Techniques for idea generation
The “Classical Invention” approach helps you discover connections by asking questions about your idea. Ask yourself questions about:

• A physical object: what are its physical characteristics? What sort of structure does it have?
• Events: exactly what happened? What was the cause? The consequences?
• Abstract concepts: how do others define the concept or term? How do you define the term?
• Propositions: what must be established before people believe the proposition? What counter-arguments must be refuted?

Even more techniques

• The journalistic six (who, what, when, where, why, how?)
• Historical examination
• Block busting
• Uses for
• Improvements to
• What-iffing
• Reversal
• Analogy and metaphor
• Trigger concepts
• Checklists
• and many more!

For explanations, visit http://www.virtualsalt.com/crebook2.htm.Brainstorming tips from Ideo

Silicon Valley-based Ideo has sparked some of the most innovative products of the past decade – the Apple mouse, the Polaroid I-Zone Pocket Camera, and the Palm V, among others. But Ideo staffers don’t just sit around waiting for good ideas to pop into their heads. The company has institutionalized a process whereby ideas are coaxed to the surface through regular, structured brainstorming sessions. At Ideo, idea-generation exercises are “practically a religion,” product development manager Tom Kelley says. Here’s a short list of tips from the pros:

1. Sharpen the focus
   Start with a well-honed statement of the problem at hand. The best topic statements focus outward on a specific customer need or service enhancement rather than inward on some organizational goal.
2. Write playful rules
   Ideo’s primary brainstorming rules are simple: “Defer judgment” and “One conversation at a time.” The firm believes in its rules so strongly that they’re stenciled in eight-inch letters on conference-room walls. “If I’m the facilitator and somebody starts a critique or people start talking, I can enforce the rules without making it feel personal,” Kelley says. Other rules include, “Go for quantity,” “Be visual,” and “Encourage wild ideas.”
3. Build and jump
   Most brainstorming sessions follow a power curve: they start out slowly, build to a crescendo, and then start to plateau. The best facilitators nurture the conversation in its early stages, step out of the way as the ideas start to flow, and then jump in again when energy starts to peter out.
4. Get physical
   At Ideo, brainstorming sessions are often occasions for show-and-tell. Participants bring examples of competitors’ products, objects that relate to the problem, or elegant solutions from other fields as springboards for ideas. Ideo also keeps materials on hand – blocks, foam core, tubing – to build crude models of a concept.

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2001/03/kelley.html