TL;DR
- A.k.a. brainstorming, this is a list of tools for your creativity-producing toolbox
- Finding what works for you is only a matter of trial-and-error, there is no secret to creativity, you just need to experiment
Notes
- Techniques
- Mind maps
- These are great for connecting things you’ve learned, the most common way is to start with a central theme, question, topic, or inspiration and branch out from there. Use in conjunction with other techniques to really maximize how effective your mind maps are. It can be easy to get carried away, however, so you need to make sure you have a boundary of what you want to focus on. These are great if you have an infinite canvas app like Boardnotes, so you don’t have to worry about limiting the connections you make and trying to squish everything together.
- Free write/ brain dump
- Just let it out! It doesn’t matter if it’s by writing, speaking, drawing, whatever. Just get something out and don’t think too hard about it. The point is that you dig deep and really look for every possible thing you can write about the topic, and don’t let your inner critic stop you. Try it in a journal, voice recording, or typed document, whatever makes the ideas get out easier.
- SCAMPER
- For something that currently exists, think about ways you could:
- Subsitute
- Combine
- Adapt
- Modify
- Put to another use
- Eliminate
- Reverse
- Six thinking hats
- Looking through different lenses (or ‘putting on different hats’) will help you see things from a different perspective. For example facts, emotions, caution, optimism, creativity, and process.
- Randomization
- Try and be as random as possible to get your brain thinking creatively
- Put words on slips of paper and mix them up
- Do the “One word at a time” game in a group. You go around and each person says one word to continue off what the previous person says, and you all try to create a story
- Just be silly, there shouldn’t be any pressure or self-consciousness when it comes to brainstorming, make your team feel open and have fun
- The 5 Whys
- When confronted with a problem that you can’t seem to find the answer to, or you want to understand the deep, root cause of something, ask “Why?” five times, and the real answer will likely be there.
- This is also great for helping someone figure a problem out for themselves
- Reverse brainstorming
- Name the problem, now, instead of trying to brainstorm solutions, try and think of all the ways you could make it worse
- Nominal group technique
- Everyone in the group writes down their ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc. about a specific problem
- Gather the answers, compile into a master list, and have someone go down the list one-by-one, discussing if people have questions to clarify what the idea is
- Have everyone **privately **give a 1-5 rating for each as they go
- Compile the votes, find the winning option(s) and discuss if needed
- Mind maps