"Tom Gardner" wrote in
:

On one of my recent posts, you kind people pointed out that there are
many ways of doing something. Simple observations are often the most
profound. I'm not a master at being able to see a problem from
different angles and visualize different solutions. It seems that
some parts of one idea affect another so the ideas are not
independent, not "clean" and compartmentalized. I met with my guys
today and discussed if we could figure out how to think about
different ways of doing things we are developing. I want multiple
solutions presented and thinking out of the box. It seems there is
always a brute-force method of doing something yet the "other" idea,
the one that springs into existence at the odd hour, is often better,
cheaper and more elegant. How do you attract those "other" ideas?

Don't even try to force them: they'll either come on their own or they
won't come at all.

Keep a tape/digital voice recorder handy so that when the idea -does- come
you can make a record of it that you can refer back to.

A pad of quadrille (graph) paper and something to write/draw with is
another good thing to have at hand.


Is there a method or exercises to develop creative thinking? Cutting
metal and drilling holes is the easy part, how do you completely
forget an idea in order to "see" a new idea? This may come easily for
an intelligent person but I struggle with my mental limitations.

Take time to play "What If" in your head: What if we could extrude our own
wire - could we feed it directly into a machine while it was still hot and,
if so, could the cutter do double duty as a "pinch" feeder?"

Things like that.

--

I used to be an anarchist but had to give it up: _far_ too many rules.