Does there exist an "idea checkout system" on the Internet?

Question

Greetings.

I would like to ask the following question: is there anything on the Internet like an "idea checkout" system?

Situation: I'm a software developer. Since my current job has started 2 years ago, my mentor at that time has pointed me to the open source world. I have only put little time to look at some of the open source projects, let alone any contribution. However, it is my wish to start developing something outside of the work. Well, except a little problem.

I don't know what to develop!

It is not about the technical knowledge; the problem is that, I am not a creative person. I am very good at analytical thinking, as well as debugging skills. When being told by my work partners to develop a solution, I could get it done without a problem. However, outside of work, I have no idea what to develop. When I look at the Internet, it seems that so many people have already been developing on so many interesting stuff, making me wonder what I could develop, so that I would not reinvent something already existed.

That starts to make me wonder. On the Internet, is there anything like an "idea checkout" system or society? For example, some people would throw in as a software idea, and the system would keep it as an "inventory"; later, a potential software developer would "check out" the idea, just a how people would check out a book from the library. Then, the developer would check the "idea" back in, with a certain kind of work-in-progress or developed software, thus becoming an open-source project.

I have just noticed that here at stackoverflow, there is a "Project-Ideas" tag, so perhaps that can provide me some ideas on what to develop; still, my wonder is about a system that people would provide ideas, and people would check out ideas to develop / implement into actual solution. Is there such a system or society existing anywhere on the Internet? Any input is welcome! Thank you very much.

Update: Thank you for everyone who has answered my question. Certainly, "getting idea" is part of my problem; as a software developer, however, I'm concerned more than just "getting idea". What I am concerned more, as I have commented, is about the existence of such an idea exchanging ecosystem, capable to initiate open-source projects.

I'll put an example here. Say, person A has an idea of music search program, but not search by the attributes of the music (composer, singer, publisher, lyrics, etc.); instead, he wants a program (and a database) to search a piece of music by melody. Very often, people only remember a piece of music by its melody, not even the name of the music (e.g. the music he wants was only once heard in a bookstore, but the melody just gets stuck in his head!). In order to find that piece, normally he would just need to blindly search for it, and spent a long time to do so.

A search by melody would enable person A to find the piece much quicker. However, he would not want to personally work on it, not just because of the complexity (he is not a musician and/or programmer, knowing almost nothing about music systems in computer, search algorithms, etc.), but also legal issues (RIAA??), thus he would just like to keep the idea at some place, and let other people to work on that.

Now, a developer (person B) may be at the same stage as I am right now, wishing to find something to develop, but not having an idea. With the idea exchanging ecosystem, person B will search, and somehow discover person A's music search idea, and feeling interested enough to work on it. So he "checks out" the idea, start working on it (at least a skeleton), and checks back in with the progress. An open-source project starts from here, fulfilling person A's wish, and person B's programming desire.

The above is just an example, because there are already such systems exist on the Internet, but it illustrates what I think about the idea exchange system in my mind. My main concern is about idea exchanging ecosystem, not at personal and unorganized level, but at a semi-organized protocol that's specifically for software developers, having actual projects coming out as the fruits. Not about "projects", but about "ideas and product of ideas".

Hopefully that would clear up some of the original idea of this question. Any input is welcome; in fact, I would like to hear as many people as possible how everyone thinks about this. Thank you very much!

Answer 1

There's a couple of questions here. Firstly, you don't necessarily need to start from scratch to find interesting and challenging problems to work on. Most successful open source projects have a leader or group of people who make the technical decisions about the project's direction. Plenty of those projects have a well-defined set of work that needs to be done, and would be happy to have you contribute to implement needed features. In this case you would be working within someone else's framework, which has its own benefits and drawbacks.

The amount of imagination required varies enormously, depending on the size of the project and your level of involvement. It's usual to start off working on small, unambiguous tasks, moving on to problems with more freedom once you've proved some basic competence and dedication.

Regarding places to find ideas: Sourceforge is a great place to look. Many of the projects in the Open Source world are not actively maintained. The original developer has got bored, got busy, or moved on to new projects. If you don't want to start from scratch, but don't particularly want to work with others, you could take one over and improve it. It's also a good resource for getting new ideas, and seeing whether anyone is working on anything similar to your own idea. I often find there are projects which kind-of do what I want, but aren't perfect. That could be a useful starting point for you!

Regarding the more general notion of an ideas library, there is a related question Ideas exchange between programmers which may be helpful.

Answer 2

Ideas typically solve a problem, whether obvious or not. The "not obvious" problems that many people have are often the ones with the "genius!" reactions. They are usually the hardest to come up with, have the most risk (will it be accepted or not?), but also have the most potential (no competitors, etc.). The "genius" reaction often does not come until later, when it becomes successful (e.g. Facebook was not so hot when it first started). And maybe that great idea never works well because of inadequate advertising, quality, focus, etc.

The "genius" ideas usually occur due to "accidents" or when you "think outside the box", as they say. For example, you are focused on finding a system to give you ideas and I am sure many developers have been down that path. It seems you have accurately defined the foundations for an "idea system" that you could develop. Due to the nature of it, you would want the audience reach a website could give you. Maybe it's a "bad idea", but if no one else is doing it yet it could become the next "genius" idea.

Similar to what Anon said, look around you, there are many problems that need solving. Don't just look at the tree; pull out the magnifying glass, dig, cut it, whatever.

I know I haven't addressed your question directly yet. I am not aware of such system. Ask around (like you did here), search online. If you can't find such system why not create it?