ThinkerToy - Book Review
1 February 2023
Dr. Moria Levy
The book "ThinkerToy: a handbook of creative thinking ideas" is a book written by Michael Michalko. The book was originally written in 1991, and a current version was published in 2006. The book discusses and presents a collection of tools for developing creative thinking. The tools offered in the book help a person to practice at all levels - from preliminary mental development, through infrastructure and preparation, through the development of ideas in peak and routine meetings, to the examination of ideas after they are formed. Some are suitable for groups, and some are personal.
The book presents many tools, cassifying them into categories and sub-categories; however, it seems that the distinction is not always significant and easy to follow, so only the main distinction presented in this summary is based on tools for the right and left hemispheres.
Concept map of the book:
Content:
background
Tools
I will challenge basic assumptions
Although the book was written years ago, the tools presented are still relevant today.
I recommend reading the book - it includes countless examples that make the tools understandable and practical.
background
Creative thinking
Creative thinking is the ability to consider an issue differently (ML).
To arrive at original ideas, it is necessary to look at the information differently and organize it in a new pattern.
Active thinking is required.
The good news: creative thinking is an acquired skill.
Preparation
Personal infrastructure preparation
Personal belief in the ability to think creatively, while rejecting any negative thought on the matter.
Learning the tools.
Training and practice.
experience. Success accelerates the next success.
Organizational infrastructure preparation
It is important to understand the business environment and challenges for which you want to offer solutions; It is useful to keep a log of problems in the organization that you should consider dealing with in ways of creative thinking.
Personal exercises to start thinking more creatively
Setting a daily quota of a new idea per day
Increased awareness of what is happening around
Focusing for a predetermined time on all the details in the image, without shifting
Changing habits (personal, home, work or friends)
Processing what is seen around: filtering, taking notes, demarcation, varied professional reading/biographies, thinking
Content analysis (emails, lectures at conferences, job description and more)
Creating an idea bank
Going out (exhibitions, market, museum, etc.) - examining something and making connections from it to other topics
Documenting personal ideas and those of others
Developing flexible thinking
Log ideas for specific problems (on personal issues, work, etc.).
Preparation before starting creative thinking processes
Quiet around
Mental preparation by relaxing [see tool below]
a comfortable place
Emptying the thoughts that can distract the mind.
Tools
Right hemisphere
Intuition
The development of personal intuitions as a tool that helps, among other things, develop ideas.
Here is that intuition is an evolving tool and that it will be even more successful when combined with causality.
Development opportunities and methods (non-phased) - examples
phone calls:
Before: trying to guess the nature of the conversation or the caller
After: documenting the correct answer to the questions.
Meetings:
Before: trying to guess what people's mood will be, what they will wear and how ready they will be
After: documenting the correct answer to the questions.
The integration of the documentation aids understanding and helps to further develop intuition for future use.
Incubation
Incubation of a problem before its solution.
Implementation steps
Identifying a challenge.
Gathering information from the organization and the literature about the problem.
Personal guidance to the brain to solve the problem within 2 days.
Let go and don't consciously think about the problem. Trying to forget about her.
Go for an "incubation" activity such as a walk, a shower, a movie or a good night's sleep.
Returning to the problem and trying to see if there is a solution.
Analogue
An overflow of ideas from a comparison between two different subjects - the problem and something else.
Implementation steps
Challenge definition.
Choosing one keyword from the challenge (eg sales).
Choosing a distant word or symbol (real or imaginary) as far as possible from the keyword.
Preparing a list of associations for the other field.
Searching for similar things and connections between the components of the original keyword and the associations recorded.
I liked. technical. Simple, and often surprising (M.L.).
Variation: personal analogy - imagine that you are part of the product/service (for example - analog clock hands). Construct the analogy based on this visualization.
Fantasy
An overflow of ideas from a comparison between two different subjects - the problem and something else.
Implementation steps
Choosing a challenge and creating a question based on it of - "In what other ways could we... [the challenge]?"
Listing as many sentences as possible starting with "what if we were" realistic or imaginary.
Trying to answer the questions we listed.
Preparing a list of associations for the other field.
Paradox
Paradoxical thinking: dealing with the paradox that a challenge poses, instead of eliminating it.
Implementation steps
problem selection.
Registering its inversion or contradiction.
Turning a problem into a paradox - an image that the problem and its inversion / contradiction exist at the same time.
Summary in one sentence - why is there a paradox of seven problems and the opposite.
Listing as many analogies as possible that reflect the paradox. Choosing one that reflects its existence is good.
Understanding the unique characteristic of an analogy that makes it successful.
Searching for insights into the challenge we all face based on the analogy. Suggest an idea for a solution based on it.
Dreams
Using dreams as a tool to reach our subconscious and hidden ideas that exist in it.
Implementation steps
Formulating a question related to the challenge. Writing the question several times and mentioning it several more times when going to bed.
Recording the dream in the morning in a dream journal. For those who do not remember dreams - set an alarm clock for 30 minutes before your natural waking time; will increase the ability to remember immediately.
Asking questions related to the dream itself and its essence, and asking questions that connect it to the problem you are dealing with and how the connection can help solve the problem.
Writing associations related to a dream or two (not necessarily on the same day).
Persistence in managing the dream diary. As time goes by the dreams will be richer and have a higher metaphorical meaning.
Drawings
A method based on a technique Leonardo da Vinci was known for: painting as a tool to organize thinking in a different way and discover new points of view (perspectives). Graphic Ideation.
Implementation steps
An overview of a challenge faced from different perspectives.
Entering a state of relaxation.
Uploading a picture, scenes and symbols of all kinds intuitively.
Drawing a frame - the demarcation has meaning.
Drawing as much as you can think of (you can practice drawing without realizing it).
Taking additional pages as needed, and adding other drawings, until reaching the drawing that makes sense.
Examining the painting and the message that can be learned from it - what is hidden becomes visible.
Writing a word and later more words and even a pause - as much as comes to mind from looking at the drawing.
Link to the text of the challenge.
Pre-sleep
A technique named after Salvador Dali: pre-sleep imagination. Reaching the hidden ideas by touching this twilight zone.
Implementation steps
Thinking about a challenge, the progress in it, the associated difficulties, the alternatives and more.
Entering a state of total relaxation - physical and mental; Moving to a passive state until reaching a state of pre-sleep.
Stopping when you feel that you are going to fall asleep and documenting the experience - pictures, patterns, colors and objects. Patent to not fall asleep - hold a spoon in your hand. When it falls because we fall asleep, we hear its fall and wake up.
Searching for the exceptional and the surprising. Searching for the associative connection to the challenge. The similarities and differences. Deriving new insights and ideas.
Guided Imagery
Using guided imagination as a tool to reach subconscious ideas.
Implementation steps
relaxation.
An appeal to the subconscious with a request to respond to the challenge before us.
Performing guided imagery. The book offers several frame stories, and many more can be found online.
Listening to the messages that come up without censorship.
Refining the messages that arose in the imagination and making them clear. their documentation or drawing.
Searching for qualities, patterns, connections and clues to the problem in reality.
Shadow
Mirroring (looking at myself as a shadow) as a way of external examination that helps ideas arrive.
Implementation steps
Relaxation from physical and emotional stress.
The image of feeling in which we are attached to the light of Laban Zohar and Edin (there are detailed exercises).
An image of us entering a beloved place. Imagine the details related to the place and the entrance to it.
We imagine that a shadow-mentor is coming in front of us.
Listen to his messages. Talk to him and ask him questions.
Summarize the conversation with him, and invite him to come back and advise in the future. documenting
Hieroglyphs
Using (Egyptian) hieroglyphs as a tool to create associations and bring up original ideas.
Implementation steps
Write down the challenge you want to face.
Choose one set of hieroglyphs that we will use (there are several).
Reviewing the photos and rewriting the challenge.
Eliminating distractions and taking a fresh look at the challenge.
A re-examination of the hieroglyphs and an attempt to translate each line written in it while using free associations.
Asking questions - what is it? What does it mean? What is he doing? How does this relate to the challenge? What does it remind me of?
The registration of the interpretations.
Left hemisphere
I will challenge basic assumptions
We have difficulty finding solutions, because of constraints. The constraints are based on basic assumptions, which may not exist, or are manageable.
Implementation steps
Challenge definition.
Prepare a list of assumptions.
I will challenge the basic assumptions (for example - a restaurant takes money. People come to the restaurant).
For every basic assumption - reverse registration.
A question about every reversal: how can it be achieved.
Ideas for features
We find it difficult to find solutions to general problems. If we don't think about the problem (how to make a pen for a place like the moon without such gravity), but about the required characteristics (how to make something that can be written with), we get a new space of solutions.
Implementation steps
Challenge definition.
Analysis of the challenge - recording as many characteristics as possible.
For each characteristic separately they ask-
How could it be obtained?
Why and whether a rule is required.
Problem splitting
Sometimes it is difficult to find problems, because there are many barriers. Decomposing the problem into several parts and trying separately to solve each of the sub-problems separately, while combining them in another way, can produce an original solution.
Implementation steps
Defining the essence of the challenge in two words.
Splitting the challenge into two (eg according to its characteristics or components).
Repeating the crumbing process to give additional breakdowns.
Creating many solutions to give different problems.
Combining the solutions, while getting a new look (a different perspective) on the entire problem and its solution.
Bubble map
Graphical presentation as a tool for organizing thinking and a comprehensive/other perspective.
Implementation steps
Information mapping exists in the way it is thought of in existing patterns.
Representation by keywords sitting in bubbles.
Making connections between seemingly unrelated bubbles.
Catalog the bubbles in groups in a way that represents the new connections and their meaning.
Moving the bubbles and contexts as part of the discussion examining possible ideas derived from these moves.
SCAMPER
A well-known method that refers to the acronyms of six techniques that try to apply to the challenge:
Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify or Magnify, Put it to other use, Eliminate, Reverse or Rearrange/.
Implementation steps
Isolate an issue or challenge that you want to address.
Ask SCAMPER questions about each of the elements of the problem or topic, and see what ideas come up.
Continue with questions about each one, such as how is it possible. what else? What more?
There are examples of these questions in the book, as well as in many sources on the Internet, where each technique has a list of specific sub-questions that can help implement the method more easily.
More or less
An analysis of pluses and minuses in the most positive and negative scenario that exists to answer the challenge.
Implementation steps
Writing the challenge they face.
Description of the most positive scenario and the most negative scenario.
Detailing the various conditions that make the scenarios positive and negative.
Detail for each condition what is the plus or minus related to the scenario.
Understanding the pulling and pushing factors and a renewed look at a possible solution
Combining parameters
Choosing a new combination of behaviors and response components.
Implementation steps
The accuracy of the challenge definition.
Recording all influencing parameters (for example - shape, material, finish, and location).
Roar and possible variations for each parameter.
Choosing random combinations of the parameters (eg metal, round, painted on the door) and examining the meaning of such an answer.
Note: I liked it. Simplifies and reduces and yet opens many new directions (M.L.).
Coordinate system
Graphical presentation as a tool for organizing thinking and comprehensive/other perspectives.
Implementation steps
Draw a system of two cross axes: involvement (low-high) and tangibility (abstract-tangible).
Place familiar solutions to the problem on the axis system.
Understand in which quarters there are shortages of torturers in the market.
They decide on a new solution to fill the gap, or on a new positioning that will allow for a solution.
Tip - the drawing and its contents should be simple and easy to explain.
Lotus blossom
A 9x9 chart with markings that start in the center and develop in different directions (can be found online)
Implementation steps
A sketch of the Lotus blossom diagram with a problem or idea written in the center.
Writing the main elements or related ideas in 6-8 of the squares around it.
You also copied them to the corresponding squares in the diagram so that each one becomes the center itself.
Developing them and writing elements or ideas around each of these.
Choosing courses of action that seem promising and interesting.
The Phoenix Checklist
A long and ready checklist (you have to look for the list in a book or on the Internet) that allows an examination of a topic from all its aspects, and thus allows you to reach new insights and ideas.
Implementation steps
Writing the challenge. A personal commitment to respond to the challenge by a specified date.
Using the checklist, asking questions and answering them, to examine possible answers from all kinds of directions.
Torture documentation.
Decision on the direction.
Business definition
A renewed view of a business organization on itself in terms of products, functions, markets, technologies and services.
Implementation steps
Preliminary question: What is our business and what should our business be?
Mapping the organization as it is today together for products, functions, markets, technologies and services. Registering key keywords for mapping in the 5 contexts above.
Searching for new answers by offering combinations that do not exist for these combinations (for example - an existing product with a different function and market) in a way that takes the direction - of what is right for the business to be.
The fruits of the future
Preparing for the future is based on forces and scenarios.
Implementation steps
Identifying a specific problem in the business today.
Defining a decision that needs to be made in context.
Identifying the technological, economic forces, production lines, competition and more that influence the decision.
Proposing possible scenarios based on the influencing forces and the information available about them.
Developing the scenarios into stories or narratives by possibly changing influencing forces. Creating combinations that create new patterns.
Searching for business opportunities to realize the scenarios and narratives developed on their basis.
Random word
Creating a new perspective from a comparison to something completely unrelated - a random word.
Implementation steps
When looking for a fresh approach - choose a random word. There is a list of several hundred suggested words in the book itself (such as soap, soup, sand, storm and more).
Think about all the associations that are related to the chosen word.
Make strong connections between the chosen association and the challenge you face.
Pick promising ideas that emerged from these links.
Note: You can also choose verbs and start the association journey from them.
Leaders
New insights into ways of coping in terms of quotes and sayings from well-known leaders.
Implementation steps
Preliminary collection of citation databases (there are many such on the Internet). A personal collection of favorite quotes.
Preliminary collection of leaders of stature (real or from movies/stories) from whom you want to learn.
When there is a challenge - choosing a leader.
Examining the quotes of the elected leader, in the face of the challenge they face and examining the ability to connect.
5-10 time window to develop ideas based on the links. If no ideas come up, move on to another leader.
Note: It is possible to permanently define a "Council of Directors" of 3-5 leaders who consult with everyone on a regular basis.
Circle of opportunity
Building connections between random features of a problem/topic as a way to force new ideas.
Implementation steps
Define a challenge you want to tackle.
Draw a clock (a circle with 12 years). Write a characteristic of the problem for its entire year.
Throw two dice twice and thus get two numbers which are the sum of the dice in each throw. These numbers each represent a characteristic on the circuit.
For each characteristic selected, a mental map of associations is drawn (3-4 levels).
We force ourselves to create connections between the associations of the two characteristics, and look for interesting insights.
Cartoons
Visual thinking that helps logical thinking.
Implementation steps
Challenge definition.
Defining the characteristics of the challenge.
Representing each characteristic by a cartoon (or symbolic drawing). Making cards for NL.
Placing the cards on the table and trying to arrange them in groups subconsciously without explanation.
Searching for an order idea derived from the arrangement.
Thinkers
Surround yourself with people with creative thinking. Look for creativity in every person. Listen around you.
Feedback on the ideas
There is no need to explain much - but never stick with the ideas that you created alone or in a group and start working with them before asking for feedback from others about their quality and suitability. You will be surprised how much it will not stop you but will take you with each suggestion, if you listen to it correctly, to an even more advanced place and idea (M.L.).
Summary
An impressive collection of tools was presented here, but what is behind them?
reduction to the essence
Decomposition (into properties, components, associations)
Combinations (mainly non-standard that seem impossible)
Adding distant content worlds, disassembly and recombination
Another perspective
situational reflection
Use of verbal (documentation) and graphic skills
Connecting to our subconscious
And... belief in training: belief in our ability to produce innovative ideas, and training in their creation.
What's more - work together. ask questions Push yourself forward. you will arrive (Mal.)
