A set of creative tools that are also easy-to-learn and easy-to-use is Systematic Inventive Thinking or SIT. The process is explained in the book, Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results, by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg.
SIT uses a few of the elements from SCAMPER, but focuses on developing new ideas using only the attributes available, not venturing beyond the product or service. The five tools within SIT are:
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Task unification and
Attribute dependency
SIT focuses on the common elements of a product, service, or process to devise new ideas. It is a great way to pragmatically practice creativity and improve or change a product, service, or process.
For example, what does powdered soup, a stationary bicycle, a baby seat that attaches to a table, and contact lenses have in common? They have all subtracted something from the original product to develop something all new.
Task unification forces you to use an existing feature of a process or product to work harder by making it take on additional responsibilities. You unify tasks that previously worked independently of one another. You assign a new task to an existing resource – basically assigning it an additional job. For example, a director was working on a musical and did not have enough budget to hire an orchestra. He then had the actors play the instruments, requiring the actors to take on a new task, becoming actors and musicians.
Another example is using the elements within a grocery store to encourage people to stay in the store longer. For example, list all the attributes of a grocery store, like shelves, bathrooms, aisles, deli department, butcher, bakery, refrigerators, freezers, shopping carts, and so on. Then choose one attribute and take a few minutes to think of ways it can help to keep people in the store longer.
For example, choose shopping carts. Some ideas could be to make the carts difficult to turn, or install small video screens to entertain and provide recipes or weekly specials. You can even have the carts equipped with toys for children, so they want to stay longer.
Another cool task unification was developed by Nissan. When you inflate the car tires, the horn beeps when the tire reaches the recommended pressure. No need to carry an air pressure gauge or rely on inaccurate gas station compressors.
Another example of Task Unification is Captcha. The purpose of Captcha is to protect websites. Captcha forces website visitors to take a simple test that computers cannot pass, only humans. Captcha, is an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. It makes website visitors correctly type in the proper letters shown. When typed in correctly, they can access to the website. Computers cannot interpret the distorted letters, only humans.
However, Captcha is not only about verifying a human. It was expanded into Captcha to decipher difficult-to-read words from old printed texts. When the website visitor types in the letters shown in the box, they are transforming printed content into digital form. This is pure Task Unification. One item serving two purposes; ensuring the website visitor is not a machine and using millions of web users to help transform printed text into digital text. The cool thing about Captcha is that every web user helps to transcribe almost 150,000 books per year – which would have taken over 37,000 full-time workers to complete, if we all did not “volunteer” to help the project.
So check out the great book Inside the Box: The Creative Method that works for everyone, by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg and start thinking inside the box.
Resource
Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results, by Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg