Peer Review, Brainstorming, and Idea Sex
All ideas are made better by letting more heads get in on it.
Don't fool yourself: Your greatest ideas are probably not wholly your own. You were probably influenced, directly or indirectly, by someone else. It's a good thing. If we all started uninfluenced, we'd all be reinventing the wheel. Since someone has gotten that out of the way now we can move onto other ideas, and incorporate solid designs like the wheel into new and exciting things.
Intentionally engaging others into your design process will help you. By others, I am implying those who have an understanding of the goals of your design, the components you are using, and the process that it is intended for. Not your grandmother. However, your grandmother (or anyone not familiar with what you are doing) could provide some profound insight, but she's probably not the best to start with.
I want to mention three levels of engaging others that I will call Peer Review, Brainstorming, and Idea Sex. They're in order of increasing difficulty and value. The value of each, however, far outweighs the difficulty and is always worth pursuing.
Peer Review
It's easy to ask someone to take a look at what you are doing and ask for their thoughts and opinions. People love giving those away. Peer Review, as I am defining it, involves very little back and forth between you and the reviewer: They take a look, maybe hear your brief description, and then review away, judging for themselves what feedback you need to hear most. It is essentially the traditional phenomenon of having papers graded that we grew up with.
The chance of getting valuable feedback from someone the first time you ask this of them is probably about 50%, but certainly worth it. You need to be prepared to be insulted and even crushed. You also have to be prepared to receive feedback that shows that the reviewer has no idea what you are actually trying to do. It's a great way to keep your pride in check. The following quote sums up the pain and the value of this well:
A certain author was about to bring out a new edition of one of his books. He sent a copy to a number of his literary friends asking them to read it critically and to mark every error they might find, every blemish or infelicity in expression, and to indicate every point at which the slightest improvement could be made. 'Criticize remorselessly,' he wrote to each friend, 'for I want the new edition of my book to be as nearly perfection as possible.' That is the way we should do with our life. No feeling of pride should ever keep us from welcoming the revelation of any flaw or imperfection in ourselves. Even the harsh and unkind criticisms of enemies we should patiently heed and consider, and if there be the smallest ground for them we should extract the sweet out of the bitter for the blessing of our own life. No man can be his own best teacher. Exclusively self-made are usually very badly made. They carry most of their faults uncorrected, lacking all the benefits of wise and faithful criticism. We cannot be impartial judges of our own life. We cannot see clearly our own defects and imperfections. We are charitable to our own faults... Most of us at least have faults of which we ourselves are entirely unaware, but which our friends and neighbors can see without magnifying-glasses. While, therefore, it requires some heroism to ask men to tell us our own faults, he is wise who does not shrink from the friendly scrutiny of those who wish only to do him good...
From Young Men: Faults and Ideals, 1893 By James Russell Miller Copied from The Art of Manliness
Initiating a Peer Review is pretty easy, but the feedback you'll get will be a one way dead end unless you pursue it more.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming picks up where Peer Reviewing leaves off. It's people discussing their opinions and feedback with the owner of the work to achieve an understanding of all the views on the table. Working through in this way is the start of adding human interaction to the process. When the participants are on the same page, understanding each other's ideas, then a productive discussion can ensue and furthering of the refinement can take place. Brainstorming, at this level, is additive: Six people working on a project can get it done about six times faster than a single person working on it by herself. Good work is being accomplished, but nothing generative.
Idea Sex
When a Brainstorming session goes to the next level, when ideas start to multiply on one another rather than just add up, that's when you reach the zenith of collaboration. That is Idea Sex. I'm not sure if I called it this before I read a book by James Altucher, but a light came on when I heard him talk about it (check out his blog here). When you are in a conversation with someone and you have reached this state, your ideas start to multiply. Both of you start to think of things that you would have never dreamed of on your own. Your conversation has now become a generative force, creating new from nothing.