Inventive/Creative Thinking methodologies

[fritzdeelman]

There was a time when I was totally enamored by the Lateral Thinking concepts espoused by Edward de Bono and I also tinkered with TRIZ, the so called "theory of inventive problem solving". Over the years my skepticism regarding these techniques have grown. If I must be honest and look at the benefits it has yielded, I can not really claim much. Most of my successful troubleshooting came from careful analysis of the systems involved, using my theoretical background to formulate potential causes and then testing to confirm/eliminate possible causes. Maybe there is still much to be said for plain old Scientific method.

I would like to have other peoples opinions/experiences (especially those who do not making a living promoting these concepts).

 

[slayerza]

I have not really given creative thinking strategies a massive shot but what I have found is that they do seem to have a time and place. During new product development lateral thinking is a bonus however finding bugs in firmware / hardware design errors creative thinking has not done a whole lot for me. That's my personal experience anyway.

 

[fritzdeelman]

Maybe I just don't get myself into those situations requiring some creative thinking. Maybe I should have become an accountant