Following up on the post on Divergent Thinking I have a few more wild ideas to add to the list in response to the question – Can we make the journey from home to work and back more enjoyable, less stressful, and without negative impacts on mental and physical health?
Telecommute more roads fewer cars work closer ride share books on tape scheduled commute times flexible commute times more public transit fewer licenses car yoga smaller cars autonomous vehicles personal hovercraft chauffeur hyperloop teleportation HOV lanes improved coordination timed ramp closures dedicated distance lanes commuter car trains sleep while travel sleep at work casual conversation drugs conversation w/other commuter early start later start Animate ride bigger cars with more people gamify ride incentive for later commute incentive for early start toll roads 15 freeway passes per month roads move not cars safe distance radar Uber mid way garage transit lots free premium freeway service disposable cars kites use river fly ride motorcycle ride bike walk skateboard Segway tech engaged car health monitoring insurance reduction behaviour driver alternating sing along car2car test prep heads up navigation congestion warning police escort convey clearance complete lane reversal 4 into 5 at rush increase speed decrease speed – add today create parallel bypass reduce insurance for carpooling add convenient comfortable rest stops
I don’t know if any or all of these ideas are practical, feasible or crazy but in an open freeform session with a small team they would be generative and the list would double or triple the inventory. There are simple tests for viability and feasibility that could parse the list though simple process may be part of the problem in our conventional approach to searching for solutions.
However lets try a ‘simple test’ checking resources, opportunity, intelligence. In the right combination they can point to a potential success. Because this is an exercise and meant to create some convergence on the ‘best’ possible ideas, I will adopt a rigourous approach.
Resources Opportunity Intelligence
Telecommute minimal, technical most information workers tech in use
More roads $Millions creates new demand proven ineffective
Fewer cars legislation cooperation needed working elsewhere
Work Closer culture change redevelopment $$$ many generations
Ride Share <$, <autonomy large pool incented elsewhere
Flexibility policy change large pool progressive HR
Public Transit $Millions general acceptance underway
Car Yoga minimal need promotion not being done
As you can see the process is arbitrary and ad hoc when undertaken by one person but if you have a list of ides, it can get you working through them with some intentionality. I will whittle down the list even further offline and present 10ish ideas that we can expand on in the next post as we take a slightly narrower divergence.
If you are a team are struggling with an intractable wicked problem, we can help. Reach out to bob@remarkablepeople.ca and let us provide you with a proposal.
Make Today Remarkable by looking for feasibility in odd places,
B
