• Thinking tools - Magnetic modelling tools on whiteboards and Visual Thinking software
• Modelling Methods - A large toolkit of trusted modelling methods and techniques to lead the thinking process
• Mental attitude of enquiry - Guiding principles help maximise the benefit of the process

With the help of Visual Thinking tools ideas are encapsulated into geometric shapes and mapped out to make current thinking explicit. The introduction of flexible modelling methods then help us to work with our ideas creatively, activate new perspectives and achieve pre-determined goals. This process of ideas diagramming attains better thinking through synthesising “left brain”, logical and sequential thinking with “right brain”, intuition and pattern recognition in a form that enables our mental models to be questioned and restructured.

Today, TRIZ is a methodology, tool set, knowledge base, and model-based technology for generating innovative ideas and solutions for problem solving. TRIZ provides tools and methods for use in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis, and patterns of system evolution (both ‘as-is’ and ‘could be’). TRIZ, in contrast to techniques such as brainstorming (which is based on random idea generation), aims to create an algorithmic approach to the invention of new systems, and the refinement of old systems.

Some TRIZ is in the public domain. Some TRIZ resides in knowledge bases held by commercial consulting organizations. A complete and open TRIZ development process is not yet evident. Various camps vie for control of TRIZ and interpretation of its findings and applications.

Effectiveness

According to commercial promoters of TRIZ, as a collage of concepts and tools TRIZ has been employed by many Fortune 500 companies in the United States and other countries to solve manufacturing problems and create new products. These promoters claim that companies such as BAE Systems, CSC, Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company, Boeing, Philips Semiconductors, Samsung, LG Electronics, and many others have used TRIZ concepts to systematically solve complex technical and organizational problems. They also claim that the use of TRIZ has been expanding into other areas, and that TRIZ has been used successfully in biomedical research, medicine, computer programming, business management, etc. These claims have not been independently confirmed.

Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the truth value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas.

There are four types of “thinking tools” defined in Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking: The Power of Provocation manual:

• Idea generating tools that are designed to break current thinking patterns – routine patterns, the status quo
• Focus tools that are designed to broaden where to search for new ideas
• Harvest tools that are designed to ensure more value is received from idea generating output
• Treatment tools that are designed to consider real-world constraints, resources, and support

Although brainstorming has become a popular group technique, researchers have not found evidence of its effectiveness for enhancing either quantity or quality of ideas generated. Because of such problems as distraction, social loafing, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking, brainstorming groups are little more effective than other types of groups, and they are actually less effective than individuals working independently. In the Encyclopedia of Creativity, Tudor Rickards, in his entry on brainstorming, summarizes its controversies and indicates the dangers of conflating productivity in group work with quantity of ideas.

Although traditional brainstorming does not increase the productivity of groups (as measured by the number of ideas generated), it may still provide benefits, such as boosting morale, enhancing work enjoyment, and improving team work. Thus, numerous attempts have been made to improve brainstorming or use more effective variations of the basic technique.

Ground Rules

There are four basic rules in brainstorming. These are intended to reduce social inhibitions among groups members, stimulate idea generation, and increase overall creativity of the group.

1. Focus on quantity: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming to facilitate problem solving through the maxim, quantity breeds quality. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.
2. Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put ‘on hold’. Instead, participants should focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later ‘critical stage’ of the process. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate unusual ideas.
3. Welcome unusual ideas: To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking may provide better solutions.
4. Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan “1+1=3″. It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a process of association.

Like CPS, the Productive Thinking Model has six steps. They are:

Step 1: “What’s Going On?

Establishes a context for the problems or opportunities being addressed, exploring different ways of stating the so-called “itch”, exploring what factors, circumstances, and entities are involved, and what a solution might look like.

There are actually five sub-steps to this phase:

• “What’s the Itch?”, generating a long list of perceived problems or opportunities, often re-stating similar ones in several different ways, and then looking for patterns and clusters with the mass in order to select one key “problem” to address

• “What’s the Impact?”, digging deeper into the issue and identifying how it affects the world

• “What’s the Information?”, describing various aspects of the problem in detail

• “Who’s Involved?”, identifying other stakeholders in the issue

• “What’s the Vision?”, identifying what would be different if the issue were resolved, in the form of a “wish” statement (e.g., “If only my dog didn’t run away when I let him outside.”)

Step 2: “What’s Success?”

The second step establishes a vision for a future with the problem solved or the opportunity exploited. In this stage often active imagination is used to imagine, explore, and describe how things would be if the issue were resolved. This vision then informs a process of creating a clearly articulated view of the future, using a tool called “DRIVE”, short for:

• Do – what do you want the solution to do?
• Restrictions – what must the solution NOT do?
• Investment – what resources can be invested?
• Values – what values must you live by? (e.g. environmentally friendly, etc.)
• Essential outcomes – what are the essential outcomes?

Step 3: “What’s the Question?”

The third step frames the challenge by turning it into a question. This is accomplished through brainstorm-like techniques eliciting as many questions as possible, and then clustering, combining, and choosing the question or questions that seem most stimulating.

Step 4: “Generate Answers”

Through the use of brainstorming and other idea-generating techniques, the fourth step is designed to create a long list of possible solutions problem question. One of those solutions (or several, combined) is selected for further development.

Step 5: “Forge the Solution”

Uses a specific tool called “POWER” to develop the selected solution into something more robust. POWER is short for:

• Positives – what’s good about the idea?
• Objections – what’s bad about it?
• What else? – what does it remind you of?
• Enhancements – how can what’s good about it be made better?
• Remedies – how can the things that are bad about it be corrected?

Step 6: “Align Resources”

The final step translates the selected, developed solution into an action plan that may include, among other things:

• to do lists
• timelines and milestones
• lists of people who need to get involved
• lists of issues that need further work

The names of the steps in the process fit the acronym “OFPISA”:

• Objective Finding
• Fact Finding
• Problem Finding
• Idea Finding
• Solution Finding
• Acceptance Finding

As a software development studio specializing in Android-based applications we are glad to offer you our services and we are ready to consider your ideas and business proposals about innovative an interesting mobile applications.