LATERAL THINKING

Lateral Thinking

 We think by recognizing patterns and reacting to them. (perception) These reactions come from our past experiences and logical extensions to those experiences. Often we do not think outside these patterns.

Lateral Thinking

 Provocation and Movement” is an important lateral thinking technique. It works by moving your thinking out of the established patterns that you usually use to solve problems. It is the conscious effort in

thinking.

Lateral Thinking

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You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper"

 This means that trying harder in the same direction (same pattern) may not be as useful as changing direction. Effort in the same direction (approach) will not necessarily succeed.

But how?

Lateral Thinking

 'Judgment' is our main thinking operation. With judgment we recognise standard situations and then apply standard responses. This is an excellent system which serves us well. But it is no use for creativity. If you judge a provocation you will almost certainly reject it.

Lateral Thinking

 Instead of judgment, we need to use a very different mental exercise called 'movement'. With judgment we compare something with the past, with something we know already. With 'movement' we move forward to something new.

Lateral Thinking

 Lets say that you know how to play football well, and you know how to play rugby well. What makes it possible for you to be able to play both games is the fact that you don’t mix the rules of one game with the other. Likewise we must not mix judgement with movement

Lateral Thinking

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JUDGEMENT is thinking with a black hat, its caution, MOVEMENT is thinking with the green hat.

Formal ways of setting up a Provocation

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Arising Provocation(take anything ridiculous as a provocation)

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Reversal Provocation

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Escape Provocation (Change of logic principle)

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Exaggeration

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Wishful Thinking

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Distortion provocation

Reversal Provocation:

 Reversal Provocation: Take detailed descriptions of something we take for granted and reverse it (opposite)  Useful to examine methods procedures and stable

systems

 It shakes existing procedures, forcing to consider them deeply and in a new way

Reversal Provocation:

 Factual : We pay when we hire videos. (reverse method and stable system)  “Po” I want to hire videos without paying.

Reversal Provocation:

       Take this imagination forward by asking The consequences of the statement What the benefits would be What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution The principles needed to support it and make it work How it would work moment-to-moment What would happen if a sequence of events was changed

Consequences:

 Consequences: The shop would get no rental revenue and therefore would need alternative sources of cash. It would be cheaper to borrow the video from the shop than to download the film or order it from a catalogue.

Benefits:

 Benefits: Many more people would come to borrow videos. More people would pass through the shop. The shop would spoil the market for other video shops in the area.

Circumstances:

 Circumstances: The shop would need other revenue. Perhaps the owner could sell advertising in the shop, or sell popcorn, sweets, bottles of wine or pizzas to people borrowing films. This would make her shop a one-stop 'Night at home' shop. Perhaps it would only lend videos to people who stayted in the shop for a minimum of 10m to be able to absorbed some commercials, (Smart TV)

Reversal Provocation:

 Or used as research place where people will drop their questionnaires and those that fill in the questionnaires will be eligible for free hire and shop owner will get revenue from companies issuing the questionnaire.

3. Escape Provocation

 3. Escape Provocation: It is obtained by modifying usual order of events, time sequence, cause-effect relationships, semantic relationships, …

3. Escape Provocation

 Fact: When I go to eat in a restaurant, I pay a bill for the food I eat which the restaurant owner decides.

 “Po” I want to decide how much to pay for the food and not the restaurant manager”

3. Escape Provocation

 Twice a week billing is left for the consumer to decide. This will attract people and when they try the food (which will be very very good) they will end up going there on other days as well and shop owner will have an increase in customers and in revenue.

4. Exaggeration Provocation

 4. Exaggeration Provocation: It requires measures and dimensions: number, frequency, volume, temperature, duration…  It means suggesting a measure which is outside from usual range.

4. Exaggeration Provocation

 Fact: Expiry dates are written in small print.

 “Po” Expiry date is as large as 1 metre.

 Creative Idea, expiry dates should light up when item is in contact with body temperature 

5. Wishful thinking Provocation

 5. Wishful thinking Provocation: It is obtained by expressing a fanciful desire which is impossible to realize.

 This is a very useful tool to come up with ideas. By dreaming of your ideal situation or solution you can often come up with something which have similar effect but in a more practical and realistic way.

5. Wishful thinking Provocation

 Wishful thinking: I will get paid whilst I remain at home  Creative idea: Teleworking

6. Distortion provocation

 6. Distortion provocation: In any situation there are normal relationships between parties  There are also normal time sequences of action  Distortion provocations are set up by changing these normal arrangments.

6. Distortion provocation

 Fact: I close the letter then I post it  PO: You close the letter after posting it.”  “Creative idea  A sort of letter box that has a roll which seals envelopes when posting letters. Giving me the principle of closing the letter after posting it and so there will be less paper to pull of sticky part of the envelope and no licking.

6. Distortion provocation

 Fact: You wash clothes then you hang them.

 “PO: You wash the clothes after you hang them  A system installed in a room with poles with vents that emits steam that washes clothes by whilst clothes are hanging…. Benefits would prevent time in ironing, electricity and diminishing boring chores with more time for fun.

Movement

 Movement is not just a suspension of judgment. Movement is an active mental process. There are steps that can be learned, practiced, and used.

Five formal ways of getting movement:

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Extract a principle or feature and work forward from that. Focus on the difference. Look at the moment-to-moment effect of putting the idea into practice. Focus on the positive aspects. Figure under what circumstances there would be

direct value.

Extracting a principle:

 Theme is Cigarettes  Extracting a principle: Would be cigarettes makes u addicted to nicotine and to lose control.

 Focus on this principle and come up with a creative idea related with this principle.

Extracting a principle:

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Creative idea:

MIXED WITH NICOTINE THERE IS A RED BAND OF A BAD SUBSTANCE WHICH MAKES YOU COUGH BADLY LASTING ONLY FOR ONE PUFF. THIS IS TO BE INSERTED TO MAKE YOU AWARE HOW YOU WILL BE IF YOU CONTINUE TO SMOKE AND SO IT WILL HELP YOU TO GAIN CONTROL BY MAKING A CONSCIOUS DECISION EACH TIME YOU SMOKE A CIGARETTE AND HELPS YOU AGAINST ADDICTION.

Extracting a principle:

 Fact: Houses have roofs.

 ‘Po” Houses do not have roofs.

 Movement extracting a principle can be that roofs are there for security and to keep us safe and cosy.

Extracting a principle:

 'Houses should not have roofs'. Is not normally a good idea! However this leads one to think of houses with opening roofs, or houses with glass roofs. These would allow you to explore positive and useful sides of the basic concept that has been challenged by the provocation.  Creative Idea: Houses with glass roofs, square tents with plastic ceilings that open and close.

2. Focus on Difference:

  Focusing on the difference  “ I look for the keys 

“P: The keys look for me”

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What is the main difference? That the keys don’t have voice and hands and legs to come and look for me.

2. Focus on Difference:

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Focusing on these differences will give me the ideas how I can make up for these differences like

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What if keys have a technical element installed inside programmed by our voice and will emit a sound once we call out for the key.

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2. Focus on Difference:

 Fact: Scooters are not very comfortable  “Po” Scooters are as comfortable as cars”  Difference is in the facts that cars have heating, more space, and position is more comfortable.  Focus on these differences and come up with a something that makes up for these differences.

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2. Focus on Difference:

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Creative Idea:

 Scooters can have a Mobile back rest for more comfort that can also go down and transforms into another seat if needs be.

 Can even have heating vents near pedals.

3. Moment to Moment

 3. Moment to Moment: in many situations, this is the most powerful of the movement techniques. Here, we imagine or simulate what might actually happen if we tried to implement the provocation as it stands. Along the way, we look for new ideas that are generated by the simulation.   Fact: streams flow down (exaggeration)  “Po” streams jumps down

3. Moment to Moment

  For example, the moment-to-moment simulation might see water jumping downhill with deliberate steps. From this might come the idea of changing the profile of a stream into one that actually contains steps over which the water flows. At the bottom of each step, there may be a small holding basin that the water temporarily sits in before moving on to the next step. This series of holding basins provides an opportunity for sediments to settle out from the water and be extracted by a series of small pumps at the bottom of each holding basin. The water that flows over the next step is therefore slightly cleaner than the water that flowed over the previous step.

Creative Idea: Thus, as the polluted water walks downhill, it is cleaned up with every step.

4. Positive Aspects

   4. Positive Aspects: This is a very simple technique that concentrates more directly on the provocation itself. Rather than thinking about where the provocation might lead, we look at the provocation and see whether there are any direct benefits or positive aspects of the provocation itself. For example, i Fact: water flows downhill “Po” water flows uphill 

4. Positive Aspects

  From the provocation water runs uphill you might ask "what would be the value of that?". Possible answers include: If a factory has its clean water intake upstream of the factory and its polluted water outflow downstream of the factory, then it would now be taking in its own polluted water and this would provide an internal incentive to clean up the outflow; water running uphill would prevent pollution from reaching international waters, thereby confining the pollutant to the country producing the pollutant. Then Each of these "benefits" could then be examined to see whether they could be achieved by more practical means.

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Special Circumstances

 . Special Circumstances: while provocations are generally crazy and unsuitable for implementation, there may be some special circumstances where the idea may have some immediate use (even though it may be impractical in general). For example, if the provocation was "water polluters identified themselves and made a voluntary payment to clean up the pollution", this could suggest a "polluters club" that polluters would be willing to join in order to buy and sell permits that enabled them to pollute at a price that was sufficient for someone else to clean up the pollution on their behalf.

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. High Value:

 Looking for 'special circumstances' in which the provocation would have a high value is one of the classic ways of getting 'movement'. It seems an obvious thing to do: but, like many obvious things, is rarely done.

 Fact: Calls have all the same rate.

 “Po” Calls do not have all same rate.

. High Value:

 A row of public phones at the airport are all priced the same. We can challenge this. Why not have one phone which is five times the normal price for the same service? At first sight this suggestion seems only to offer a negative value. Who would want to use such a phone and pay five times the normal rate? We now look around for circumstances which would give direct value to this provocation.

High Value:

 No one would want to use this very expensive phone. So that phone booth would tend to be empty. So if you needed to make a really urgent call, you would be more likely to find an available phone. If the call was really urgent you would not mind the high price. (This idea was first suggested when mobile phones were much less common.)