Thinkertoys

To center a challenge:

Write it as a definite question, beginning “In what ways might I …?”

Vary the wording of the challenge by substituting synonyms for key words.

Stretch the challenge to see the broader perspective.

Squeeze the challenge to see the narrow perspective.

(a) Divide it into subproblems.

(b) Solve the subproblems.

(c) Keep asking “how else?” and “why else?”

After you decide what challenges are most interesting and likely to yield solid benefits, it is important to accept the challenge. To accept a challenge means to accept responsibility for generating ideas as possible solutions to the problem. The more you accept responsibility and dedicate yourself to generating ideas, the higher your probability of reaching an innovative solution

During all those rounds of squatting and posturing, they are sizing each other up and searching for that center in themselves from which all action springs. The only protection for a sumo wrestler is to be in a perpetual state of centeredness, ever ready for the sudden attack and immediate response.

Thomas Edison learned the importance of realizing a personal benefit from his work early on. His first invention was an automatic vote recorder for Congress. When he presented the invention to a Congressman, he was told that efficiency in lawmaking was the last thing on Congress’s agenda. From that point on, Edison would often state that the only reason he invented was to make a lot of money. He didn’t have the time, energy, or interest to modify the world to fit his inventions

Before you decide which challenge to resolve, make a list of the benefits that may be gained if you are successful in developing a creative solution. What are the direct benefits: money, pleasure, recognition, property, and so on? What are the indirect benefits: new skills, knowledge, attitudes, etc.? Do the benefits outweigh the costs in terms of your time and energy? Which challenges would be the most rewarding to resolve? What problems or situations do you want to accept personal responsibility for solving?

Take the challenge of sliced bread. Few people in the early 1900s were bugged by slicing their own bread, but one of them was Otto Frederick Rohwedder. He invested sixteen years of his life and all of his money in inventing an automatic bread slicer, despite poor health, lack of enthusiasm from the industry, and financial ruin. In 1930, Continental adopted his slicer for Wonder Bread, and by 1933, about 80 percent of bread purchased was presliced. Rohewedder said he was not driven by money (he never became rich) but by the challenge of creating a workable bread slicer and an aversion to slicing his own bread

retired police detective who was looking for a business opportunity listed problems that were related to police work. One problem he listed was the difficulty in proving the identity of a stolen or kidnapped baby. Just writing the challenge provoked him to think of an idea for a new business venture: a DNA bank. His bank stores DNA samples for parents who are worried about identifying their children in case of a kidnapping or a baby swap. It costs $200 for collection and eighteen years of storage

Start keeping a journal of problems that you find to be personally interesting and that would be worthwhile to resolve. The following questions may help you get started:

What would you like to have or to accomplish?

What business idea would you like to work on?

What do you wish would happen in your job?

What business relationship would you like to improve?

What would you like to do better?

What do you wish you had more time to do?

What more would you like to get out of your job?

What are your unfulfilled goals?

What excites you in your work?

What angers you at your work?

What misunderstandings do you have at work?

What have you complained about?

What changes for the worse do you see in the attitudes of others?

What would you like to get others to do?

What changes would you like to introduce?

What takes too long?

What is wasted?

What is too complicated?

Where are the bottlenecks?

In what ways are you inefficient?

What wears you out?

What in your job turns you off?

What would you like to organize better?

In what ways could you make more money at work

Start keeping a journal of problems that you find to be personally interesting and that would be worthwhile to resolve. The following questions may help you get started:

What would you like to have or to accomplish?

What business idea would you like to work on?

What do you wish would happen in your job?

What business relationship would you like to improve?

What would you like to do better?

What do you wish you had more time to do?

What more would you like to get out of your job?

What are your unfulfilled goals?

What excites you in your work?

What angers you at your work?

What misunderstandings do you have at work?

What have you complained about?

What changes for the worse do you see in the attitudes of others?

What would you like to get others to do?

What changes would you like to introduce?

What takes too long?

What is wasted?

What is too complicated?

Where are the bottlenecks?

In what ways are you inefficient?

What wears you out?

What in your job turns you off?

What would you like to organize better?

In what ways could you make more money at work?

Following are typical business challenges:

What creative suggestions can I make about new product ideas?

How can I cut costs and increase production?

How can we better differentiate our product from all others?

What new product is needed? What extension of a current product’s market?

How can I sell 20 percent more than I am at present?

What new selling techniques can I create? Can I reduce the cost of our current selling techniques?

How can I become indispensable to my company?

How can we better handle customer complaints?

How can we improve the role service plays in the sale of our products?

How can our advertising better communicate about our goods and services?

Is it possible to encourage everyone in our organization to actively look for ways to better differentiate our products?

What procedures could we institute that would reduce unnecessary paperwork?

What awards would be more meaningful to employees?

How can we become more customer-oriented?

Is it possible to change our corporate image?

In what ways might we out-perform the competition?

Which of our products can we make into silver bullets? (A silver bullet is the leading product or service in a particular industry.)

Effective ways to pump your mind for ideas are:

Set an Idea Quota

Get Tone

Don’t Be a Duke of Habit

Feed Your Head

Do a Content Analysis

Make a Brain Bank

Be a Travel Junkie

Capture Your Thoughts

Think Right

Keep an Idea Log