Provoke Yourself

When seeking to generate ideas, the implicit desire to settle upon the right answer, or the best answer, as quickly as possible is incredibly powerful. In design, we often encourage folks to deliberately separate the task of idea generation from the process of idea evaluation, to protect themselves from critical thinking or from presumptuously settling on a sub-optimal idea too quickly.

Edward de Bono describes a key difference in the logic of what he calls lateral thinking. In his classic, you guessed it, Lateral Thinking, he says, "In lateral thinking, one uses information not for its own sake but for its effect... The natural inclination is to search for alternatives (or more broadly, generate ideas) in order to find the best one. In lateral thinking however the purpose of the search is to loosen up rigid patterns and to provoke new patterns... Even if the search for alternatives proves to be a waste of time in a particular case it helps develop the habit of looking for alternatives instead of blindly accepting the most obvious approach."

One simple flip I've employed to help folks who are stuck in evaluation mode is to say, "Instead of asking, 'What do I think of this idea?' ask, 'What does this idea make me think of?'" Many times, we default back into an evaluative state because we forget that the purpose is to provoke our thinking; the value of bad ideas (either from diverse collaborators or from my own unfiltered subconscious) is not in their own merits (ie is it a good idea to strap a jetpack to a baby?), but in what other ideas they trigger, that I wouldn't have thought of before (ie what if we could provide a motorized boost to a stroller, like a self-propelled lawn mower?). (For the record I just thought of both of those random things while writing this)

There's lots of interesting data that suggests that random inputs (see The Medici Effect) and even erroneous information (see Range) can lead to greater idea volume and variety. As one of my favorite collaborators at the d.school, LaToya Jordan, often says, "Just beyond crazy is fabulous."

Related: Hack Your Creative Blocks
Related: Look for What’s Right
Related: Seek Random Inputs

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