7 • Other Aids - Part 2

Articles In This Section:

· Help Yourself to More Ideas

· 1 • Make Notes

· 2 • Pick Your Time

· 3 • Give Yourself a Deadline

· 4 • Set a Quota for Yourself

· 5 • Use Checklists - Part 1

· 5 • Use Checklists - Part 2

· 6 • Use Creative Questioning - Part 1

· 6 • Use Creative Questioning - Part 2

· 6 • Use Creative Questioning - Part 3

· 7 • Other Aids - Part 1

· 7 • Other Aids - Part 2

It is well to note that in using any such analytical techniques as attribute listing and the input-output system, the value and quality of the results will be largely determined by the care and accuracy of the original problem analysis. If vital angles of the problem are not included in the initial framework, or if facts are inaccurate, you will not be able to make accurate or useful transformations to final ideas. Therefore, if you must make some un-verifiable assumptions in order to go ahead on the problem, be sure you put mental "flags" on them to indicate possible danger spots. In many cases, of course, your final result will prove or disprove the validity of your assumption; but if, in the course of working your way through an analysis, you get the opportunity to check out a key assumption for accuracy, you may save yourself much time and trouble by stopping to pin it down right then and there.

All the self-prodding techniques covered in this chapter can be useful in helping you to produce more ideas; they will enable you to take an orderly approach to a problem and to avoid ordinary blank spots which might be caused by faulty perception, haste, or emotional or cultural blocks. But, to be effective, they must all be used with intelligence and imagination. Before you consider any particular technique, you should consider its suitability for what you want to accomplish. In many cases, it may be useful to mix or combine the devices you will employ. At every stage you will have to use your imagination in deciding just which tool is the best for your needs at that particular stage in the problem-solving sequence. It is, in a way, like playing golf or trying to catch fish. There are no hard and fast rules to tell you just what to do next—you have to use judgment in deciding how you will play the ball or lure the fish or solve the problem.

Finally, always remember the basic aim of all idea-spurring techniques: to help you keep an open and receptive mind. You never know where or when the solution to any particular problem is going to come to you. So don't get all wrapped up in the techniques, methods, procedures, devices, or what have you. They are only means to an end—not the end itself. Be receptive—be ready to "receive" when your mind starts "sending" a promising idea or ideas.

And don't let yourself be blocked out of a good idea by what anyone else says about it, or even by what you see in front of you.