Consequently, the goal is sustainable fecundity. A practical cadence might include: daily capture, weekly triage, monthly prototypes, and quarterly “kill lists” to retire laggards. Incubate promising but unripe concepts in a dated backlog, then re-evaluate with fresh eyes; many ideas mature off-season. Pair this with collaboration rituals—show-and-tell demos, rotating critique partners—to keep crossbreeding alive. Measured this way, Steinbeck’s dozen becomes a renewable yield: not an accidental swarm, but a stewarded population whose vitality comes from care, combination, and continual selection. [...]
