Idea Cauldron

< It is called "Idea Cauldron". [[Daniel MacKay|I]] created it in the late '90s to deal with a plethora of ideas revolving around Halifax Pride, did another version when we were working with Paradise Cinema.
< * We have all been on committees where people offer great ideas for ''other'' people to do and have been irritated by them.
< * The premise is that in any collaborative environment, any society or committee, the supply-to-demand ratio of good ideas is essentially infinite, making the value of each good idea, almost zero.
< * This is a radical idea, declaring that good ideas are not precious. This is anathema in our society, in which there is some goofy hope that all you have to do is ''have'' a good idea, and people will follow, realize it and you'll be rich and famous. However Ben Franklin declared it; someone asked him where he got his good ideas, he said, "I get them for a nickel per bushel."
< * What ''is'' valuable is someone offering to ''realize{{meaning, "to make real"}}'' the ideas.
< * The Idea Cauldron is a way to identify which ideas have a chance of being realized.
< ===Method===
< * In some number of rounds (in electronic forums, once a day is probably the right frequency) you make a list of ideas, and people publicly volunteer for them. They say either, "I would be on the '''Team''' to realize that idea" or "I would '''Lead''' the team to realize that idea."
< * ''would'' be is the term here because at that point you haven't decided to actually do the thing.
< * Each Lead offer gives the idea 5 points. Each Team offer gives the idea 1 point. Each idea, until it has someone volunteering to help realize it, has 0 points.
< * You add up the points, and bubble the ideas with the most, to the top of the priority list. Secondarily you end up with the teams of people who are actually going to realize the ideas.
< * Notice that like pure brainstorming, you don't need a column for "This is impossible because.." It turns out that people won't even volunteer for their own impractical ideas.
< That's the Idea Cauldron.