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The parallel with scientific research strikes me. To find gems one has to look into spaces left in the shadow by people. I often was surprised to see that bet

by chmike 19y ago

The parallel with scientific research strikes me. To find gems one has to look into spaces left in the shadow by people. I often was surprised to see that better algorithm where obtained by counter intuitive approaches (i.e. BM string search algorithm, radix sort,...). This is now a heuristic I use in my activity. In addition to looking into ideas that are often discarded, Paul also reminds us that the testing cost (time, complexity, finance) should be minimal. The rational is not to be economical, but to maximize the number of tests and experiences one can do with the limite resource we have. This is the Murphy's law in the positive sense as I explained here [http://tinyurl.com/25tjkv]. http://tinyurl.com/25tjkv]. Looking into the bad idea space increases the probability to find a good one and picking cheap ideas to test allows to increase n. This maximizes the probability of success.

corentin 19y ago
"This is now a heuristic I use in my activity." In case you're interested, there is a method called ASIT (for "Advanced Systematic Inventive Thinking") to help solve problems in creative ways, by forcing us to look where we wouldn't look otherwise (because of cognitive fixation). One of its main assumption is that creative solutions are often to be found near the obvious solutions, and that they are only different in small aspects. Moreover, it tries to turn the origin of a problem into a part of its solution! The really, really sad thing is that it's a quite formal, very thoughtful, "no bullshit" method (unlike brainstorming) but paradoxically the guys who promote it make IMHO the terrible mistake of selling as if it was some kind of "snake oil" (look at the main website, http://www.start2think.com http://www.start2think.com ) I'm pretty sure it turns genuinely interested people away; myself, I discovered it through a professional training session and wanted to know more but I would never have trusted those websites otherwise. If you can find the ASIT book by Roni Horowitz (I have the self-published french translation, but I guess the original english one is available somewhere), and can read past the first few pages of grand promises, you'll probably learn very interesting stuff about creativity.

by chmike 19y ago

corentin 19y ago

"This is now a heuristic I use in my activity." In case you're interested, there is a method called ASIT (for "Advanced Systematic Inventive Thinking") to help solve problems in creative ways, by forcing us to look where we wouldn't look otherwise (because of cognitive fixation). One of its main assumption is that creative solutions are often to be found near the obvious solutions, and that they are only different in small aspects. Moreover, it tries to turn the origin of a problem into a part of its solution! The really, really sad thing is that it's a quite formal, very thoughtful, "no bullshit" method (unlike brainstorming) but paradoxically the guys who promote it make IMHO the terrible mistake of selling as if it was some kind of "snake oil" (look at the main website, http://www.start2think.com http://www.start2think.com ) I'm pretty sure it turns genuinely interested people away; myself, I discovered it through a professional training session and wanted to know more but I would never have trusted those websites otherwise. If you can find the ASIT book by Roni Horowitz (I have the self-published french translation, but I guess the original english one is available somewhere), and can read past the first few pages of grand promises, you'll probably learn very interesting stuff about creativity.