I can see) - all it will take is to make a suitable PCB with protection etc - nothing much)
                      7. For my own use and maybe for others, a PLC driving the laser or CNC that can turn the machine off and sms me when it is done.
                      8. A talking multimeter - I don't like having to glance back and forth between the probes and the screen.

                      These are a couple of ideas floating around in my head, If I could code quickly in C++ and Android I would make easy money. I still have many ideas for products made using the laser, CNC and injection moulding but that is for another discussion.

                      The bottom line, ideas spring from lateral thinking through knowledge of many different topics. If one is really good, one would have enough knowledge to develop the ideas yourself or have the knowledge to put together a business structure to develop the ideas.

                      So, as a person with 1000's of ideas, some good, some bad, some silly and some brilliant, agree with you from a philosophical point of view, but not from a practical point of view. I will only share ideas when it suits me. If my ideas are never developed or shared then nothing changes in the universe, nothing is created and nothing is destroyed.

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                      • BusFact
                        Gold Member

                        • Jun 2010
                        • 843

                        #12
                        @Adrianh - Don't you find that even the development of the products is not necessarily the biggest stumbling block. Its getting the product out in the market and selling it. That somehow still seems to be the most expensive and time consuming part of the process to me.

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                        • adrianh
                          Diamond Member

                          • Mar 2010
                          • 6328

                          #13
                          @Busfact - I can only speak from my own personal point of view. I can develop some products very quickly and I have access to money. Of course I don't have the skills to develop many others. I get stuck on exactly what you are saying, marketing and selling. For me the problem goes even deeper, I stuggle to put the admin/ hr, and all that stuff in place. I can clearly see where the problems are but I am unable to resolve them because my mind simply can't focus on matters of putting a business together.

                          This is probably why it is good for technical types and business types to work closely together.

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                          • Justloadit
                            Diamond Member

                            • Nov 2010
                            • 3518

                            #14
                            Adrian,

                            As you have said, I am also an idea walking android. I have found from my experience the following problems with any idea

                            1.) Spending the time in making the unit really user friendly, as I found that most people get confused when there is more than one knob
                            2.) Writing a comprehensive user manual, which nobody reads anyway, but if you do not have it, then it's not a completed product
                            3.) Getting other people to visualize more than what you are showing on the table, as they just can not see the wood from the trees
                            4.) Getting the product to market - probably the most difficult part of the project
                            5.) Having the finances to market the product
                            6.) Your product does not have to be perfect on the first take, but customers don't want to know this
                            7.) This darn thing (BS!) that customers always wanting a free sample, else they can not promote your product, then get it, and disappear off the map.
                            8.) Being a design engineer, always requested to develop on probono, "you will make a fortune once you have developed it!"


                            There are many more, but just can't think of them now.

                            Unfortunately what I may think is the best idea since sliced bread, may not be shared by the rest of the planet.
                            Victor - Knowledge is a blessing or a curse, your current circumstances make you decide!
                            Solar pumping, Solar Geyser & Solar Security lighting solutions - www.microsolve.co.za

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                            • adrianh
                              Diamond Member

                              • Mar 2010
                              • 6328

                              #15
                              @Justloadit

                              1. It depends on the product and the audience. The trick is to make a product aimed at intellient people that don't care too much about the shape of the button.
                              2. Same thing as above.
                              3. This is totally impossible. 99.9999% of humanity have zero imagination. Unless they have the finished product in their hands they have nothing.
                              4. Again, it depends on the product, my trains sell themselves, the CNC stuff will be easy to sell. A new hamburger will be difficult to sell.
                              5. This is not a problem for me, but I know what you mean.
                              6. Depends on the product.
                              7. (I've been caught with this once or twice) Another one is when they ask what discount they'll get whwn they buy 100. Then they want to buy the first one at that discount. I tell them that they can have the first one at full price and when they buy the other 99 then I'll discount the first one as well. With regard to the initial statement Difficult one. I suppose the answer is to tell the customer that he has to pay for the product up front, and that he can have all his cash back when he gets you 10 firm sales.
                              8. I don't develop things for other people unless I believe the product is viable and I have a big stake in it. Charity won't pay for the Aston Martin DB9 that I want to own :-)

                              I agree about the best idea bit but I do think that there products that will sell. I know a couple of markets fairly well and I am sure that there is potential. I am very weary of the "I am going to make a fortune overnight" ideas. The products that I have in mind will grow and develop over time.

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