Framework
IDEAS Framework
Ideas don't survive by being picked right — they survive by being developed through. This framework isn't a filter; it's a path. Any idea that matters to you gets a fair process to either solidify or fall away naturally. Most people fail because they skip stages or get stuck in one.
Why Ideas Die
Everyone notices problems. Everyone has ideas. But most ideas never become anything. They die in one of two ways: abandoned too early, or chased forever without resolution.
The first failure mode is jumping straight to solutions. You notice a problem, you get excited, you start building — but you skipped the foundation. You don't really understand the problem. You haven't explored the space. The idea collapses when it meets reality.
The second failure mode is endless research, endless exploration, never shipping. You're always "still working on it." The idea never gets exposed to the world, never gets pressure-tested, never has to survive contact with someone else's perspective.
The IDEAS framework gives ideas a fair path through both traps. Most ideas fall away naturally as you work through the stages. The ones that make it through have been pressure-tested at every step.
The Five Stages
A path from noticing a problem to validating a solution. Each stage has a purpose; skipping any of them weakens the result.
Identify
Notice the tension
A gap, a problem, a friction point. Something that shouldn't be the way it is. There's no filter here — if it matters to you, it's in. The framework itself becomes the filter as you move through it.
Develop
Build your foundation
Research. Read. Pull from experience. You're forming an informed opinion on the tension. The key: you don't want to build where you don't have a unique perspective. You're not just learning — you're finding the angle that's yours.
Explore
Chase the smoke trails
You've done the reading — now sit in solitude and think. Every crazy solution, every tangent, every rabbit trail. You're not looking for the trail. You're collecting pieces from multiple trails that combine into something whole.
Assess
Pressure-test
You've got something with shape now. Put the pieces together as a prototype. Walk through it mentally. If this is true, what are the outcomes? What are the challenges? The bar: would you be willing to let someone else see this?
Share
Expose the concept
Put it in the world and see if it resonates. Let others pick at it, find gaps, ask questions. This isn't sharing because it's done — it's the final stress test. Validate that it's worth building before you build it.
The Movement
The framework moves from external (a problem in the world) to internal (your thinking and development) back to external (sharing with others). You start by noticing something outside yourself. You retreat inward to develop, explore, and assess. Then you return outward to validate.
This rhythm matters. Ideas that never go internal stay shallow — they're reactive, not developed. Ideas that never return external stay theoretical — they're never tested against reality. The full cycle is what produces ideas worth pursuing.
Going Deeper
Identify
Find something worth your creative energy
- Be curious. Notice friction, inefficiency, frustration. What bothers you that doesn't seem to bother others? What do you see that others miss?
- Look for scale. Something that frustrates a lot of people is more worth solving than something that only bothers you.
- Find blocked potential. What's holding others back? Where is energy being wasted? Where are people stuck?
The best ideas solve real problems. Start there.
Develop
Build the knowledge base before ideating
- Current truth. How do things work now? Why? What's the history? What have others tried?
- Your experience. What have you learned firsthand? What do you know that isn't written down anywhere?
- New education. What do you need to learn to think clearly about this? Fill the gaps.
You can't innovate on what you don't understand.
Explore
Give yourself permission to think freely
- Environment matters. You need space, time, and the right mental state for creative thinking. You can't explore in a meeting or with notifications buzzing.
- Chase rabbits. Follow tangents. Let ideas connect unexpectedly. Three things from three different rabbit trails might become the complete picture.
- Quantity over quality. This is divergent thinking. No judgment yet. Capture everything.
The transition out of Explore isn't a checkbox. You develop until you start getting restless, until assessment starts pulling at you.
Assess
Shift from divergent to convergent thinking
- Start writing things down. Capture before you filter. Turn the scattered pieces into something with shape.
- Scrutinize and adapt. Which ideas survive examination? Which fall apart when you look closely?
- New truths. If this idea works, what changes? What becomes possible that wasn't before?
Now apply judgment. What's actually worth pursuing?
Share
External validation and development
- Articulating forces clarity. You don't really know what you think until you try to explain it. Sharing reveals gaps in your own understanding.
- Others see what you miss. "Have you thought about X?" is often the most valuable question. Fresh eyes catch blind spots.
- Talking vs. wrestling. There's a difference between articulating an idea and developing it through dialogue. Real sharing means pushback, questions, friction.
Ideas improve through friction. Share early, share often.
Common Traps
Skipping Develop
You notice a problem, you get excited, you start building. But you don't understand the problem deeply. You haven't researched what others have tried. Your solution is naive, and it collapses when it meets reality.
Getting stuck in Explore
Endless research, endless rabbit trails, never converging. Exploration feels productive because you're always learning. But learning without shipping is just procrastination with better PR.
Skipping Share
The idea lives only in your head. It never gets tested against another perspective. You're protecting it from criticism, but you're also protecting it from improvement.
Sharing too early
You share before you've developed a real foundation. The feedback you get is on a half-baked version. You either defend what isn't ready or abandon what might have been good with more development.
When to Use This Framework
Starting something new
A new product, project, or initiative. Before you build, run it through the stages.
Business opportunities
Evaluating whether to pursue an opportunity. The framework helps separate real potential from excitement.
Content creation
Developing ideas for articles, talks, or creative work. The stages ensure substance before publication.
Problem-solving
Working through any complex challenge where the solution isn't obvious.
Where This Came From
Someone on my team asked me: "How do you validate ideas? How do you know if an idea is worth chasing?"
He didn't ask me to evaluate his idea. He asked for the how. So I sat down and tried to articulate what I was already doing. I knew I had a process — I was following it subconsciously — but I'd never named the steps or put them in order.
The framework existed as practice before it existed as language. I just needed to make it shareable. That's often how the best frameworks develop: you notice you're already doing something consistently, you name it, and suddenly you can teach it.
Have an idea worth developing?
I help leaders and teams work through the IDEAS process — from identifying real problems to validating solutions before building. If you're stuck somewhere in the stages, let's talk.