Hints for Generating Solution Concepts
Experienced individuals and teams can usually just sit down and begin generating good concepts for a subproblem. Often these people have developed a set of techniques they use to stimulate their thinking, and these techniques have become a natural part of their problem-solving process. Novice product development professionals may be aided by a set of hints that stimulate new ideas or encourage relationships among ideas. VanGundy (1988),
von Oech (1998), and McKim (1980) give dozens of helpful suggestions. Here are some hints we have found to be helpful:
o Make analogies. Experienced designers always ask themselves what other devices solve a related problem. Frequently they will ask themselves if there is a natural or biological analogy to the problem. They will think about whether their problem exists at a much larger or smaller dimensional scale than that which they are considering. They will ask what devices do something similar in an unrelated area of application. The nailer team , when posing these questions, realized that construction pile drivers are similar to nailers in some respects. In following up on this idea, they developed the concept of a multiblow tool.
o Wish and wonder. Beginning a thought or comment with "I wish we could .. ." or "I wonder what would happen if ..." helps to stimulate oneself or the group to consider new possibilities. These questions cause reflection on the boundaries of the problem. For example, a member of the nailer team, when confronted with the required length of a rail gun (an electromagnetic device for accelerating a projectile) for driving a nail, said, "I wish the tool could be I meter long." Discussion of this comment led to the idea that perhaps a long tool could be used like a cane for nailing decking, allowing users to remain on their feet.
o Use related stimuli. Most individua ls can think of a new idea when presented with a new stimulus. Related stimuli are those stimuli generated in the context of the problem at hand. For example, one way to use related stimuli is for each individual in a group session to generate a list of ideas (working alone) and then pass the list to his or her neighbor. Upon reflection on someone else 's ideas, most people are able to generate new ideas. Other related stimuli include customer needs statements and photographs of the use environment of the product.
• Use unrelated stimuli. Occasionally, random or unrelated stimuli can be effective in encouraging new ideas. An example of such a technique is to choose, at random , one of a collection of photographs of objects, and then to think of some way that the randomly generated object might relate to the problem at hand. In a variant of this idea, individuals can be sent out on the streets with a digital camera to capture random images for subsequent use in stimulating new ideas. (This may also serve as a good change of pace for a tired group.)
• Set quantitative goals. Generating new ideas can be exhausting. Near the end of a session, individuals and groups may find quantitative goals useful as a motivating force. The nailer team frequently issued individual concept generation assignments with quantitative targets of I 0 to 20 concepts.
• Use the gallery method. The gallery method is a way to display a large number of concepts simultaneously for discussion. Sketches, usually one concept to a sheet, are taped or pinned to the walls of the meeting room. Team members circulate and look at each concept. The creator of the concept may offer explanation , and the group subsequently makes suggestions for improving the concept or spontaneously generates related concepts. This method is a good way to merge individual and group efforts.
ln the 1990s, a Russian problem-solving methodology called TRJZ (a Russian acronym for theory o.f inventive problem solving) began to be disseminated in Europe and in the United States. The methodology is primarily useful in identifying physical working principles to solve technical problem s. The key idea underlying TRIZ is to identify a contradiction that is implicit in a problem. For example, a contradiction in the nailer problem might be that increasing power (a desirable characteristic) would also tend to increase weight (an undesirable characteristic). One of the TRIZ tools is a matrix of 39 by 39 characteristics with each cell corresponding to a particular conflict between two characteristics. In each cell of the matrix , up to four physical principles are suggested as ways of resolving the corresponding conflict. There are 40 basic principles, including, for example, the periodic action principle (i.e., replace a continuous action with a periodic action, like an impulse). Using TRIZ, the nailer team might have arrived at the concept of using repeated smaller impacts to drive the nail. The idea of identifying a conflict in the design problem and then thinking about ways to resolve the conflict appears to be a very useful problem-solving heuristic. This approach can be useful in generating concepts even without adopting the entire TRIZ methodology.
Exhibit 7-6 shows some of the solutions the nailer tea m generated for the subproblems
of(l) storing or accepting energy and (2) delivering translational energy to a nail.