Creative Thinking, Layering, Requirements, Collaboration, & Expectation Economy

Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box - ASTD
It is often better to have people think "inside the box" rather "outside the box." This strategy has the group leaders pose concrete questions and direct the process for answering those queries. The research found that many ideas were developed from responses to specific questions. To arrange the brainstorming process, you restrict the range of suitable ideas, then choose and customize questions accordingly, and conduct multiple brainstorming sessions. Note that there is a link in the article that directs you to "Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box" by Harvard Business Review. Includes a nine minute video.

Layering - Seth Godin
Here's what we used to do:
Create -> Edit -> Launch

Here's what happens now:
Create -> Launch -> Edit -> Launch -> repeat

Gathering Requirements -Training Magazine
Successful training programs don't just happen. They come from knowing exactly what the training must accomplish for the business, the department, and the individual.

Watching Collaboration as it Happens - Green Chameleon
Follow the flags around the world map as they track anonymous edits to Wikipedia in almost real-time. What would it be like to track edits and contributions to an intranet or corporate knowledge resource like this?

THE EXPECTATION ECONOMY - Trend Watching
If you're obsessed with what your direct competition is doing, you will always end up copying new concepts in your industry. Which means that, unless you're comfortable with being a 'smart follower', this is not going to unleash your innovative brilliance.