Lightbulb moments, magic beans and other innovation myths – how to (actually) generate ideas

The lightbulb moment when an idea pops into life? The flash of brilliance? The sudden epiphany that changes everything?

Forget the lightbulb moment.

That sudden flash of brilliance? The epiphany that rewrites the rules in an instant?

Complete myth.

From the printing press to the iPhone, almost every breakthrough innovation was the result of a slower, more iterative journey. Not a single spark, but a series of small fires, nurtured deliberately over time.

In his book “Where Good Ideas Come From,” Steven Johnson shows how many of history’s biggest innovations (from the pencil to the battery) emerged from what he calls the “slow hunch.” A gradual process of discovery, layered insight, and refinement.

This is good news for B2B product teams. Especially those working under pressure to deliver the next big idea or unlock new value fast.

Instead of chasing one-off flashes of genius, we can focus on building systems that support consistent innovation. We can create the right conditions for ideas to take root, evolve, and ultimately lead to better products. Not by waiting around, but by applying repeatable UX methods, structured thinking, and collaboration.

Here’s how to separate myth from method and build a stronger innovation process.

Myth 1: Magic beans and silver bullets

One great idea. One hero product. One solution that solves everything. It’s tempting to believe in silver bullets.

But the reality? Most ideas fail. Even the promising ones.

Picture this: you’ve got one promising concept, the “magic bean.” You put all your resources into nurturing it. But if it doesn’t pan out, you’re left with nothing.

Now imagine spreading ten ideas across a well-prepared field. Some won’t grow. Others will show promise. One might thrive.

This is the principle behind product sprints and experimentation. You generate multiple ideas, validate them quickly, and move forward with the strongest. The value here isn’t just in quantity. It’s in how you test and evolve each seed with solid design methods and real user insights.

Silver bullets do not exist in innovation.

We see this often with senior product leaders who feel pressure to back a single big idea. But smart PMs know innovation isn’t a bet; it’s a portfolio strategy. You create space for many ideas to breathe, then use structured UX methods to evaluate and refine.

Myth 2: Don’t tell anyone, or it won’t come true

It’s common to keep early-stage ideas under wraps, especially in corporate settings or startup culture. Fear of being copied. Fear of being wrong. Or just the instinct to protect what’s not yet ready.

But keeping an idea hidden can limit its potential. It isolates it from the collaboration and critiques it needs to grow.

Real innovation demands friction. Debate. Disagreement. Exposure to different perspectives and user realities. Sharing early and widely helps you spot weaknesses, invite better solutions, and build stronger alignment across your product, design, and engineering teams.

If you try to make it fail and it still stands up at the end of the process, then you’ve probably got something special.

This open-testing mindset is at the core of many effective UX methods, from moderated user interviews to paper prototyping. They’re not about proving you were right. They’re about learning where you’re wrong early enough to fix it.

Myth 3: Blue sky thinking

Too often, idea generation is reserved for the senior team. A handful of stakeholders head into a strategy session and try to think big.

But the most valuable insights aren’t floating in blue sky. They’re buried in frontline feedback.

Customer complaints. Sales objections. Support tickets. These are goldmines. The people closest to your users often hold the clearest view of their pain points.

The best way to think of a product idea is as the solution to a problem. As the people on the front-line have the best understanding of your customer’s problems, they are usually your best source of ideas.

By combining input from across teams with intentional design methods like co-creation workshops, service blueprinting, and journey mapping, you create a richer, more grounded idea pool. To make sure those insights don’t get lost, it helps to store them in a centralised user research repository.

What a strong innovation process looks like

Ideas grounded in real user problems—however rough—are stronger than polished guesses. But generating good ideas is only part of the process. You also need a way to assess, prioritise, and evolve them.

One way to do this is through team-wide idea sessions (like Innovation Days), followed by structured filtering. DPP’s own tool, Distiller, helps teams assess ideas quickly based on potential value, risk, and effort.

You can also keep it simple. Run each idea through these four questions:

1. What’s the actual problem?
2. What difference would solving it make?
3. What’s our approach to solving it?
4. What’s the next step?

Running potential products through this filter gives a really simple, repeatable process to identify the strongest ideas to take forward.

What to add if you want consistent innovation

If you want to move beyond sporadic brainstorms, your process needs to do three things:

• Encourage wide input (especially from teams closest to customers)
• Create space for structured experimentation
• Build in regular check-ins for progress and alignment

This doesn’t mean slowing down. Done right, these design methods speed up validation, cut waste, and help you invest energy in what’s most likely to work.

The most effective PMs don’t chase perfect ideas. They set up systems that generate a steady stream of good ones, refined through smart feedback loops and collaboration.

Don’t chase sparks. Build the fire.

Innovation doesn’t come from blue-sky visions or CEO brainwaves. It comes from a repeatable innovation process, informed by real problems and enabled by collaboration.

Instead of waiting for the lightbulb, build your own wiring.

Put solid UX methods in place. Turn frontline feedback into fuel. And create a culture where it’s safe to test early, fail fast, and learn forward.

Need support with your innovation process or applying better UX methods across your team? Let’s talk.