Here at Nosco, we take pride in doing one thing really well, and that’s idea management.
But this blog entry is not about the the guys here at the office or the Nosco App. We hope you can use this advice for any idea management endeavour you set your mind to. The principle is really simple, it’s about clarity. Think: different applications for different jobs.
I’m guessing that you already use one-job applications like these:
- Microsoft Word or Google Docs for word processing
- Powerpoint or Keynote for presentations
- Messenger or Skype for direct communication
- Outlook or another for e-mail
One application for one thing, right? And if you have a smartphone, you’ve probably noticed how apps also do one thing well
- Instagram takes pretty, retro-style pictures
- Twitter lets you send really short messages and read others’ really short messages
- It’s also interesting to note how Facebook is doing individual Messenger and Camera Apps now
The thing is, great apps and applications do one thing really well.
In other words, everyone knows what the app or application is about, how it works and what you’re supposed to do with it.
We think, this should apply to idea management too. When we look at many idea spaces and idea campaigns around us, this concept of doing one thing well is often hard to find.
Idea spaces are often hidden in the clutter of project management systems, intranet and other internal communication platforms.
Let’s change this. Let’s go for an approach where you have one space, app and application that does one thing really well: idea management.
Give your idea space an identity that everyone knows
Think about how you use Word for word processing and Skype for instant communication. That’s pretty easy to remember, right? Do the same for your idea management application. Name it. Take a whiteboard and come up with 10 different names. Try not to make it too cute or too boring. Sometimes it’s a good idea to include your company name.
Give your idea space its own domain
A great way to give your idea management app its own clutter-free identity is to give it its own domain. While it does cost a little to buy your own domain, it’s cheap and easy to do.
You can use a service like NameCheap to search for an available domain and get a dot com domain for about US$11. See if the names you’ve come up with are available as dot com domains.
If you decide to get really creative, you can use a service like www.domai.nr that combines words with all the world’s internet suffixes (like .to, .ly, .dk) to let you create some really catchy domain names. We just found out the domain ideap.ad is available as we write this. Hurry up!
Turn your idea space into an application to get on the desktops
Online idea management applications like Nosco App are web-based applications that you load in a web browser. To make the idea space really distinct for your colleagues, use a few tricks to make it more ‘app’ like. And best of all it’s free.
On desktops, site-specific browsers can be used to make apps out of webpages.
- If you use Internet Explorer 9, you can use the ‘Site Pinning’ feature to get an icon on your desktop that loads your idea management app in a dedicated window. Voila, you’re now doing one thing well.
- If you’re using Google Chrome, there’s a feature called ‘Create Application Shortcut’.
- If you’re using a Mac, there’s an application called Fluid that lets you create a site-specific browser.
Turn your idea space into a smartphone app to always be there when a great idea pops up
It’s quite likely that a large number of your colleagues are using smartphones today. Again, there’s a free way to make your idea space act like an app on these phones, without the hassle of building a smartphone app and having it approved in the different app stores and markets.
Many web applications, like our Nosco App, are based on ‘responsive design’, which means it is optimized for the small screen on a smartphone. So it looks and acts like a mobile app. All you have to do is bookmark it and put it on the phone’s home screen.
With these apps, you can urge your colleagues to save the webpage as a ‘bookmark’ on their home screen. This is easy to do on Androids , iPhones , Blackberries and Windows Phones.
We hope you can use these tips and ideas to do one thing well: help your idea management efforts become successful, popular and widely used in your organisation. Just as it deserves!
