de Bono's 5 Step Thinking Process
Edward de Bono described the general thinking process as having five (5) distinctive steps:
1. TO - What are we moving TOwards? What problem are we solving?
2. LO - LOok at what we know about the problem; it's constraints, requirements, etc.
3. PO - What POssible alternative solutions are there?
4. SO - SOrt the solutions and choose the "best"
5. GO - GO ahead and do it.
This thinking process seems perfectly obvious, like most good ideas, when written down in this form and we all recognise the steps. This is a generic process and does not prescribe tools for each step, rather it recognises that many are available already. What has been missing is a simple software tool that allows complex problems to be handled; this is the strength of InnovationWorks.
InnovationWorks uses the Design Breakdown Structure to capture the TO (= DBS Problem), PO (= DBS Solution) and GO (= DBS Component). InnovationWorks also uses the CBS (Creativity Breakdown Structure) to capture the LO element and the central section of the House of Quality, or Quality Function Deployment (QFD), to assist with the SO aspect.
As InnovationWorks evolves more tools will be added to the generic hooks that de Bono's thinking process provides giving you more power to solve complex problems, whether they're wicked or not.
