"Creativity in OR/MS: Creativity-Enhancing Strategies"

by James R. Evans, 1996, Interfaces, v. 26, n. 3, May-June, pp. 58-65.

"Often, the best solutions are novel and unusual -- that is, they are creative."

This article, one of a regular series, outlines several methods for creativity:

Brainstorming (many ideas, defer judgment)
Synectics (analogy with a similar problem found in nature or elsewhere)
Checklists (list of items against certain aspects of the problem, e.g., new uses?, modify? rearrange?)
Forced Relationships (putting tools or other objects in the presence of the problem: how can this be used?)
Attribute Listing (listing attributes of the problem; using the list to generate new ideas)
Morphological Analysis (using a grid system to examine combinations of attributes)

I especially enjoyed the historical origins of these techniques. There are about a dozen appropriate references at the end of the article.

"Hadamard notes that Henri Poincaré observed that unconscious work is not possible or even fruitful, unless it is first preceded and then followed by a period of conscious work [Hadamard 1945]. Conscious methods for creativity are intended to guide the formation and flow of ideas in the mind. They act as seeding vehicles to provide us with new insights, and they hasten the creative thinking process and help us to overcome obstacles to creativity by focusing our thoughts and energies."

--John Schuyler, December 1996, revised March 1997