Thinking techniques An overview

Techniques & purposes Brainstorming Mind mapping Brain writing Formulating how questions 5 w’s and 1 h ‘Why not?’ questions Generating ideas Generating & categorizing ideas Redefining a problem

Techniques continued Using an oracle Metaphors Visualizing Story telling Identifying Reversing Combining Generating ideas

How does a brain storm work? Take a large sheet of paper. Write the subject in the middle. Write down everything you can think of. Associate!. Don’t judge Just do it! Don’t stop. Set time limit.

Example of a brainstorm

Another example

How does a mind map work? Take a large sheet of paper. Write the subject in the middle. Draw branches, like a tree, for different categories. Add sub branches for new words. Make new versions for large branches.

Example Mind Map

Another example

How does brain writing work? Write problem on large sheet of paper. Don’t speak during the session. Members take turns writing down their ideas for solving the problem. Everybody has e.g. 2 minutes. Afterwards, select the most promising ideas to work on.

How does ‘how questions’ work? Write down as many questions using ‘how’ as you can to make a new start. When: If a problem is difficult, hard to tackle If a problem is too big or too vague.

How does ‘5 w’s and 1 h’ work? Write down as many questions for: What When Why Who Where How This will help you tackle a problem that may seem too big too handle. E.g. ‘I can’t motivate my team’.

How does ‘why not’ work? Go crazy! Don’t be shy. Don’t judge. Write down as many ideas and suggesting starting with: Why don’t we…? Why can’t we…? Why not…?

How does an ‘oracle’ work? Take a phone book, dictionary, magazine etc. Open it at random and put your finger on a word. Write this word on a piece of paper. Start associating and write down what everybody thinks. This may get the creativity juices flowing again if you’re stuck.

How does ‘metaphors’ work? Write down the subject on a sheet of paper. Name and describe as many metaphors and images as you can. Metaphors are expressions using imagery. E.g. Green as grass. Proverbial sayings are allowed as well: It was raining cats and dogs.

How does ‘visualizing’ work? Write down the theme on a piece of paper. Sit back and close your eyes. Picture in your mind what you think of when you take this theme in mind. Play it like a movie, watch ‘photographs’. Set a time limit. E.g. 2 minutes. Rewind your movie and write down what you saw.

How does ‘story telling’ work? This is similar to ‘free writing’. Write down the theme you are dealing with. Start writing or telling a story about this theme/word. Don’t think or judge. Just do it. Just start writing or speaking. Set a time limit, e.g. 2 minutes.

How does ‘identifying’ work? Write down the word or theme Now describe what you would to if you were: Someone famous like George Clooney Someone with another function, e.g. the managing director or the prime minister. A cartoon character. E.g. Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny. …

How does ‘reversing’ work? Write down the problem or theme. List all the rules, do’s and don’ts involved. Reverse these rules. Think of the opposite. What would happen? This involves rules, morals, etiquette etc.

How does ‘combining’ work? Looking for surprising ideas and results? Try this one: Think of two different machines, objects, ideas etc. List what these objects can do on separate lists. Combine qualities of each objects with each other. What do you get? Make a list of possible combinations. Select the most promising ones and see what you can do with them.

Conclusion This is a list of techniques which you can use to generate ideas and to get ‘warmed up’ on a subject. So, no more excuses about having ‘no inspiration’. Creating something new is an active process, it’s not something that just happens to you! Pick the technique that best suits your purpose and personality.