In this fascinating podcast Tom Kelly talks about the 10 Faces of Innovation as he has observed at Ideo.

The most interesting part of the conversation is almost near the start, when he starts talking about ‘unfocus groups’. In this process Ideo recruits the opinions of those on the fringes, the extremists and the rabid fans. Tom makes the point that most companies run focus groups that look at the normal consumer which fits in the centre of the bell curve.

However in unfocus groups, the people on the edges bring their wacky ideas and passions to the fore, thus acting as a catalyst for new directions of thought.

“If you’re looking for new ideas that don’t yet exist, don’t talk to normal people because they’re just consuming what is available today – find the weirdos and see what they’re doing, what they’re making on their own and say gee – is there something I can mainstream from this?”