At the end of last Friday’s thesis meeting, I did a little talk on a technique I’ve found helpful in the past when I’ve got several competing ideas for a project, and no one firm idea. A couple of people asked me to circulate a version by email, so here it is.

The technique is to answer questions about the potential project that will help you converge on an idea you like. This in turn can help you narrow down to a few concrete ideas (its OK at this point to have more than one thesis idea) from the cloud of partial ideas we all live with by figuring out what expectations or hopes you have for your thesis, without having to describe the thesis directly. The patron saint for this part of any design process is Linus Pauling, who said “If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away.”

Answer as many of these questions as make sense or seem relevant, and any others that pop up, then imagine projects that would satisfy those answers. -clay

Some questions you could ask yourself about your thesis

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What is one word that could be in your abstract?

What is one work you could cite in your research?

What is one experience you could mention in your personal statement?

What is the best label for people who will experience your thesis: Readers? Listeners? Viewers? Users? Players? Customers? Spectators? Fans? Inhabitants?

Someone asks about your core idea. Do you send them an essay, a spreadsheet, a video file, an application, a drawing, source code?

• Timeline:

It’s December. You’re brainstorming about your thesis with three other ITP students. Who is there? Why?

It’s February. You’re stuck on a tricky part of your thesis. You make an appointment to talk to X. Who is X?

It’s March. You’re down on the floor, working on your thesis. Where are you sitting? Why?

It’s April, 2:37 am. You’re working on your thesis. What application do you have open?

It’s May, Thesis Week. Who (other than your mom) do you most want to have watching the webcast?

• After Graduation:

You’re delighted to get mail from X asking to read your thesis documentation. Who is X?

Which site do you most want your thesis to appear on? Slashdot? We Make Money? Gizmodo? YouTube? SourceForge?

Your thesis helps you get paid to do X. What is X?

Your thesis makes someone’s life better. How?