Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques

by Michael Michalko

The product manager of OV’ACTION of Lievin, France, faced the following challenge: “In what ways might I develop a unique food product?” He changed “unique” to “surprising” and “develop” to “transform” and restated the challenge to: “In what ways might I transform a product into a surprising food?” He thought of things that might surprise him and then about how food products could surprise consumers in similar ways. For instance, one thing that would surprise him would be to see a familiar object in an odd shape, such as an airplane shaped like a cow. Similarly, he would be surprised to see a familiar food product in a strange and different shape, such as a banana shaped like a loaf of bread, tomatoes in the shape of pyramids, or square potatoes. These thoughts led to his idea: a square egg.