Techniques

A little research on the web will produce a lot of information about creativity.
Here are some approaches you may choose to try. During the semester we will
be examining only a few of the many different techniques used to
develop creative solutions.
Experiment and see which one(s) work for you.

1. Creativity Triggers
Try applying any of these actions to your problem or idea: add, subtract, transfer, empathize, animate, superimpose, substitute, fragment, isolate, distort, disguise, contradict, parody, lie, compare to, hybridize, metamorphose, symbolize, mythologize, fantasize, repeat, combine

2. Unconscious Problem Solving
Think hard about your problem, then stop thinking about it, then forget it for awhile, or go to sleep after telling yourself that you will awaken with new ideas about your problem. Then wait for the Eureka! Einstein had many of his great solutions come to him in the shower.

3. The Eight-step Basadur Simplex Problem-solving Process
One: Find the problem.
Two: Find the facts around the problem.
Three: Define the problem.
Four: Find ideas.
Five: Evaluate and select solutions from the ideas.
Six: Plan actions upon the selections.
Seven: Gain acceptance for the solutions.
Eight: Take action on the solutions.

4. The Golden Egg
Try to mentally reframe your problem so it doesn't look like a problem. See your problem as a golden egg, unexpected wealth just waiting for you.

5. Storyboarding
Storyboarding was originally a technique used by Disney to help manage the production of their animated features. The point is to be able to glance at the board and quickly see what is going on and how you can add to it. You can use it to immerse yourself and your group in a problem, then to plan, brainstorm ideas, create communications, and organize.

The idea is to piggy back off each others' ideas and look for interconnections among them. Consider every idea as relevant. Structure the storyboarding into two sessions: The first is for creative thinking (no criticism allowed! no matter how constructive).
The second is for critical thinking.

6. "Sensanation"- a technique created by Mike Vance
Think about your problem in terms of your five senses.
How does the problem taste, feel, smell, look, sound? Look for your reactions to trigger new insights into your problem and its solution.

7. The Why Question
Ask why five times.
This ancient Asian technique can help you discover problems you've been missing.
Here's an example:
"I ate an apple."
"Why?"
"Because I was hungry."
"Why?"
"Because I skipped lunch."
Why?
"Because I had to meet a deadline."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid I'd get fired if I missed it."
"Why?"
"Because I'm afraid of my boss."

8. The Six Basic Questions
In the rush of developing a product or a process, only a few of these questions may be asked. Who, what, where, when, how, and why. If someone complains that the answers to any of these questions are obvious, it may be time to list those answers!

9. Attribute Listing
Like asking the six basic questions, attribute listing can deliver some real surprises.
Take a product, a mousetrap for instance.
It has a Feature called the spring, the Attributes of the present spring are that it's coiled, steel and tempered. Ideas for changing it would be: flat leaf, titanium. Get the idea?

10. Mind Mapping (Buzon)
Mind mapping is a lot like storyboarding, except you don't use the cards. Just work on a single sheet of paper. The technique works for meetings, think tanks, giving presentations, taking notes, writing reports, individual study, group study or reading.
Use one word per line, and connect it to other words. Include lots of color and images. Here's a quick sample, see if you can draw some lines that connect the attributes of an actor.
Actor
Searching
Full of ideas
Moody
Frustrated
College graduate
Creative Hypersensitive

11. Creative Problem Solving in a Business
Start your solution search with your customer or end user. Define the problem accurately by asking the customer/end user to state the problem five times. Get good ideas from everywhere and everyone, let serendipity play. Think multiple solutions. Brainstorm, exaggerate, experiment, play and persist. If you're concerned about protecting your solution use a patent or project notebook to date and record your actions and your findings. Make innovative cost reduction a goal for your problem-solving sessions.

12. Fuzzy Thinking (pioneered by Lotfi Zadeh)
The more complex something is, the more inexact or "fuzzier" it will be.
It builds upon the assumption that everything consists of degrees on a sliding scale-whether it be truth, age, beauty, wealth, color, race, or anything else that is effected by the dynamic nature of human behavior and perception.
The question Zadeh always insists upon asking is, "To what degree is something true or false?"

Ask true or false questions, then look for answers that demonstrate intermediate levels of trueness and falseness. If you wonder about the value of fuzzy logic, it's what makes elevators and cars with antilock braking systems stop smoothly. This has got to be one of the most fun techniques.
It's based on the fact that the usual, the normal is a weak stimulus for thinking. A quick way to get this technique to pay off is to change your routine. Take a new way to or from work. Eat lunch in a new area. Listen to a new radio station. Watch a television show that's not in your native language. Love interior design? Read a magazine about boxing.

Imagine you're the president of Sun Microsystems and you've just discovered employees have placed your Ferrari on a raft in a lagoon outside your office (they did this!). How would this discovery affect your approach to the rest of your day? Zen Buddhists are renowned for using discontinuity to stimulate thinking. Try answering this Zen riddle: "What is a mouse when it spins?"

13. Keeping a Journal. Journals are an effective way to record ideas that one thinks of spontaneously. By carrying a journal, one can create a collection of thoughts on various subjects that later become a source book of ideas. People often have insights at unusual times and places. By keeping a journal, one can capture these ideas and use them later when developing and organizing materials in the prewriting stage.

14. Freewriting. When free-writing, a person will focus on one particular topic and write non-stop about it for a short period of time. The idea is to write down whatever comes to mind about the topic, without stopping to proofread or revise the writing. This can help generate a variety of thoughts about a topic in a short period of time, which can later be restructured or organized following some pattern of arrangement.

13. Tools for Creative Thinking - A great site with too many tools to mention here.