Brainstorming With Sticky Notes This method for generating ideas is a nominal group technique (people are nominally in a group but mostly work on their own). Each participant is given either a pad of sticky notes or a set number, perhaps [...]
Brainstorming / Idea Generation The process of generating ideas. Also known as generating alternatives. The term "brainstorming" was coined by Alex Osborn (the ‘O' in advertising agency BBDO) in 1938 and described in his book Applied Imagination, this is the classic [...]
Working Backwards This category is for methods that involve imagining that the problem has been solved or that the desired result has been achieved, and working backward to find out how the result was successfully accomplished. Methods Backcasting Backward Mapping
Anchoring And Spacial Marking The concepts of anchoring and spatial marking form part of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and are based on Gregory Benson's work on contexts and context markers. Anchoring is applying a gesture, touch, or sound just before a state [...]
Laddering Laddering, or Ladder of Abstraction, involves moving from the specific to the general, or from the general to the specific. Laddering: Methods Ladder of Abstraction (a.k.a. Chunking Up And Down)
Constraint Removal If it were not for constraints (blocks, barriers, obstacles), your desired future - or desired present, as we prefer to think of it - would become reality immediately. The methods in this category are designed to help you identify [...]
Ideas Across Frontiers These methods involve looking at other contexts, such as industries, disciplines, and companies, to see what ideas might be imported, with or without adaptation. Ideas Across Frontiers: Methods Parallels Swiping
Springboards Methods in this category involve the use of an external stimulus to trigger (or springboard) new thinking and ideas. Springboard: Methods 1) Connection Making Card Decks Force Fit includes Random Juxtaposition and Random Words Proverbs and Cliches Random Objects Street [...]
Deconstruction This is the opposite of combining. It involves breaking something down into its component parts to see if one or more of the parts can be eliminated, replaced or assembled in new ways. Deconstruction: Methods Attribute Listing Morphological Analysis
