News & Updates:

Like the website?
Recommend Us To a Friend

7 • Other Aids - Part 1

The individual spurs to ideas covered so far are the most popu­lar with the greatest number of people largely because they can be used any time, any place, under any circumstances, and they are general enough to be adapted or adopted for almost any type of problem, whether personal, business, social, or environmental. There are several more specialized techniques that may also be of interest. These are usually favored by persons with highly specialized types of design, engineering, or other problems deal­ing largely with tangible items.

They may be classified generally as analytical techniques, in that, like checklists, they force you into an analysis of all the various factors involved in changing or improving your common­place beginning.

Attribute Listing. This technique was developed and formalized by Professor Robert Platt Crawford of the University of Ne­braska (and is explained in detail in his book, Techniques of Creative Thinking). Basically, it consists of listing all the at­tributes or qualities of an object, product, or situation; then sys­tematically considering each attribute or group of attributes in turn, to try to change each of them in as many ways as possible. The object of each change should be to do a better job of satisfy­ing your new need. For example:

If the problem were to develop a different kind of picture frame, you would start by listing the attributes of an ordinary frame and looking for possible ways to change them:

Ordinary Frame Has...              Could Be Changed to ...

Rectangular shape                Round, oval, triangular, etc.

Glass covering                     Lucite, plastic film, ornamental tracery,

louvers, etc.
Wooden construction             Aluminum, plastic, rubber, no frame,

built-in, etc.
Wire hanger                     Magnetic,   double-faced   tape,   suction

cups, hook-and-eye, etc.

If you carry this far enough, you can soon get into such questions as "What other objects are like picture frames?" (window frames, wall-panel mountings, mosaic panels) and "What can I borrow from them?" "What other materials used in decorating anything might lend themselves to decorating a frame?"

The "X" Method. This is a method formalized by Professor George B. Dubois of Cornell. Professor Dubois suggests that if you have broken your problem down completely and still can't seem to get started, you substitute "X" for any unknown and go on to the next step. It's a little like the way General MacArthur "island-hopped" in the Pacific during World War II: His strategy was to by-pass enemy strong points and capture less well defended islands beyond and around them. The "X" method lets you at­tempt the same thing on design or development problems: when you hit an impasse, go on to the next phase that you can tackle. You may find the solution to your "passed" problem while work­ing on another aspect of the total problem.

Input-Output System. This method serves first to define the problem, and then to provide a framework for its solution. You start by determining what it is you want to accomplish—the final objective. Let's say this will be a new lamp base. This would be the output. Then, you determine your input, or what you have to work with—tools, materials, skills. In between these two, you list any limitations—cost, structural requirements, aesthetic con­siderations. Now you begin to work from one side of the problem to the other and back again—from the input of one particular detail, such as tools available, over to the desired output to see what you can accomplish in view of the limitations you have es­tablished. If your analysis is exhaustive enough and you are crea­tive enough in looking for possibilities, the input-output system can frequently produce a multitude of ideas for incorporation into your final design.

Related terms include business value and business service.