Nowadays, the ideas/execution dichotomy seems to be repeated more or less blindly whenever ideas are discussed. (I do hear you and what you say above though - n

Nowadays, the ideas/execution dichotomy seems to be repeated more or less blindly whenever ideas are discussed. (I do hear you and what you say above though - not blaming you for this, just responding with what arises in me. I'm not saying the following to devalue execution - just to devalue the dichotomy.) I suppose that this is/was originally a well founded defense against, for instance, people being overprotective about their business ideas to a degree that it was undermining actually getting the implementation done. To me this seems to mask the fact that not all ideas are made equal. There may be a mountain of user research behind one idea, and another may be just a spark of "wouldn't it be cool if..." As long as we're working with information, all we're ever doing is in one sense or another dealing with ideas. If we only respect the work of those who deal with the business game or with the bits & bolts, we will keep ending up with poor user/client experiences. Understanding the ideas inside the head of the user often is the difference between a functional product and a brilliantly enjoyable one.