How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 172

modifying our approach-we begin to get those tiny little sparks of
insight, one after the other. “Includes enough fun and informative
resources to take your creativity as far as you want to take it.”
Creative Thinking Technique: The Idea Box
You can overcome routine thinking and stimulate creative thought by
using specific techniques that will help both stimulate and constrain
your mind so that it can solve problems more effectively and generate
more ideas. The Idea Box is one of the most interesting creative
techniques that there is.
Idea Box - A Morphological Analysis
Idea Box is a Morphological analysis technique developed by Fritz
Zwicky in the 1940's and 50's as a method for systematically
structuring and investigating the total set of relationships contained in
multi-dimensional problems. It's an extension of attribute listing.
Variations of this technique are described by Arthur VanGundy in his
book "Techniques of Structured Problem Solving" and Michael
Michalko in "Thinkertoys".
You choose the number of parameters for your challenge and list
variations for each parameter. By combining different variations of the
parameters you create new ideas. The box is a matrix in which you
insert all of the different parameters so that you can see them clearly. If
you choose 10 elements with 10 possible variations for each, there will
be 10 billion possible combinations, so keep this in mind so that you're
idea box isn't too complex.
The general procedure to implement this technique is the following:
Step 1. List all the major elements involved in the issue or problem. For
example, the major elements of a product you're trying to improve
could be the material, the shape, and added features.
Step 2. Each variable is then listed under each element. So under
"material" the variables could be wood, steel, plastic, and so on.

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