We are thrilled to announce a new feature to the Ideasicle X platform that will give Organizers of idea projects the power to invite Observers (view only) and Idea Directors (full permissions) to each idea project. Virtually every beta tester and recent customer has brought this up to us as a need (thank you, 180/NY, White Rhino, North, and Lucky Generals, for your suggestions). Here’s what this new feature means for Ideasicle X users.

An Idea Team And A Client Team

What we heard from most customers is they want one person responsible for setting up jobs, inviting teams, uploading the briefs, and handling the freelance payments (if any), and another person (like the creative director or strategist) to actively monitor the ideas as they’re posted, post comments and course corrections, as necessary, and generally be an active participant on the live job.

What we also heard is that it would be helpful if a couple other colleagues could be invited (a boss, a strategic planner, etc.) to view the idea job as it’s happening but not be able to engage with the team.

So what we have now are the following:

1. ORGANIZERS - own the Command Center, can start new jobs, invite teams, upload briefs, pay any freelancers, and invite Observers and Idea Directors into live jobs.

2. OBSERVERS - invited to a live job by an Organizer with “view only” permissions, so they can see what’s getting posted, but are invisible to the Idea Team. Up to three are allowed.

3. IDEA DIRECTORS - invited to a live job by an Organizer with the same permissions as the Idea Team, so they can post ideas, post comments to ideas, and generally “direct” the teams. Only one is allowed.

But we had to be careful with how we did this. Creativity doesn’t love a crowd.

More power to the Organizers while protecting the delicate creative process.

This three-tiered solution allows the customer to involve more of their team in the idea-generation process, but does so in a way that doesn’t disrupt the delicate creative process of the virtual Idea Team of four. We designed the Ideasicle X model for four people for a reason. Any more than that (plus an Organizer) and we found the team tends to feel “on stage” and more likely to clam up. Any less than that and we found you lose the exponential effect, the flurry of 30-40-50 ideas per session that come from four perspectives colliding.

The Organizers were already given full permissions on any given job, as that’s one of the key features of Ideasicle X - being able to course-correct the team if they go astray. Now they can invite their creative director to do the same and take a back seat themselves. And because the Idea Director can fully engage with the team, only one is allowed to preserve the intimacy of the team.

The Observers are invisible to the Idea Team, so will not disrupt the mojo of the team in any way. It’s literally like being a virtual fly on the virtual wall. Up to three flies can be invited per job.

Innovation will continue.

We will continue to listen to our customers to make Ideasicle X an even better, stronger, and more prolific idea generating machine in the future. If you’d like a demo, please click here and schedule a time.

Nothing is unthinkable.

Will Burns is the Founder & CEO of Ideasicle X. Email him anytime at willb@ideasiclex.com or follow him on Twitter @WillOBurns.