Question and Analysis phase drawn from Critical Thinking processes 

Copyright Iain Burns Aug 2020 smartwaytodoit@gmail.com

• What is the question or problem?
  • Refine and clarify what is the issue or opportunity
  • Reword
  • What is the issue and the conclusion that there is a problem?
  • What are the reasons behind this happening?
    • stated
    • not stated
  • What are the assumptions being made?
    • explicit
    • unsaid
  • Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
    • What will you do about fallacies?
  • How good is the evidence?
    • what is the evidence?
    • how good is it?
    • how much do we trust the source?
  • What are the facts?
  • What’s happening to cause this?
  • Why is it important? Ask yourself why this is or isn’t significant.
  • What don’t I see? … 
  • How do I know? … 
  • Who is saying it? … 
  • What else?
• Validate the question or issue and decide
  • Is it real?
  • Is it true?
  • Where is the evidence?
  • Rephrase the question again
• Analyse the elements of the question or issue
  • What are the different parts of the problem?
  • Which is the key part/s to answer or solve?

Problem Solution phase from Creative Thinking Process

• Validate Problem  the area to be creative about (via above Critical Thinking)

• Preparation:
  • This is where you define the problem you want to solve or the need. Then you start gathering as much knowledge about the subject as you can. 

• Incubation:
  • In this stage, you’ll be processing the information you have gathered. Instead of consciously trying to solve the problem, you’ll let your mind wander on its own, working its way through the subject. This will lead to more creativity. Basically, your unconscious mind will be at work here. 

• Use the many Creativity Tools to generate potential solutions

• Affinity Diagrams
  • After a brainstorming session, meeting or research you end up with a load of information that needs to be sorted through and categorized. This is where the affinity diagram comes. 
• • The affinity diagram helps you group your data based on themes. This makes it easier to detect patterns and connections among the information you have gathered, thus allowing you to come up with new ideas or solutions. 
• Brainstorming
  • Brainstorming is one of the most popular methods of idea generation. You can go about this individually or with a group of people. 
  • In group brainstorming, you have the ability to collect many creative ideas from people with diverse skills and experience.
• Concept Map
  • The concept map is a teaching and learning techniques that help visualize the connections between concepts and ideas. It helps organize thoughts and discover new relationships, ideas or concepts. 

• Mind Map
  • The mind map starts with the key concept you are brainstorming around in the center. Related ideas are connected to the center with lines. 
• • It helps you capture your free flow of thoughts and organize them on a canvas in a way that will later allow you to discover new connections that will let you arrive at a possible solution. 
• • Because it connects both text and a visual layout, it allows for a more creative style of thinking.
• Mood Board
  • A mood board – like a collage – is a collection of images, fonts, icons colors, etc. that is representative of a particular theme or style. Mood boards are also known as inspiration boards and commonly used in design projects. 
• SCAMPER Technique
  • SCAMPER is another successful creative thinking technique that is used to spark creativity during brainstorming. SCAMPER stands for seven thinking approaches,
• Substitute 
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify
• Put to another use
• Eliminate 
• Reverse
• Learn how to generate new ideas using the SCAMPER method here.

• Six Thinking Hats
  • Each hat in the six thinking hats method represents a different perspective. It is used during meetings or brainstorming sessions to allow team members to look at possible solutions from different perspectives or thinking directions. 
• • Each hat represents a different thinking angle, and during the session, each member will get to put it on in turn. 

• White hat – facts and information 
• Red hat – feelings, intuitions, emotions, and hunches 
• Balck hats – judgment, legality, morality 
• Yellow hat – optimism, benefits
• Green hat – new ideas, opportunities 
• Blue hat – conclusions, action plans, next steps 

• Storyboards
  • Storyboards are a way to visually organize ideas. It’s a common tool used in video planning. Say you are planning a TV advertisement, you can start with a storyboard to graphically organize the ideas in your head. As you lay them out on a storyboard, you’d be able to quickly mold the idea in your head.

• SWOT Analysis
  • SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. In business planning, the SWOT analysis is applied in various situations; in competitor analysis, situation analysis, strategic planning, personal evaluation, etc. 
• • It can be used to identify effective innovative opportunities, mitigate threats using strengths, etc.

• Illumination:
  • This is the “Eureka” moment that really occurs when you are not actively thinking of a creative solution. You could be literally having a shower when all of a sudden you have found the answer you’ve been looking for. 

• Solution Verification:
  • Now it’s time to see if your idea will really work out or not. In this last stage of the creative thinking process, you need to test your idea. Use your critical thinking skills to fine-tune your idea and ready it to reach the audience.

• Production:
  • Plan to put idea into action