One Page Ideas

I love learning something new and writing a few paragraphs about how I think it applies to me and my team.  I call these one page ideas.  From improving 1:1's to going over company values and vision, one page ideas have been really powerful for a few reasons:

1. Identify how the idea or problem was originally presented to me.  Keeping the idea raw and fresh helps me come back and re-evaluate my thoughts and implementation gives me visibility into my process and approach at the time.
2. Remember what was important to me at the time and my perspective on why it was important.
3. Keep me focusing on creativity and learning.  The idea or concept may be very important, but not necessarily the right time to tackle it.

I love one page ideas because it forces me to, in thirty minutes, attack an initial approach to the subject immediately, figure out how to make it actionable, and give it the pendulum test.  The pendulum test is simply to take a subject and verbally state opposite opinions and see which statement I feel most comfortable.  The pendulum test really helps me test the need for change as well as the effectiveness and potential outcome. 

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Pendulum Test example:

Subject: Receiving feedback.
Opinion For:  I active solicit feedback, ponder and act on it quickly, and follow up for validation.
Opinion Against:  I don't appreciate feedback, receive it poorly, and/or ignore it altogether.

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When an idea or a problem to be solved requires creative solutions, a one page idea is a useful tool.