Time Management
Useful Links
 
Not a
Member Yet?
The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club gives you the training, coaching and support you need to make a lasting success of your career. Take our FREE tour, and find out what it can do for you!
Recent Discussions:
 
Quick Start
 
Relevant
Courses & Resources
     
 

Learn how to master the stresses that come with a successful, high-powered career...

 
 

Time CAN be on Your Side with "Make Time for Success!" Discover the 39 essential tools needed to map out your goals, maximize your effectiveness, and win control of your time and your life.

More >>

 
     
  Career Excellence
with a Mind Tools
Coach
 
 
Mind Tools Coach - Sharon Juden
 
 

Mind Tools Career Coaches give you the focused personal help you need to find direction, think through your goals, and make the very most of your life and career.

Find Out More >>

 
     
 

Mind Tools Ebook

 
 

 
 

The key tools on the Mind Tools site, brought together into one easily downloadable, easily printable PDF.

More>>

 
     
 
Book Reviews
     
   The Power
of Innovation

by Min Basadur
  
 
The Simplex Process
 
 

This book explains in detail how to use Min Basadur's 'Simplex Process' - a structured approach to creativity which ensures that problems are properly researched and formulated, that a variety of possible solutions are evaluated, and that these solutions are implemented effectively. The book gives a detailed coverage of this rich and powerful creativity process.

Click here to see at Amazon...

 
     

   Mind Tools
E-book
 
  


Mind Tools E-book

The key tools on the Mind Tools site, brought together into one easily downloadable, easily printable PDF.

More>>

Provocation

Carrying Out Thought Experiments

Provocation is an important lateral thinking technique. Just like Random Input, it works by moving your thinking out of the established patterns that you use to solve problems.

As explained earlier, we think by recognizing patterns and reacting to them. These reactions come from our past experiences and logical extensions to those experiences. Often we do not think outside these patterns. While we may know the answer as part of a different type of problem, the structure of our brains makes it difficult for us to link this in.

Provocation, originally developed by Edward de Bono, is one of the tools we use to make links between these patterns.

How to Use the Tool:

We begin by making deliberately stupid statements (Provocations), in which something we take for granted about the situation is not true. Statements need to be stupid to shock our minds out of existing ways of thinking. Once we have made a provocative statement, we then suspend judgment and use that statement to generate ideas. Provocations give us original starting points for creative thinking.

As an example, we could make a statement that 'Houses should not have roofs'. Normally this would not be a good idea! However this leads one to think of houses with opening roofs, or houses with glass roofs. These would allow you to lie in bed and look up at the stars.

Once you have made the Provocation, you can use it in a number of different ways, by examining:

  • The consequences of the statement
  • What the benefits would be
  • What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution
  • The principles needed to support it and make it work
  • How it would work moment-to-moment
  • What would happen if a sequence of events was changed
  • Etc.

You can use this list as a checklist.

Edward de Bono has developed and popularize use of Provocation by using the word 'Po'. 'Po' stands for 'Provocative operation'. As well as laying out how to use Provocation effectively, he suggests that when we make a Provocative statement in public the we label it as such with 'Po' (e.g. 'Po: the earth is flat'). This does rely on all members of your audience knowing about Provocation!

Edward de Bono's books, including Serious Creativity, explore this sort of technique in detail.

As with other lateral thinking techniques, Provocation does not always produce good or relevant ideas. Often, though, it does. Ideas generated using Provocation are likely to be fresh and original.

Example:

The owner of a video-hire shop is looking at new ideas for business to compete with the Internet. She starts with the provocation 'Customers should not pay to borrow videos'.

She then examines the provocation:

  • Consequences: The shop would get no rental revenue and therefore would need alternative sources of cash. It would be cheaper to borrow the video from the shop than to download the film or order it from a catalogue.
  • Benefits: Many more people would come to borrow videos. More people would pass through the shop. The shop would spoil the market for other video shops in the area.
  • Circumstances: The shop would need other revenue. Perhaps the owner could sell advertising in the shop, or sell popcorn, sweets, bottles of wine or pizzas to people borrowing films. This would make her shop a one-stop 'Night at home' shop. Perhaps it would only lend videos to people who had absorbed a 30-second commercial, or completed a market research questionnaire.

After using the Provocation, the owner of the video shop decides to run an experiment for several months. She will allow customers to borrow the top ten videos free (but naturally will fine them for late returns). She puts the videos at the back of the shop. In front of them she places displays of bottles of wine, soft drinks, popcorn and sweets so that customers have to walk past them to get to the videos. Next to the film return counter she sells merchandise from the top ten films being hired.

If the approach is a success she will open a pizza stand inside the shop.

Key points:

Provocation is an important lateral thinking technique that helps to generate original starting points for creative thinking.

To use provocation, make a deliberately stupid comment relating to the problem you are thinking about. Then suspend judgment, and use the statement as the starting point for generating ideas.

Often this approach will help you to generate completely new concepts.

MindTools.com - Join Our Community!

In the next article we look at DO IT - a simple but useful creativity process. To see the article, click 'Next Article' below. Alternatively, look at some of the other places you can go.

Spread the Word:

del.icio.us    Digg it    reddit    StumbleUpon
Where to go from here: Join Mind Tools Free Newsletter
  Download & Print Next Article
 
 

New Articles (Not included in the Mind Tools E-book.)
* Shows articles available in full only to
Career Excellence Club members

Kano Model Analysis - Developing products that delight*
Reverse Brainstorming - A different approach to brainstorming
Starbursting - Understanding new ideas by brainstorming questions
Affinity Diagrams - Organizing ideas into common themes
Synectics - A useful backstop creativity process*
Metaphorical Thinking - Using comparisons to express ideas and solve problems*
Crawford's Slip Writing Method - Gathering ideas from many contributors
Practical Innovation - Managing ideas effectively*

A full list of Mind Tools articles is available here.

return to top

Learn to manage the stress in your life with our sister site, stress.mindtools.com.

Mind Tools Store: Mind Tools Ebook, Make Time for Success
 Stress Management Masterclass, How to Lead
 Relaxation MP3s

© Mind Tools Ltd, 1995-2009, All Rights Reserved

For requests to reprint or reproduce material from this site, please contact our Permissions Center.

Store · Search · Newsletter · Downloads · Advertisers · Affiliates

MindTools.com is one of the Internet's most-visited career skills resources.
Click here to see analysis.

Mind Tools
Free E-Newsletter
New Career Skills - twice a month PLUS Brainstorming Toolkit Free!
Subscribe to our free e-newsletter, and get new skill-builder tools every two weeks. Plus get our Brainstorming Toolkit worth US$9.99 free when you subscribe!
"Great newsletter. Simple and not too long. Great articles. Thank you."
Mandi J Luis, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
First name
Email
Privacy Policy
 
What People Say
About Mind Tools...
 

"Been meaning to pop off a note to  your Team and yourself to say how appreciative I am of your  erudite grasp of business tooling. I do, deeply appreciate your efforts."

 

Dorian Glass, Rhine Road,  South Africa

 

"Thanks so much. I am so happy to have access to your newsletter. Great tool!"

 

Fami Sharif-Pour,
  Woodland  Hills,
 USA

 

"I am a avid reader of  your newsletters and articles. I am from the island of Jamaica  and do find your articles quite informative, inspring, motivating, creative and just GREAT. The style of writing is one which lures  you to read more and more and even more. I would like to be able to write like that one day. Keep it up."

 

Germaine Gordon,
 St. Catherine,
 Jamaica

 
 
What Bugs You?
Let us know about anything wrong, or anything you don't like about this site, and you could win a US$50 Amazon voucher!
 
Sponsored Links



Search Now:
In Association with Amazon.com