Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques

by Michael Michalko

FALSE FACES Technique: Reversal. Profile: How to find ideas by reversing conventional assumptions. SLICE AND DICE Technique: Attribute listing. Profile: How to get new ideas from a challenge’s attributes. CHERRY SPLIT Technique: Fractionation. Profile: How to get ideas by dividing a challenge into two or more components and then reassembling them in new and different ways. THINK BUBBLES Technique: Mind mapping. Profile: How to map your thoughts so as to spark new ideas. SCAMPER Technique: Questions. Profile: How to manipulate what exists into something different.

We have a raw natural talent to interpret the essences of things. We make sense out of these jumbled letters because we immediately see the essence. This raw talent is why we’re all creative as children. A box could be a fort, a car, a tank, a cave, a house, something to draw on, and even a spaceship. When we were kids, our imaginations were not structured or restrained by rules and constraints of logic. We did not strive to eliminate possibilities—we strove to expand them.