Creativity techniques Creativity techniques are methods that encourage creative actions, whether in the arts or sciences. They focus on a variety of aspects of creativity, including techniques for idea generation and divergent thinking, methods of re-framing problems, changes in the affective environment and so on. They can be used as part of problem solving, artistic expression, or therapy. Some techniques require groups of two or more people while other techniques can be accomplished alone. These methods include word games, written exercises and different types of improvisation, or algorithms for approaching problems. Aleatory techniques exploiting randomness are also common. Aleatory techniques[edit] Aleatoricism is the incorporation of chance (random elements) into the process of creation, especially the creation of art or media. In short, aleatoricism is a way to introduce new thoughts or ideas into a creative process. Improvisation[edit] The following are two significant methods: Problem solving[edit]
Learn How to Think Different(ly) - Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen by Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen | 10:24 AM September 27, 2011 In the Economist review of our book, The Innovator’s DNA, the reviewer wondered whether genius-level innovators such as Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs challenge the idea that working adults can really learn how to think differently and become innovators. We don’t think so. Reams of relevant research (including our own) proves Jobs right. But neither Steve Jobs nor Apple nor any other high-profile innovator or company has a corner on the think-different market. Take Gavin Symanowitz, whom we recently met in South Africa. Innovators (of new businesses, products, and processes) spend almost 50% more time trying to think different compared to non-innovators. If thinking different can make such a positive difference, why don’t more people spend more time doing it? Just do It. Shake it up. Repeat. As a leader, how often do you think different?
How Great Entrepreneurs Think What distinguishes great entrepreneurs? Discussions of entrepreneurial psychology typically focus on creativity, tolerance for risk, and the desire for achievement—enviable traits that, unfortunately, are not very teachable. So Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, set out to determine how expert entrepreneurs think, with the goal of transferring that knowledge to aspiring founders. While still a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon, Sarasvathy—with the guidance of her thesis supervisor, the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon—embarked on an audacious project: to eavesdrop on the thinking of the country's most successful entrepreneurs as they grappled with business problems. She required that her subjects have at least 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, have started multiple companies—both successes and failures—and have taken at least one company public. Do the doable, then push it Here's another: Woo partners first Sweat competitors later
Creative problem solving Creative problem-solving, a type of problem solving, is the mental process of searching for a new and novel creative solution to a problem, a solution which is novel, original and not obvious. Creative solution types[edit] The creative solution[edit] To qualify as creative problem-solving, the solution must solve the stated problem in a novel way, and the solution must be reached independently.[1] Creative problem-solving usually begins with defining the problem. Typically a creative solution will have 'elegant' characteristics such as using existing components without introducing any new components into the solution (i.e. Many times a solution is considered creative if components that are readily available can be used, and when there is a short time limit within which to solve the problem. Innovations[edit] "All innovations [begin] as creative solutions, but not all creative solutions become innovations." Inventions[edit] Not all inventions are created through creative problem-solving. Lists
Category:Creativity Techniques This A to Z of Creativity and Innovation Techniques, provides an introduction to a range of tools and techniques for both idea generation (Creativity) and converting those ideas into reality (Innovation). Like most tools these techniques all have their good and bad points. I like to think of these creativity and innovation techniques as tools in a toolbox in much the same way as my toolbox at home for DIY. It has a saw, spanner, hammer, knife and all sorts of other things in it, they are all very useful, but you have to pick the right tool (creativity / Innovation technique) for each job. For the future, the aim is to also have sub-categories which will identify Techniques for; Problem Definition - including problem analysis, redifinition, and all aspects associated with defining the problem clearly. Special thanks to the Open University for their kind permission to use material from their publication B822. Subcategories This category has the following 5 subcategories, out of 5 total.
Realistic Lateral Thinking Puzzles Lateral Thinking Puzzles, unlike most puzzles, are inexact. In a sense, they are a hybrid between puzzles and storytelling. In each puzzle, some clues to a scenario are given, but the clues don't tell the full story. Your job is to fill in the details and complete the story. Obviously, there is usually more than one answer to any given puzzle, but, in general, only one solution is truly satisfying. You can try solving these puzzles on your own -- that's certainly a legitimate way to go about this -- but usually you can have more fun if you involve other people. Warning: For some reason, these puzzles have a tendency to be rather morbid. The scenarios given on this page are realistic, if unlikely.
How a Computer Game is Reinventing the Science of Expertise [Video] A crowd observes the match playing on the main stage at the StarCraft 2 championships in Providence, RI. Credit: Major League Gaming If there is one general rule about the limitations of the human mind, it is that we are terrible at multitasking. But clear exceptions challenge that general rule. For decades, a different game, chess, has held the exalted position of “the drosophila of cognitive science”—the model organism that scientists could poke and prod to learn what makes experts better than the rest of us. This real-time strategy game demands the frenetic pursuit of numerous simultaneous goals, any of which can change in the blink of an eye. That intellectual rigor and the corresponding data trail, multiplied across hundreds of thousands of players worldwide, makes StarCraft an unparalleled resource that scientists are only now tapping for the study of attention, multitasking, and learning. Why StarCraft But that’s just one level of play. A screenshot from a StarCraft 2 game.
Synectics Synectics is a problem solving methodology that stimulates thought processes of which the subject may be unaware. This method was developed by George M. Prince (April 5, 1918 - June 9, 2009)[1] and William J.J. Gordon, originating in the Arthur D. Little Invention Design Unit in the 1950s. History[edit] The process was derived from tape-recording (initially audio, later video) meetings, analysis of the results and experiments with alternative ways of dealing with the obstacles to success in the meeting. The name Synectics comes from the Greek and means "the joining together of different and apparently irrelevant elements Gordon and Prince named both their practice and their new company Synectics, which can cause confusion as people not part of the company are trained and use the practice. Theory[edit] Synectics is a way to approach creativity and problem-solving in a rational way. According to Gordon, Synectics research has three main assumptions: Books[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]