Techniques creative problem solving pdf

You and your group will find original ideas which are always there. Please note that the video and audio quality is a little shaky in places. Sorry about that! We had some technical issues with Skype that were difficult to overcome. The third stage helps you select the best ideas and the fourth tests the feasibility of your best ideas.

Always start with the ABC Avalanche and then use 1 or 2 of the next 5 tools to expand the list of possible solutions.

This tool asks people to generate at least 26 ideas for a specific challenge sorting them by their first letters. It takes about minutes. Because participants focus on generating a specific number of ideas they postpone their judgments. Depending on the number of people in the session you can split into sub-groups.

Feel free to build in a little competition between the groups if you like. One of the very classical thinking techniques because to be truly creative you need to break patterns. Then you ask them to take the opposite view i. This technique will generate a long list of associated keywords that can be used to generate even more ideas related to the original challenge. Use the 8 words from the acronym to approach the challenge from a different angle and generate a larger list of creative ideas.

Let them go wherever they want to go to create more productive access points to tackle the original challenge. Sometimes people are using this technique as biomimicry.

Your question to the group: what kind of animals are you thinking about when you use your imagination? Get them to list lots of animals quickly and ask them to select one. What is it that makes this an extraordinary animal? Once you have that list of characteristics about the animal use those words as access points to generate more ideas about the challenge. Next step is to select ideas through a process of prioritization that you want to go deeper into and do further work on to develop them further.

Most problem solving techniques are either brainstorming sessions of some sort, or techniques designed to force you to lay aside your preconceived opinions and study a problem from different angles yes that is a major simplification.

The book is organized and formatted very well. The information is presented in an interesting manner and never gets boring. Most of the sections are short and sweet, and what few times he goes beyond a couple pages is by necessity.

Personally, I would like to have seen at least a couple extended case studies, but that was not the purpose of this book. One of my favorites is the Delphi technique. I have actually used a form of it several times in my work before I even knew it was a technique, and I suspect many of you have used it too in an informal way.

I have had some good success with it and believe it to be an excellent technique in any stage of the problem solving process, whether I am dealing with professionals, layman, mechanics, or bozos. Very helpful, well written and well-organized book. I am sure there are more comprehensive books that cost alot more, but this one fulfills it purpose nicely. He is the author of numerous articles and cases. He is an experienced consultant, working with people and firms since , to increase levels of innovation as well as to solve particular problems.

Higgins also consults with organizations on strategic planning and in behavioral areas such as motivation, leadership, communication, and stress management. He has been a consultant since E-Book Description. E-Book Details. Table of Contents. Show more.