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Training material for non-formal education program “Innovative, creative thinking in entrepreneurship” MODULE 3. CREATIVE THINKING METHODS The material has been developed within the framework of Nordplus Adult project “INNOSTARTUP”, project number: NPAD-2014/10053 Project partners: Zemgale Region Human Resource and Competences Development Centre (Latvia) Šiauliai City Municipality Education Center (Lithuania) Tavastia Education Consortium (Finland)

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Page 1: “Innovative, creative thinking in entrepreneurship”€œInnovative, creative thinking in entrepreneurship” MODULE 3. CREATIVE THINKING METHODS ... 4.3. How to use SCAMPER in

Training material for non-formal education program

“Innovative, creative thinking in entrepreneurship”

MODULE 3. CREATIVE THINKING METHODS

The material has been developed within the framework of Nordplus Adult project “INNOSTARTUP”, project number: NPAD-2014/10053

Project partners:

Zemgale Region Human Resource and Competences Development Centre (Latvia)

Šiauliai City Municipality Education Center (Lithuania)

Tavastia Education Consortium (Finland)

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2 Project “INNOSTARTUP”, project number: NPAD-2014/10053

Authors:

Arto Ruhala

Markku Rinne

May 2016 Access to training material: https://innostartupproject.wordpress.com/materials/ LEGAL NOTICE This project has been funded with the support from the Nordplus Adult programme financed by The Nordic Council of Ministers.

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MODULE 3. CREATIVE THINKING METHODS

Contents Module 3. Creative Thinking methods ........................................................................... 1

Learning outcomes .......................................................................................................... 4

Keywords ........................................................................................................................ 5

1. Group 1 ................................................................................................................... 6

1.1. The Challenge, Provocation ............................................................................. 7

1.1.1. The Challenge ........................................................................................... 7

1.1.2. Provocation ............................................................................................... 7

1.2. Six thinking hats ............................................................................................... 8

1.3. Working on reverse order ............................................................................... 10

1.4. Rotate the problem “upside down” ................................................................ 12

2. Group 2 ................................................................................................................. 13

2.1. Brainstorming ................................................................................................. 14

2.2. Innovation walk .............................................................................................. 15

2.3. Create an imaginary person ............................................................................ 17

2.4. Fishbone ......................................................................................................... 18

3. Practice .................................................................................................................. 20

4. Method Scamper ................................................................................................... 23

4.1. History ............................................................................................................ 23

4.2. This is SCAMPER: ........................................................................................ 23

4.3. How to use SCAMPER in education? ........................................................... 24

4.4. SCAMPER Questions and Examples: ........................................................... 24

Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 26

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

After this module the learners will know:

9 different methods about how to think differently, with purpose

Efficiency of guided thinking methodology

And they can demonstrate:

One individual method on action

Group of methods combined and uses as a process

Also learners will be able to:

Use Creative Thinking with results, whatever their individual background is

Use different methods for their own businesses advantage purposes

During next pages the learner will meet several different methods of creative thinking. These methods have been set at two groups and each of groups stands as a process.

Presented methods and process groups are:

GROUP 1

The Challenge, provocation

Six Thinking Hats

Working in reverse order

Rotate the problem “upside down”

GROUP 2

Brainstorming techniques and methods, using the elements

Innovation Walking

Create an imaginary person

Fishbone

As a stand-a-alone method on the end of this Chapter we represent Method SCAMPER which actually is mostly used as a whole process itself.

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KEYWORDS

Creative, Innovation, Method, Process, Challenge, Provocation, Six Thinking Hats, Reverse, Rotate, Upside Down, Brainstorming, Fishbone, Imagenary, Business Idea, Strategy, Formal, Informal

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1. GROUP 1

Group 1 includes four different methods which work very well when used separately but there is room for creative thinking. Let’s combine these methods and use each one of them as a part of process. Process which aims to create solution to some problem which already existing company has faced.

Next four methods The Challenge (Provocation), Six Thinkin Hats, Reverse Order and Upside Down are all strong methods and when used well, those will be able to give you valuable conclusions. When we combine them, we put more stress and pressure against all answers during practice sessions and like creating diamonds from raw minerals; more time, more skill and more effortful, it will give you more valuable diamond.

Best condition to use these four methods as a process model, on business-life sector, is when company has already lived a few years and it’s facing those hard moments what comes when company needs to find its path of continuation and growth. These moments need very strong and widely opened decisions and they affect to strategic level of business.

Common element for these methods is more formal than informal approach to issue. Even the issue itself can be given with more specific boundary conditions than original purpose about being creative or innovative might need.

Note! There are allways good moments to use these methods for more informal issues, too!

Then how to use these methods? How to create process? Answers will be given after Group 2 section on part ”Practice” . Before that, let’s get familiar as methods itself.

After reading these four methods, the learner will have basic understanding what methods are, differences between them and basic level idea at how to use them as a thinking technique.

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1.1. The Challenge, Provocation

Have you ever met meetings that go and go but still at the end, meeting records are filled with same issues as usual, same solutions as usual and best, same people have made them? Like birds who flight back-and-forth from north to south and back with same species?

Well then, how about when one, just one bird turns away from formation? What a noise comes out of other birds! And more noise comes out of birdwatchers when they find this one bird on eastern or western areas instead of being on south.

1.1.1. The Challenge

“One way in which we deal with the complexity of the world is to make assumptions about many things. Our pattern-matching ability is a great help in allowing us to take short-cuts but it often ends up in us not noticing many things. If we do not take deliberate and conscious action, our subconscious will let many assumptions pass by unnoticed”.

This citation, it’s from David Straker’s website creatingminds.org, describes very well at why you should use the challenge method when you or your team are stuck on some issue. Like David continues, you should

Use it to force yourself or other people out of a thinking rut.

Use it to test out ideas for validity.

Use it to challenge the problem or situation you are considering when

initially defining the problem.

Remember, with The Challenge, you are focusing to some issue itself, not to the people around you.

How to use this? Basically, take a part of problem, dilemma etc. domain that you are going to challenge. Perhaps it is something that has been particularly difficult to be creative around. Then, find something to Challenge and Question it deeply as you can.

At start we used example about birds fly routes and habit to fly on formations. When one bird changes its direction and broke the formation partly, then the bird is challenging issue, its usual destination (south or north). How far bird goes? Why it does that? What are the multiple reasons to its action? All these questions make the challenge deeper, and that’s the way how you get more quality to results.

1.1.2. Provocation

When challenge was focusing to issue itself, provocation is targeted to people around it. Now strong note! Be careful! Between provocation and insulting there is quite thin line...

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Many of us need to come up with innovative ideas from time to time. However, it's easy to get stuck in the same thinking patterns, which can limit our creativity. This is why using a technique like provocation can be useful. Provocation is a lateral thinking technique. It works by disrupting established patterns of thinking, and giving us new places to start.

A key way that we think is by recognizing patterns and reacting to them. These reactions come from our past experiences and from logical extensions of those experiences; and it's often hard to think outside these patterns. While we may know a good answer as part of a different type of problem, the structure of our brains can make it difficult for us to access this.

Provocation is a tool that we can use to make links between these patterns. In this article, we'll review Provocation, and discuss how you can use it to come up with creative ideas and solutions to problems.

About the Tool

The Provocation technique was developed and popularized by psychologist Edward de Bono.

You use provocation by making deliberately wrong or unreasonable statements (provocations), in which something you take for granted about the situation isn't true.

For instance, the statements "Cars have square wheels" or "Houses have no roofs" can be provocations.

Statements need to be outrageous like this to shock your mind out of existing ways of thinking. Once you've made a provocative statement, you then suspend judgment and use that statement to generate ideas, giving you original starting points for brainstorming and creative thinking.

1.2. Six thinking hats

Oh, was there freezing cold outside? Perhaps a hat would help? Take one; don’t let your brains freeze. Here we have total six hats, please choose yours and let’s get started.

Depending of source, there is plenty of defining at what single hat means or what is its purpose on this method. We represent to you define which is combination from three different sources. Including methods original founder, Mr. Edward De Bono’s define.

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Image1: Francois Guély slideshare-presenatation, slide 68. 2015-01-09

Great combination of picture above and two different style description of Hats purposes are here:

Hat Headline Orientation Usage

White Information Facts driven Asking for information from

others.

Black Judgement Careful examination of

negative aspects Playing devil's advocate.

Explaining why something won't work.

Green Creativity New ideas, creative

attitude Offering possibilities, ideas.

Red Intuition Feelings Explaining hunches,

feelings, gut senses.

Yellow Optimism Optimism: examine benefits, feasibility

Being positive, enthusiastic, supportive.

Blue Thinking Process driven Using rationalism, logic,

intellect.

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Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:

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.

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. Red Hat’s main keywords are feelings, hunches and intuition.

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.

Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to 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.

Yellow Hat:

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

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. Keywords too are alternatives, new ideas and possibilities.

Blue Hat:

The Blue Hat stands for process / thinking control. It's the control mechanism that ensures the Six Thinking Hats' guidelines are observed. 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.

A variant of this technique is to look at problems from the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales directors, etc.) or different customers.

1.3. Working on reverse order

You know very well at what is meaning ”be prepared”? You think something before it happens, and then get yourself ready to face it whenever it happens. On business-sector, well, why not on private sector too, common ”be prepared” action is take some sort of insurance.

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It is good option but still, it’s preparing to act after something negative has been happen.

As working on reverse order, creative thinking method, you are seeing to the future and the path to it. Mostly there goes several different paths to ”some kind of” future on our daily life and work but this method does allow you to narrow and drop the count of those paths.

Method works like this (citation from David Straker’s website creatingminds.org):

Use it to go from an impractical idea to an idea that is feasible.

Use Reverse Planning to plan for the implementation of an idea that requires a specific future.

STEPS:

1. Envision a perfect future

Start by creating a fantastic idea. It may be impossible, even fantasy. At this level, a completely impossible and idealistic solution may be created.

2. Step back into fiction

Now take a step towards reality with another idea. It may still be impossible, but it will certainly make more sense.

3. Step back into possibility

Then take a step back again into an idea that is actually feasible. It may not be clear yet how to implement the idea, but at least it looks feasible.

4. Walk back to now

Now create a plan by continuing to move back to current reality. Ask at each step, 'What happened before that?'

When you get back to now, turn and look towards the possibility and you will have your implementation plan.

How it works

Reverse planning works first by legitimizing idealistic, 'ridiculous' ideas, and then gradually working back towards the feasible. This prevents 'silly' ideas being thrown away because you cannot see how they might be achieved.

If you plan forwards, there are many possible futures and it is easy to lose your way. If you start at what you want and work backwards towards now, then there are far fewer paths as you see what is required.

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1.4. Rotate the problem “upside down”

Upside Down Thinking method has two different disciplines, one is based to quite straight forwarding and logical approaching and the other one is more psychological approach.

This logical approaching is the simplest and more often used method and basic idea is at you took the problem which needs to be solved and then you make reverse it in some way.

Example:

Your office is just a dark room. How to make it more comfortable? So, your

regular thinking is ”there is darkness – we put lights on”.

The more psychological approach, which seems to be for most of us much harder side, continues when the logical side ends.

Example:

Same office, same darkness. But instead accepting only the first, logical

problem, we put our brains to work: ”How about if we make few windows

here?” or ”Let’s first paint wells to white and then...”

Upside down and it’s nearby method Reversal are a simple but surprisingly powerful method that kicks you out of your stucked thoughts and easily finds another view (so you don't have to wander around lost, looking for new and useful place to dig).

Then how and when to use this method?

Almost everywhere and every time. It’s all depending at how deeply you want or there is need to dig answers and how much you have time. As a citation from Creatingminds.co.uk webpage tells:

”Any form of perverse, backwards or other-sighted thinking is allowed. Look at it from the opposite viewpoint. If male, view from the female viewpoint, and vice versa. Instead of looking up at it, look down. Look from the inside instead of at the outside, and so on. You can turn upside down the basic concept, principles, physical elements, attributes, etc”.

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2. GROUP 2

Group 2 includes, like did Group 1, four different methods which work very well when used separately but these four can be used together as well.

These four methods Brainstorming, Innovation Walking, Imaginary person and Fishbone are methods which like to be used, on business-life, on moments when you are starting some totally new.

When Group 1 methods are proper choice for existing business, Group 2 methods are good option for informal approach on the moment when you’re creating business idea.

Note! There are always good moments to use these methods for more formal issues, too!

Then how to use these methods? How to create process? Answers will be given after Group 2 section on part ”Practice” . Before that, let’s get familiar to these methods too!

After reading these four methods, the learner will have basic understanding what methods are, differences between them and basic level idea at how to use them as a thinking technique.

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2.1. Brainstorming

Probably one of the most popular methods in creating new ideas or solving problems is brainstorming. It has been used for years, but it is still a good method.

Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem solving with lateral thinking. It encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that can, at first, seem a bit crazy. Some of these ideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to a problem, while others can spark even more ideas. This helps to get people unstuck by "jolting" them out of their normal ways of thinking.

One of the most important thing by using brainstorming is, that people should avoid criticizing or rewarding ideas. The target is to open up possibilities and break down incorrect assumptions about the problem's limits. Judgment and analysis at this stage stunts idea generation and limit creativity.

To be successful brainstorming demands a free and open environment that encourages everyone to participate. Quirky ideas are welcomed and built upon, and all participants are encouraged to contribute fully, helping them develop a rich array of creative solutions.

Here, you can take advantage of the full experience and creativity of all team members. When one member gets stuck with an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. You can develop ideas in greater depth with group brainstorming than you can with individual brainstorming.

Usually brainstorming is used i groups, but individual brainstorming can also be very effective. You often get the best results by combining individual and group brainstorming, and by managing the process according to the "rules" below. By doing this, you can get people to focus on the issue without interruption, you maximize the number of ideas that you can generate, and you get that great feeling of team bonding that comes with a well-run brainstorming session!

Steps:

comfortable meeting environment

icebreaker, to make the atmosphere more relaxed

define the problem

a large number of ideas is the aim

Encourage everyone to contribute and to develop ideas, including the

quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.

Can be used:

when thinking of new business ideas

solving problems

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2.2. Innovation walk

New research shows that walking boosts creative thinking. In a series of experiments, researchers from Stanford University in California compared levels of creativity in people while they walked with while they sat and found creative output went up by an average of 60% while walking.

It is also found out, that the act of walking itself does the trick – it does not matter whether the walk is indoors or outdoors, it has the same effect in boosting creative inspiration.

It is important to walk slowly so that everyone can easily follow the group. It can be useful to deal the group to smaller groups. 2-3 people in same group is the optimal size of group.

Innovative walking is a method that can be used with groups or individuals. It is important to prepare the subjects beforehand. It can be combined with brainstorming.

Steps:

Define the problem or the things you want learners to think

If you use the method with a group it´s important to prepare the group by

telling them the idea of innovative walking

Groups can stop after they have walked some time and share thoughts.

Only sky is the limit of model: “everyone tells one idea what have

outcome” etc.

Then start walk again – with silence or with discussion about the ideas

what were just told. A common style is just repeat a silent walk several

times and time to time make stops and tell ideas.

After several rounds, return to starting position and write down all ideas.

Then you can choose: either to start walk again and discuss of the ideas. Or,

go back to office or so. Main target: to eliminate ideas with proper way on

innovative environment.

For the organizer: Remember take care about atmosphere! Participants can

argue, even by hard way, but don’t let it escalate.

After walking it’s important to decide what to do about ideas; which one is eliminated, which one goes forward, what happens next, who start think it/them more deeply etc.

Can be used:

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Create mass of ideas for later or immediately use

Create multiply same or different kind business ideas

As a tool for ”Thinking out of the box”

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2.3. Create an imaginary person

Creating an imaginary person is a good technique to find out a potential customer. It can also be used to make company to understand their customers better. The target of this method is to describe a potentional customer with words or visualize it.

Steps

Step 1: Ask the right questions.

To start developing your avatar you need to ask yourself questions about your ideal customer. Sit down with a pen and paper and work through the following questions:

How old are they?

What's their gender?

Where do they live?

What's their job?

How much do they earn?

What's their relationship status?

What do they do in their free-time?

Which newspaper do they read?

What's their favorite TV channel?

What are their hopes and dreams?

What do they wear?

What are their political and religious views?

What are their biggest fears? What keeps them awake at 3 AM?

What makes them happy?

What frustrates them?

What do they find most relaxing?

What do they talk about with their friends?

Step 2: Get Creative

When you got the basics down you can start to dig a little deeper. Make this process as fun as you can. The more you enjoy it, the more insights you'll generate. You can create a customer profile in any way you want.

For example, you can:

Write their biography.

Browse magazines to find a picture of someone that looks like them.

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Search baby naming websites to give them a perfect name.

Create the music playlist you think they'd listen to.

Choose a TV show they'd enjoy (and that you'd never watch), and sit down

to watch it.

Conduct an imaginary interview with them to find out as much about them

as you can.

Step 3: Bring it All Together.

Once you're done, summarize everything you've learned. You can do this on a single sheet of paper, or just create a folder of what you've created.

You will have learned two key things:

The wants your ideal customer has that your business helps to solve.

Your customer's outlook on the world, and what you can do to get their

attention.

2.4. Fishbone

The fishbone technique uses a visual organizer to identify the possible causes of a problem. This technique discourages partial or premature solutions and demonstrates the relative importance of, and interactions between, different parts of a problem.

Steps:

On a broad sheet of paper, draw a long arrow horizontally across the

middle of the page pointing to the right. Label the arrowhead with the title

of the issue to be explained. This is the “backbone” of the “fish”.

Draw “spurs” from this “backbone” at about 45 degrees, one for every

likely cause of the problem that the group can think of; and label each. Sub-

spurs can represent subsidiary causes.

The group considers each spur/sub-spur, taking the simplest first, partly for

clarity but also because a simple explanation may make more complex

ones unnecessary. Ideally, the fishbone is redrawn so that position along

the backbone reflects the relative importance of the different parts of the

problem, with the most important at the head.

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Fishbone Example, adapted from Mycoted wiki.

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3. PRACTICE

Phrase:”If you don’t write it up, it didn’t ever happen”

This is very important phrase to remember: when you’re practicing Creative Thinking methods and get answers / solutions / ideas etc. you have to write them up. As soon as possible. Human mind is, as we all know, quite eager to forget issues and therefore there is a major risk to lose valuable ideas if you don’t write them up.

On practical use all of these methods are quite simple. You don’t need special equipments or environments (Note: Do the innovation walking outside). Regular office, lobby, elevator, warehouse, lighthouse, living room... you name it!

Important part is to take care at atmoshpere is proper. If all participants are on right mood, then there is great possiblity to make valuable findings, despite what method or process you are using.

Next we give you two examples, one for both groups at how you can do the practical side of these methods.

Group 1.

Gather the group of participants together, 7+ persons is ok

Make all participants familiar (just basic level) about methods

Reserve time. You’ll need about 1-2 hours per method if you go so deep as

you should go

Check the atmosphere and environment, is it good? We can’t tell what’s

good, it comes from your and your teams needs

Define the issue. Is it problem? Is it goal? Why it’s now important?

Write so at all can see it. Make short version, just a few words.

Start work with methods:

o The Challenge and Provocation:

Press hard on the issue, why this is problem, what’s the

solutions etc. Make even brainless proposals.

Focus: Get several possible answers

o Six Hats:

Take those answers from last method

Give them good pressure from different angles like hats are

described

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Wait as long it takes at you have 1-4 (it can be more than

these too) stone hard answers.

o Reverse Order:

We have issue (problem or so…) and several tightly created

answers.

Take the issue and write it again (above the original) by “this

is what we have when issue is fixed” so go to the future.

Then between these, write answers.

Now start work, with a free opinion angle etc. from the

future via the answers all the way back to the original issue.

Focus: This is where we got, these are the key elements

(those answers) and this is the starting moment (this day).

Plan or describe with your team at what did happen during

that travel from start via key elements to the future.

Make good notes of all steps!

o Upside Down

Then finally when you have good, well planned travel from

problem to its solving, turn all steps upside down.

Ask: What if…? And: How about…? Etc.

Make your team once again give justifications for all steps.

Does this and this work? How about if this go just opposite

way? What then? Does this work etc.

After these four methods you have a great piece of solution. You hardly can

imagine what it is but it really is worth to try to use.

Note: When you are handling same issue with same participants, you will

see a lot same answers. Therefore give extremely lot attention to Six Hats

method because it makes participants to step to one angle role and that

will give you good chance to get opposite opinions etc.

Group 2.

Similar start as Group 1: Gather participants, check environment etc.

Do not use, if it’s not totally necessary, detailed pre-given issues. If you give

some problem to them and describe it too deeply, you take great risk at

handcuffing the creativity!

This example follows the path where goal is to define brand new business

idea and get some muscles around it

Start with

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22 Project “INNOSTARTUP”, project number: NPAD-2014/10053

o Brainstorming:

Get plenty, a massive amount of ideas

No matter what those are, how the logical part went etc.

Just write it up!

o Innovation walk:

Align those ideas from brainstorming to different

environment and inspiration sources affect

Make notes at which ideas have been mostly exposed and

write them down

o Imaginary person:

Take those mostly exposed ideas and now describe the

personalities around of them

Staff? Customers? Owners? Competitors? Affiliates? How

they act? What are their motivational elements? Why they

come to you? Etc.

Just follow the flow! Do not judge, yet, anyone. Your

participants are just describing these persons via their own

experiences about life and humans but, of course, from their

hopes at how the world should be. This is important: wishes

come true, someday. So listen carefully what comes out!

o Fishbone

Make long, long vertical line and then write the mostly

exposed and mostly personalities gathered idea on its “goal”

end

Now team starts make things from real-life angle: How this

idea can be made real? What it needs? When? Who? Risks?

Etc.

At the end of this process you have business idea, you know what kind

employees you need, you know your customers quite well and you have

timeline what to do and when.

What are you waiting for? Find group and start!

Start to think.

Via Creative Thinking.

Make innovations.

Make your future.

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4. METHOD SCAMPER

4.1. History

Scamper is based on Robert F Eberles ideas about using creativity in education. He created Scamper to let children use their natural creativeness by giving a short list which is easy to learn and understand. This list is also based on the Alex Osbornes list of 83 questions. Alex Osborne is called to be the father of brainstorming method. Robert F Eberle reduced those 83 questions to SCAMPER “checklist” typing thinking tool. It helps people to think about changes they can make to an existing product to create a new one.

http://www.mindwerx.com/mind-tools/5762/history-s-c-m-p-e-r

Nowadays SCAMPER is used as one of business brainstorming techniques. SCAMPER is comprised of 7 different perspectives about business. It is usable alone or in groups and it will give you a fresh perspectives and new ideas.

4.2. This is SCAMPER:

S - Substitute - components, materials, people

C - Combine - mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate

A - Adapt - alter, change function, use part of another element

M - Modify - increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modifyattributes (e.g. colour)

P - Put to another use

E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality

R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down, also use of Reversal.

https://fivewhys.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/scamper.jpg

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4.3. How to use SCAMPER in education?

In startup situation entrepreneur has to think about all followed questions. It is important to keep startup business as compact as possible. Main thing is to stay at gore competences. Startup can use SCAMPER when for example SWOT analysis has been already done.

In this case SCAMPER is also used in already existing business. It might need focus and SCAMPER is the key for doing that. By SCAMPER entrepreneur can ask him/herself:

what direction is the best for business

what is the gore competence

is this market enough

what should I do to increase my incoming money

is my target group big enough or is it the right one

etc.

In education of startups and existing business the most important thing is to make the business owners thinking.

4.4. SCAMPER Questions and Examples:

Let’s take a look at some examples on how you can use the SCAMPER tool to ask the right questions:

1. Substitute something

What or who can be substituted? Is there anything else that can be substituted? Can I substitute a component a vendor? Can I substitute the location? Can I substitute some product features (color, material, packaging, size…)? Can I substitute the process?

2. Combine

What ideas and approaches can be combined or can it be combined with another function? Can I combine / merge multiple components? Can I combine it with another solution or purpose?

3. Adapt

Can I adapt something from the past? What other strategy can be adapted? What other ideas are similar to this? What about the features from another industry? Can I adapt another service to this product? Is there something easily copied from someone else?

4. Modify / Magnify

What can be duplicated here? What could add additional benefit? How can I add more value? What can be made larger? How can I improve the current scope? Can I

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25 Project “INNOSTARTUP”, project number: NPAD-2014/10053

add extra features? Can I make this stronger? How can I deliver it faster? Can I modify the process?

5. Put it to another use

What else can be done with it? Can I apply it to other markets or be used by another product? Can I use it in a new way? What else can be made with this? Who else would benefit from these product features? Is this product better in other use?

6. Eliminate something

Can I deliver it in a fewer steps? Is there something I can skip? Can I eliminate a rule? What is not really necessary here? In what ways can I streamline this approach? Can I design a smaller version of this product? Can I split it up? Is there something which is not in my theme? Can I eliminate it?

7. Reverse or Rearrange

In what ways can I rearrange this better? Can I interchange functions? Is there a better layout for this? Can I rearrange the sequence? Can I reverse the components?

http://www.mrdashboard.com/scamper-creativity-tool.html

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.creatingminds.org

www.mindtools.com

www.edwdebono.com

www.slideshare.net service and there

Francois Guély www.slideshare.net/fguely/creativity-theory-and-practice?related=2

Colin Godefroy www.slideshare.net/ColinGodefroy/creative-thinking-presentation-

2813424

www.thinkingschool.co.uk/resources/thinkers-toolbox/

www.mindwerx.com

www.fivewhys.files.wordpress.com