Idea Block

Similar to writer's block, but a little more difficult to solve. For me, one of the more frustrating things in life is the failure to come up with a productive idea. Searching through a mind devoid of good ideas is not a fun way to spend an evening.

Last evening, I sat in front of a computer screen for several hours, either staring at it blankly or performing fruitless Google searches, trying to come up with an idea. I kept waiting for that "AH HA that's it, " moment - the one when your brain realizes that you've just found the answer to your riddle, solved your problem or answered your question - but that moment never came.

In this case, the idea that I was looking for is regarding a project that I'm working on in my Project Management class. I'm looking to develop a project that will allow me to present a project plan that will save an company money.

My original idea of presenting a plan on how the airlines industry can improve it's customer service performance (and in turn generate more revenue), was seen as being too broad by my professor. So, in an attempt to either narrow my focus or try to come up with a new idea, an unproductive evening resulted.

I tried looking at particular areas of customer service that the airlines could improve upon (baggage handling, food quality), but there wasn't much current literature on the subject. Then I tried looking into ways that Major League Baseball could speed up the times of there games (especially Red Sox-Yankees). Faster games would (could???) better numbers at the box office. Which sounds great until you realize that MLB set a new attendance record (over 79 million fans) last year for the fourth consecutive year.

The search for that perfect idea continues. Hopefully my answer will come in class this evening.