Problem-Solving Template

1) FORMING or DEFINING A QUESTION, IDEA, OR PROBLEM

– Focus on the Problem:  “What am I really trying to do here?”   Defining one’s labor.

– Name your confusion.

2) ENGAGE IN THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH:  GATHER INFORMATION AROUND A QUESTION

3) BASTA STAGE:  STOPPING RESEARCH

4) GESTATION:  (1) DETACHMENT FROM THE QUESTION, DIVERGENT BEHAVIOR – HOLDING THE QUESTION, AND KEEP IT IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND, (2) APPROACH THE QUESTION THROUGH METAPHOR, CRAZY UNRELATED THINGS – “WHAT WOULD THIS QUESTION LOOK LIKE IF IT WERE A TREE OR A CHESSBOARD?”, (3) VISUALIZE WHAT THE ANSWER MIGHT LOOK LIKE

Imagination Techniques:

1. ask:  ...ur mind for an answer

2. relax: sleep-ball-drop-method, walk, lie down and look at the sky

3. mash ups: blend disparate things (concepts) and think with or between them (e.g., metaphor)

(1) idea #1 (& free associations) + idea #2 → blended free associations + relevance question: “What does or could this mean for the present problem?”

(a) E.g., the mind gives an image of giant headphones (a blended free Association) + “Who are we not listening to, and who do we need to listen to?” – – The thinker tied together the relevance of listening to headphones with listening to people:  similar affects.

4. connect & combine: put things together that don’t go together or that are not obvious

(1)   e.g., shoes with a broom and a dustpan connected to them;

5. Framing and reframing problems

(1) ask different questions

(2) jokes: “People ask me (X).  And I say, Mom (Y).” – From people frame to mom frame.

6. challenging your assumptions:  (1) working with unfamiliar problems, (2) working with questions that poke holes in one’s assumptions

Feelings of Knowing:  Am I getting closer?  Can I do this now?  Or is this beyond my reach right now?

1. DIVERGE:  What do you do when feelings of knowing are absent?  Relax and forget about the problem.

2. CONVERGE:  What you do when feelings of knowing are present?  Keep struggling; stay up and drink the cup of coffee.

5) EUREKA (MUSE) MOMENT:  THE IDEA WITH AN ANSWER OUT OF THE BLUE

6) PROCESS OF MAKING:  BRINGING AN IDEA INTO BEING – OPERATE WITHOUT FEAR; IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE THING, THEN FIND PEOPLE WHO CAN

1. mistake moments/trial and error: improvised moments, playing around, failure as catalysts for the creative process

2. Exploration/Experimentation:  What can I do with this material, idea, process, etc.?

i) Construction play:  playful building; playfully learning by doing; thinking with your hands and creating quick, fast multiple low resolution prototypes/drafts (going for quantity)

ii) Role play:  imagining interactions; Acting out (authentic) scripts.

(1)   Analogous role play (e.g., getting waxed to see what it’s like for burn victims to have dressings removed)

7) TESTING, CRITICISM, SHARING: BRINGING THING INTO THE SOCIAL SPHERE

– share creativity with facilitators

8) RINSE AND REPEAT

SOURCES (TED talks):  Raphael DiLuzio (TODD HENRY) (Alex Grey) Kirby Ferguson, Tim Brown, (Tina Seelig), Janet Echelman, (Gregg Fraley), Jonah Lehrer, (Jonathan Tilley),