Guide

Expand and deepen the idea

Expand turns a short description into a fuller picture of the invention, section by section. You keep what is useful, cross out what is not, and add what is missing. Then you can go deeper on any one part.

Expand

Fifteen sections in three groups

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What it is for

Background, the problem, who it helps, the criteria for success, and the benefits.

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How it works

The working principle, what it is made of, features, capabilities, and what is new.

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What it takes

Constraints, resources, the experts it needs, and nearby areas worth a look.

Run a pass

Check the starting text (your description, up to 5,000 characters) and run one expansion. It first writes a clean summary of the concept, then fills the board. Facts that are missing stay out of the summary and appear as things to add instead.

Keep, add, cross out

Keep what is useful, add anything missing, and cross out what should not come back. Items you keep or write yourself are never regenerated. Undo reverses your recent choices.

Apply to the Idea

Apply to Idea adds what you kept to your Idea. If you started a new scenario with Expand my idea, this can happen automatically: the page shows when it has been applied. The original Idea stays in history.

Run it again

Choose a narrower, same-level or wider pass. Only material you have not kept is regenerated. Once the Idea has moved on, rebuild the starting text from the latest Idea.

The evidence map beside the board shows where the idea is strong, developing or thin. Its shape is a guide to coverage, not a quality score.

Go deeper

Examine one section with a method

A method is an established way of examining one part of a concept, such as first principles analysis, morphological analysis or root cause analysis. Use one when a section reads thin or unexamined.

  • Open a section and choose a method from its Go deeper row. Each says in plain words what it does.
  • The method runs on that section only. Everything already kept stays as it is.
  • It returns areas of exploration. Each statement in an area is marked for what it is: an established effect and when it holds, a claim with its reference, an open question with what would settle it, or an assumption with what would disprove it.
  • Keep an area to write it into the Idea and the scenario record. The card then says exactly what it wrote and where.
  • Cross out an area you never want proposed again.
  • Each area also offers questions for a named expert, ready to send in the conversation, and Ask Cora to find evidence for its open questions.

Some methods are included with a free account and the rest with a membership.

Look through a frame or theme

A lens reads the current Idea through a thinking frame (such as Root Cause for a problem, or SCAMPER for something that already exists) or a theme. It shows gaps, tensions and promising directions without changing the Idea. Select one facet to see its reading and evidence, ask Nova about the gap, or turn it into a suggestion. The New scenario wizard suggests a frame from your answers, and you can change it on the Idea.

Change direction

When the current direction no longer holds, because it has been disproved, is contradicted or has become muddled, use Change direction. It reviews what works, what is undecided and what conflicts, then starts a new scenario with what you choose to carry over and a new opening question. The old scenario stays readable.

Next

Back your idea with research and sources, or test it.