Trends: what's play got to do with it?

How do designers come up with new and interesting ideas? Is it just luck, or are there practices and models that help? Michael Shrage, who is visiting Australia from the US to give workshops for an independent group called The Creative Leadership Forum, thinks that play has got a lot to do with it. And he should know, he's the co-director of MIT's Media Lab and has been an adviser to huge organisations like MasterCard, Fujitsu and Microsoft.