danium/lateral-thinking

List the assumptions behind a current approach, flip each to its plausible opposite, and identify where the flipped version is actually true — uncovering new creative directions. Ideal when requirements or designs feel inevitable or unquestioned.

Escape narrow thinking by climbing the abstraction ladder from a current solution to its broader purpose, then branching out alternative concepts and concrete implementations. Use when stuck on variations of one idea or to widen options before committing.

A creative problem-solving technique. Strip a problem to its bare structure, map it onto a structurally similar but distant domain (biological, operational, social), and transfer its mechanisms to generate novel solutions. Use when industry playbooks feel exhausted or solutions derivative.

Routes creative blocks to the right lateral thinking technique (random stimulus, provocation, inversion, etc.) when standard brainstorming fails. Diagnoses the symptom and applies a structured creativity exercise to generate fresh ideas.

Use Edward de Bono's Provocation technique to break unbreakable constraints by stating deliberately absurd things and extracting innovative movement. Ideal when designs converge or the usual answers are stale.

Uses Edward de Bono's Random Stimulus technique to force-fit random objects onto creative problems, generating novel ideas for product ideation, naming, branding, and design. Best when familiar associations block fresh thinking.

A structured creativity technique that pushes an existing idea through seven transformation lenses (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Reverse) to generate disciplined variations. Use when you need to riff on a feature, product, or workflow.

Take one decision and run it through six deliberately separated perspectives, one at a time: facts, feelings, risks, benefits, alternatives, then synthesis. Use when a decision is being made too fast or from one angle, when everyone agrees suspiciously quickly, or when the discussion mixes emotions with data.

Use the Worst Possible Idea technique to break out of safe, timid thinking by designing terrible solutions, identifying the underlying bad mechanisms, and inverting them into strong features. Ideal for when your team is optimizing rather than imagining.