One simple technique that has worked really effectively is called The Rule of Seven, as first explained to me by actor and author Lee Devin, who had witnessed it from a team at Boeing. With this technique, the team agrees that they won’t make any decision until they have thought of at least seven different alternative solutions. I’ve found that the first few solutions or ideas are fairly easy to come up with and, usually, fairly sensible as well. Ideas four and five are a typically a little more off-the-wall and take a little longer to emerge. Ideas six and, especially, seven are sometimes a
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