CC2002 Semester One 10/11

Creative and Critical Thinking Lecture 3 Creative Thinking (II): Creative Problem Solving and Six Thinking Hats
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Can you identify the figure?

Do you focus on the space? Or do you focus on the shape?

Michael Michalko, Thinkertoys, page IX 2

A matter of perspective
There is no absolute rightness or wrongness in your judgment.
But the same thing can mean differently if you change your viewpoint.
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What are the differences?

Problem Solving requires creativity

Sometimes when a problem is identified and solved, it is not because the person has a high IQ or he is highly rational. Rather, it is that the person changes his or her established way of doing things. Such a change involves an alternation of pattern in the persons perception of the objects.
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The Use of Pattern

The existence of patterns can enable people to deal with ordinary business in an efficient way. People tend to treat similar things in a similar manner. Patterns involve what we called rules, habits and ordinary expectations.
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Pattern & Perception

The H and A are identical in shape. But we do not read them as TAE CHT or in any other way. The reason is that ordinary expectation is so strong that it influences us to see what we expect to see. Try not to see it as THE CAT. Can you do it? What do you experience?
Michael Michalko, Thinkertoys, p. 10

Pattern-Switching & Humour

The characteristic of humour involves the making of a sudden switch in the agents perception of a scenario.

Examples (1) ? (2) A B A

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Trying new routes

Normal Pattern A Switch of Pattern

Sometimes when we break new grounds and try different paths, we will cause surprises and new discovery may be made.
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Absurdity can be useful!

Sometimes it is worth to step on forbidden grounds. Trying something provocative in your deliberation. It can serve as a stepping stone for a fruitful outcome.
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How do we improve toothbrushes?

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Why are they better? How do we perceive the situation before they are improved?

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More changes and innovations? What might be the assumptions that underlie these changes?
Two-sided Brushes? Handle for Infants?

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What problems do they address? How effective would these inventions be?
With flashes & songs? ?

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Creativity & Value

Remember that creativity is the process of generating something new that has value. Many original concepts are new but have no value. A creation is something original that has value and can enable the process of problem solving in the practical world. Product innovation is one element in which creativity comes into play. Innovation can also operate at the marketing level as well as the management level.
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The elevator problem

12 minutes

You are the engineer of this commercial building. In this 70storey building, there are 8 elevators. However, lately, the management of the building has received a lot of complaints from their tenants that the waiting time for elevators is too long and intolerable, especially during peak hours. You are quite surprised by the tenants complaints since the speed of the elevators is already at optimal as allowed by the most advance technology available. You are also very puzzled, since there is no way that you can add extra elevators to the building since everything is now constrained by the structure of the building. However, you are not handed down with this problem and you have to come up with a solution for the situation.
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Steps of Problem Solving

1. What is the situation or the environment?
2. How do you pinpoint the problem? 3. What is the strategy you adopt to deal with the problem that you identified? 4. What are the assumptions behind the strategies? 5. How effective is the strategy? 6. Is there any new problem? What would be the new situation? ... (go back to 1. for a
second phase of CPS.)
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The Cycle of CPS

James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, p. 18

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CPS: The Elevators Problem

1. What is the situation or the environment? Ans.: There are complaints about the waiting time from the tenants. 2. How do you pinpoint the problem? Ans.: (1) The elevators have been too slow or there are not enough of them; or, (2) The passengers feel that they have been waiting too long.

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CPS: The Elevators Problem

3. What is the strategy you adopt to deal with the problem that you identified? Ans.: (1) Build a bridge to a building; or, (2) Division of elevator service, i.e. elevators are divided to serve designated storeys (3) Parachute jumping for those who are in a hurry; or, (4) Install mirrors or TV by the sides of the lobby, etc. 4. What are the assumptions behind the strategies? Ans.: The tenants discontents originate from the lack of distraction in the lobby. 5. How effective are the strategies? 6. Is there any new problem? What is the new situation? 20 ...

First stage of CPS: Identifying Problems

1. 2. What is the situation or the environment? How do you pinpoint the problem?

(1) to establish the objectives, and (2) to determine what will constitute evidence that the problem has been solved.

In this stage, our aims are

(1) What did happen or will happen? (2) How did it or will it occur? (3) Why did it occur?

Key questions to ask in relation to the first set of questions:

Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, pp.20-26

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Second Stage of CPS: Strategies & Assumptions

3. What is the strategy you adopt to deal with the problem that you identified? 4. What are the assumptions behind the strategies?

In this stage, we will be pondering about the factors that may affect the potential success of our solution. Creative techniques for generating strategies can help us develop many more solutions than we might come up with otherwise.

The operation of this stage will involve critical as well as creative thinking.
Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, pp.20-26. 22

Third Stage of CPS: Implementation & Control

5. How effective is the strategy? 6. Is there any new problem? What would be the new situation?

In this stage, we estimate the extent to which the actions we took have solved the problem. This is a stage that we anticipate and overcome obstacles. In this stage we also foresee further problems and new opportunities.
Source: James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, pp.20-26 23

Apply the CPS to the following example and examine the thought process that may have involved when the new product is introduced.

Case Study

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Now lets turn to a useful technique of

problem solving
developed by Edward de Bono
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Six Thinking Hats

'Six Thinking Hats' is a technique used to tackle problems and make decisions from a number of important perspectives. This forces you to move outside of your habitual thinking style, and helps you get a more rounded view of a situation. If you deal with a problem with the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, then you will solve it using all approaches. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, public sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.
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What is a Hat?

A Hat indicates a role. When people start thinking along a certain role, they adopt a certain direction of thinking.

(page 5, Six Thinking Hats)

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Hats can be changed at will

The Six Thinking Hats are not used for describing categories of people. Rather, hats represent only modes of behaviour.

Every person must be able, and skilled to look in all the directions. Page 7
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Colours

They represent different Directions of Thought. They enable people to visualize and makes the imagining easier. When we change to a hat with a different colour, we adopt a different rule of thought.
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Functions of each colour

White Hat: Neutral and objective. It is about facts and figures. Red Hat: Anger, rage and emotion. It gives the emotional view. Black Hat: Somber and serious, careful and cautious. It points out the weakness in an idea. Yellow Hat: Sunny and optimistic. It covers hope and positive thinking.
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Functions

Green Hat: Grass, vegetation, abundant, fertile and growth. It indicates creativity and new ideas. Blue Hat: Cool. Colour of the sky. It is above everything. Control. Organization of the thinking process.

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Six Thinking Hats

White Hat:

With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.
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Six Thinking Hats

Red Hat:
'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

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Six Thinking Hats

Black Hat:

Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them.
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Six Thinking Hats

Black Hat: Black Hat thinking helps make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

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Six Thinking Hats

Yellow Hat:

The yellow hat helps you think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

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Six Thinking Hats

Green Hat:

The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

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Six Thinking Hats

Blue Hat:

In addition to making summaries and conclusions, the Blue Hat also stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.

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Six Thinking Hats

Key points:
1 Six Thinking Hats is a good technique for looking at the effects of a decision from a number of different points of view. 2 It allows necessary emotion and scepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational decisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativity within decision making. The technique also helps, for example, persistently pessimistic people become more positive and creative.

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Six Thinking Hats

Key points: 3 Plans developed using the '6 Thinking Hats' technique will be sounder than would otherwise be the case. It may also help you avoid public relation mistakes, and give you good reasons to avoid wrong-headed commitments.

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Reference
James M. Higgins, 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, revised edition, US: New Management Pub. Co., 2005. Edward De Bono, Six Thinking Hats, 2nd edition, Penguin Books Ltd., 2000. Edward De Bono, Thinking course, BBC Worldwide limited, 2005. Edward De Bono, Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step, London: HarperCollins, 1973.

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