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Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creativity. Show all posts

SCAMPER!

To create a new product, service, or process, try applying "SCAMPER" to an old one. SCAMPER is an acronym for ...
  1. Substitute ... What can you substitute? What can be used instead? Who else instead? What other ingredients? Other material? Other process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other sounds? Other forces? ... "Instead of ... I can ..."
  2. Combine ... What can you combine or bring together somehow? How about a blend, an alloy, an assortment, an ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine ideas? ... "I can bring together ... and ... to ..."
  3. Adapt ... What can you adapt for use as a solution? What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Does past offer a parallel? What could I copy? Who could I emulate? ... "I can adapt ... in this way ... to ..."
  4. Modify, minimize, magnify ... Can you change the item in some way? Change meaning, color, motion, sound, smell, form, shape? Other changes? ... Also: 'Minify': What can you remove? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Split up? Understate? ... Also: Magnify: What can you add? More time? Greater frequency? Stronger? Higher? Longer? Thicker? Extra value? Plus ingredient? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate? ... "I can modify/minimize/magnify.. in this way ... to ..
  5. Put to another use, re-use ... How can you put the thing to different or other uses? New ways to use as is? Other uses if it is modified? ... "I can re-use ... in this way ... by ..."
  6. Eliminate, elaborate ... What can you eliminate? Remove something? Eliminate waste? Reduce time? Reduce effort? Cut costs? ... "I can eliminate ... by ..."
  7. Rearrange, reverse ... What can be rearranged in some way? Interchange components? Other pattern? Other layout? Other sequence? Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? Change schedule? ... "I can rearrange ... like this ... such that ..."
[Thank you, Robert Eberle and Alex Osborn]

Leonardo da Vinci's Seven Principles

  1. Curiositá ... an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
  2. Dimostrazione ... a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistance, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
  3. Sensazione ... the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
  4. Sfumato ... literally "going up in smoke" ... a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
  5. Arte/Scienza ... the development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination ... "Whole-Brain" thinking.
  6. Corporalita ... the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
  7. Connessione ... a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena ... systems thinking.
[Thank you, Michael J. Gelb]

Stimulating Our Creativity

1. Surround yourself with creative people. Hang out with writers, musicians, poets and artists. Often, just being in a creative environment will inspire you and refresh your creative mind.
2. Start somewhere. If you create a load of crap for a few pages, whether it’s creative writing in Word or sheet music, the brain loosens up and it’s easier to break through the barrier and come up with ideas.
3. Expose yourself. Not after too much vodka. Expose yourself to new art – books, music, paintings – all the time. If you’re a rocker, listen to funk. If you’re a crime writer, read fantasy. If you’re a productivity writer, read something about slacking off.
4. Develop a “morning ritual” that puts you in the zone – whether it’s stream-of-consciousness such as in tip 2, or a series of non-spectacular everyday actions in sequence that tell your brain it’s time to get in the zone. Perhaps you drink a coffee while watching the news before going for a morning walk – if you repeat the same actions before doing creative work for long enough, it eventually creates an association that tells the mind to get in a particular zone.
5. Use "Getting Things Done" (GTD) techniques – free up your mind from the hassles of life by doing an info-dump so your head is clear enough to create instead of worry.
6. Never stop learning.
7. Imitate the real world – find beauty (or the ugly, depending on what inspires you) and try to extract the essence of it into your work. This may lead you to what you need to create, or it may just warm up the muse.
8. Drink too much coffee sometimes (one of my favorite submissions).
9. Do something new. Play chess. Read a book if you watch television and watch television if you read. Go outside. Sing in the shower.
10. Don’t be too precious about your work. Being inspired by ‘the muse’ is important, but if the doctor and the garbage man can do their jobs every day, then those in a creative line of work can too. Change your attitude towards your work.
11. Based on the theory that everything that can be created has been and creation is simply a process of combining existing ideas, consume information by the bucket load. The more you know, the more you can create from that knowledge.
12. Meet new people from different walks of life. Gain insight into their perspectives on life. Strike up a conversation on the bus.
13. Shut out the world. Instead of sucking in new information, sit quietly, go to sleep, or meditate. Stop thinking and clear your mind so that the clutter doesn’t get in the way of your thoughts.
14. Carry a camera with you and look for interesting things in your every day scenery. Hadn’t noticed that crack in the path before? Then it’ll do. Set a quota and force yourself to make it. Don’t go to new places to do this – force yourself to find new perspectives on old knowledge.
15. Creativity is a muscle. Exercise it daily – if you only need to create once a week, your muscles may have atrophied if you don’t do it just because you don’t have to.
16. Carry a notebook everywhere. Or a PDA.
17. Write down a list of ideas and draw random arrows between them. For instance, if you’re a blogger, write down everything in your Categories list and draw lines to connect unusual ideas. If you had the categories “Relationships” and “Management” and randomly connected them you’d have an interesting article idea to work with.
18. If you’re not on a tight deadline, walk away and do something completely unrelated. Don’t let yourself spend that time stressing about what you need to do.
19. Create a framework. As many writers have said, the blank page can be the biggest show-stopper. Instead of trying to rely on pure inspiration, set your topic or theme and start creating within confines. Think within the box you create for yourself.
20. Remove obstacles to creativity. That friend who calls to complain about their life can wait until you can afford to get stressed about their problems.
21. Don’t judge your ideas until you have plenty to judge. Don’t be embarrassed by yourself – just write them all down! Even if you start with “pink polka-dotted lizard.”
22. Keep a journal. It can get your mind working, and in a month, or a year, when you’ve gained some distance from what you’ve written it can give you new ideas.
23. Stop telling yourself you’re not creative. If you tell yourself not to come up with ideas, then you probably won’t – no matter how hard you try.
24. Don’t be a workaholic – take breaks. Your mind needs a chance to wind down so it doesn’t overheat and crash.
25. Experiment randomly. What does a flanger sound like on a vocal track? Like Lenny Kravitz, of course.
26. Treat creativity like an enemy in a strategy game; if one thing isn’t working, don’t keep trying until you give up. Try a new strategy. Run through the whole list, not just the first tip.
27. Choose a topic and write about it as wonderfully or badly as you possibly can. Then edit it as ruthlessly as a newspaper editor who has thousands of words to edit in the next hour and doesn’t care what gets lost in the process. At the end you might have something decent to use as a starting point.
28. Trash what you’re working on. Start again.
29. Exercise every day, before you sit down to be creative. If you exercise afterwards you’ll get the creative burst – just too late.
30. Spend time with your children. Or someone else’s.

[Thank you, Joel Falconer]

Google Design Principles

  1. Focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams.
  2. Every millisecond counts.
  3. Simplicity is powerful.
  4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
  5. Dare to innovate.
  6. Design for the world.
  7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
  8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
  9. Be worthy of people's trust.
  10. Add a human touch.
[Attribution: Sue Factor, User Experience Group, Google]

Catergories of Innovation

Innovation has a revolutionary reputation, but an evolutionary reality!  

An innovation is (simply) Something New and Better ...
  • Something: a product, service, process, methodology, or market positioning. 
  • New: didn't exist before in this market space.
  • Better: desirable benefits, a lower price, or both ... compared to the available alternatives.
That's not to imply that the innovation process is simple, by no means!  It can be quite complex, even if the final result doesn't necessarily reflect such.

Some types of innovation are pretty simple, pretty straight-forward. A new hot dog stand on a corner can be an example of "positioning" innovation ... simple, yet it does provide something new and better.

Other innovations are indeed quite complex and required high levels of intellect, resources, skills, education, and expertise.

Here are some general categories of innovation:

1. Incremental … basic design concepts are reinforced, linkages between modules are unchanged
2. Component or modular … basic design concepts are overturned, linkages between modules are unchanged
3. Architectural … linkages between modules are changed, basic design concepts are reinforced
4. Radical … basic design concepts are overturned, linkages between modules are changed
5. Disruptive ... technological discontinuity
6. Application ... technology application creates new market ... killer application
7. Product ... improved performance, dominant design
8. Process ... more efficient and/or effective processes
9. Positioning ... establishing a venture in a new space
10. Experiential ... improved customer experience
11. Marketing ... improved marketing relationships
12. Business model ... reframe the value proposition or value chain
13. Structural ... responds to structural changes in the industry
14. Service … give the same products but with much better service
15. Paradigm ... good luck! If we want a paradigm shift, we'll need a solid combination of several simpler innovations!

Killing Creativity

Creativity is such a fragile creature, easily wounded, often destroyed. A few of the weapons, simple phrases or actions, that can be used to kill creativity include the following ...
  • We don't take any risks around here ...
  • We don't have time ...
  • It would take too long ...
  • We don't have resources ...
  • Well, maybe tomorrow ...
  • It's not my job ...
  • It's not your job ...
  • That's a dumb question ...
  • The rules are ...
  • You're going to fail ...
  • It would cost too much ...
  • It's impossible ...
  • Why don't you write a report ...
  • It's not your job ...
  • That's been done before ...
  • That's not how we do things around here ...
  • Their ideas don't count ...
  • Well, maybe next week ...
  • That's a stupid idea ...
  • Yes, but ...
  • Well, maybe next year ...
  • If it ain't broke, don't fix i t...
  • It's good enough already ...
  • We don't have money ...
  • It's never been done before ...
  • We tried that and it didn't work ...
  • I don't like it ...
  • Our customers wouldn't like it ...
  • That's not really creative ...
  • That's crazy ...
  • (Yawn)
5K

Phases of Innovation

  1. Preparation ... focus on the problem or opportunity, and who it affects
  2. Exploration ... identify current solutions, alternatives, and substitutes
  3. Stimulation ... use creativity techniques to trigger new ideas, concepts, and solutions
  4. Incubation ... give the new ideas some time and thought
  5. Illumination ... identify new ideas, concepts, and solutions
  6. Selection ... establish and use clear criteria for selecting the "best" concept
  7. Planning ... decide how to implement the concept
  8. Implementation ... put the plan and concept to work
  9. Evaluation ... determine if the new concept is working
  10. Iteration ... apply incremental improvement to the concept, or start over
5K

Right and Left Brain

You got two brains, use them ... but not both at the same time!


LEFT BRAIN characteristics ...
  • ANALYTICAL
  • Logical
  • Sequential
  • Rational
  • Objective
  • Looks at parts
  • Conventional
  • FOLLOWS THE RULES ...

RIGHT BRAIN characteristics ...
  • CREATIVE
  • Intuitive
  • Holistic
  • Synthesizing
  • Subjective
  • Looks at wholes
  • Transformational
  • BREAKS THE RULES ...
[Thank you, Roger Sperry]

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Brainstorming!

A good way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas from which to choose! Brainstorming is a Creativity Supertool!
  1. Brainstorming is a team sport ... support your team members!
  2. No criticism ... no "devil's advocates" allowed!
  3. Anything goes … wild, crazy, impractical, ingenious ideas encouraged!
  4. Go for quantity, not quality, of ideas!
  5. All ideas encouraged!
  6. Piggyback, improve, combine ideas ... be an "angel advocate"!
  7. Record all ideas so nothing gets lost!
  8. Filter ideas later, not during the brainstorming session!
  9. Set a time limit for the session, then stick to it!
Variation ... brainwriting: the general process is that, in a group, ideas are recorded by each individual who thought of them ... they are then passed on to the next person who uses them as a trigger for their own ideas.

Creativity Kindling Exercises

  • Level 1 ... Explain, Demonstrate, Identify, Illustrate, Translate, Show, Label
  • Level 2 ... Solve, Organize, Construct, Generalize, Examples, Relate, Summarize
  • Level 3 ... Compare, Contrast, Classify, Dissect, Analyze, Categorize, Take Apart, Sequence, Group
  • Level 4 ... Design, Hypothesize, Predict, Combine, Originate, Compose, Improve, Invent
  • Level 5 ... Create, Modify, Forecast, Restructure, Initiate, Imagine, Substitute, Change
  • Level 6 ... Justify, Criticize, Judge, Recommend, Evaluate, Propose, Defend, Appraise


Types of Creativity

  • Expressive ... Very common form of creativity.  Example: Doodling, short notes, humming a new melody.   Useful for communications, advertising, sales.
  • Productive ... Common form of creativity.  Example: Finding a better way of doing a job.  Useful for process improvement, cost reductions, efficiency, improvement.
  • Inventive ... Userful for new product development.
  • Innovative ... Applied creativity.  Better solutions than competition.  Competitive advantages.   Useful for marketing, new product development.
  • Emergenative ... Very rare form of creativity.  Example: Einstein's Theory of Relativity...opened the door for space travel, nuclear fusion.  Useful for developing entirely new industries.

Good Books for Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

  • A Whack on the Side of the Head (von Oech) 
  • Cracking Creativity (Michalko) 
  • Creativity in Business (Ray/Myers) 
  • Crossing the Chasm (Moore)
  • Democratizing Innovation (von Hipppel) 
  • Driving Growth Through Innovation (Tucker) 
  • Entrepreneurship ... A Real-World Approach (Abrams)
  • Founders at Work (Livingston) 
  • How to Get Ideas (Foster) 
  • How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci (Gelb) 
  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Drucker) 
  • Innovator's Dilemma (Christensen) 
  • Made to Stick (Heath) 
  • The Design of Everyday Things (Norman)
  • The Game Changer (Lafley/Charan)
  • The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (Christensen, Raynor) 
  • The Innovator's Toolkit: 50+ Techniques (Silverstein, Samuel, DeCarlo) 
  • The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures (Johansson) 
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman)
  • Weird Ideas That Work (Sutton) 
  • What a Great Idea (Thompson)
  • 5280 Tips for Innovators and Entrepreneurs (Jindrick)
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