Lateral Thinking Developed originally by Edward de Bono – see Blackboard articles

Lateral Thinking. -used to look at things from a new perspective  Awareness  Alternatives  Provocative methods

“Awareness” is concerned with assessing current ideas, redefining and clarifying them. They can be examined from the five perspectives of:- 1) Dominant idea 2) Tethering factors 3) Polarising tendencies 4) Boundaries 5) Assumptions  Assumption smashing  Assumption reversal

“Alternatives” ” is concerned with searching for as many different ways of looking at the problem as possible. Different perspectives include:- Avoidance devices Rotation of attention Change of entry point Quota of alternatives Concept changing and challenging Key word omission Fractionation and bridging divisions

“Provocative methods” are ideation techniques:- Random stimulus Intermediate impossible Reversals Distortion and exaggeration Exposure (force fit)

“Provocative methods” - continued Cross-fertilisation Problem-switching Po Metaphorical thinking Analogy Discontinuity