osborn parnes creative problem solving process

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The osborn parnes creative problem-solving process.

The Osborn Parnes creative problem-solving process is a structured way to generate creative and innovative ways to address problems.

If you want to grow in your career, you need to show you can provide value. This is true no matter where you sit in an organization.

You likely do this in your day-to-day activities.

But if you want to stand out, or do better than the minimum required for your job, you need to find ways to be more valuable to your company.

Problem-solving skills are a great way to do this.

And there are many problem-solving approaches you can use.

By bringing creativity into the approach, you can get an even better variety of potential solutions and ideas.

Benefits of Using Creative Problem Solving  

Using a creative problem-solving approach has multiple benefits:

• It provides a structured approach to problem-solving.
• It results in more possible solution options using both divergent and convergent approaches.
• You create innovative approaches to change.
• It’s a collaborative approach that allows multiple participants.
• By engaging multiple participants in finding solutions, you create a positive environment and buy-in from participants.
• This approach can be learned.
• You can use these skills in various areas of life.

Origin of the Osborn Parnes Creative Problem-solving Process

Alex Osborne and Sidney Parnes both focused much of their work on creativity. Osborn is credited with creating brainstorming techniques in the 1940s. He founded the Creative Education Foundation, which Parnes led.

The two collaborated to formalize the process., which is still taught today.  

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” – George Lois

What is the Osborn Parnes Creative Problem-solving Process

The Osborn Parnes model is a structured approach to help individuals and groups apply creativity to problem-solving. 

There are 6 steps to the Osborn Parnes Creative Problem-Solving Process.

1.    Mess-Finding / Objective Finding

During the Objective-Finding phase, you determine what the goal of your problem-solving process will be.

What’s the intent of carrying out your problem-solving process? Get clear on why you’re doing it. This helps ensure you focus your efforts in the right area.

Knowing your goals and objectives will help you focus your efforts where they have the most value.  

2.    Fact-Finding

The Fact-F inding phase ensures you gather enough data to fully understand the problem.

Once you’ve identified the area you want to focus on, gather as much information as you can. This helps you get a full picture of the situation.

Collect data, gather information, make observations, and employ other methods of learning more about the situation.

You may wish to identify success criteria for the situation at this step, also.

3.    Problem-Finding

The Problem Finding phase allows you to dig deeper into the problem and find the root or real problem you want to focus on. Reframe the problem in order to generate creative and valuable solutions.

Look at the problem and information you’ve gathered in order to better clarify the problem you’ll be solving.

Make sure you’re focusing on the right problem before moving forward to develop a solution.

Personal example: you may think you want to get a second job so you can have more money to take your family on vacations. Upon deeper exploration, you realize your real desire and goal is to find ways to spend more time with your family . That’s the real problem you wish to solve.

Work example: your team has too much work to do and doesn’t have the time to create new software features that customers want. By digging in and reframing the problem you realize the team is more focused on handling support calls. You need to find a solution to handling the support calls, which would free up time for the team to focus on new development. You dig even deeper and learn the support calls are primarily focused on one problem that could be fixed to solve the problem.

“If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.” – Steve Jobs

4.    Idea-Finding

The Idea-F inding phase allows your team to generate many options for addressing the problem.

Come up with many different potential ideas to address the problem.

Don’t judge the suggestions. Instead, welcome even crazy ideas. Unexpected or odd ideas may help others generate great ideas.

Use brainstorming techniques, affinity mapping and grouping, and other tools to organize the input.

Use “yes, and…” statements rather than “No, but…” statements to keep ideas flowing and avoid discouraging participants from contributing.

5.    Solution-Finding

The Solution Finding phase allows you to choose the best options from the ideas generated in the Idea Finding phase. 

Set selection criteria for evaluating the best choices in order to select the best option. You can weight your criteria if needed to place more emphasis on criteria that may be more important than others. 

Create a prioritization matix with your criteria to help you choose what to focus on.

6.    Action-Finding

In the Action-Finding phase, develop a plan of action to implement the solution you’ve settled on as the best choice. 

Depending on how complex the solution is, you may need to create a more complex plan of action. Your work breakdown structure of activities may be complex or simple.

When creating your action plan, identify who’s responsible for each of the activities, dependencies, and due dates.

If your chosen solution will impact many people or teams, you may need to do an impact analysis, create a communication plan , and get buy-in or participation from more groups. If your solution is simple, you will most likely have a much simpler plan. 

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” – Edward de Bono

Creative Problem-Solving Categories

Osborn and Parnes started working on creative problem-solving approaches in the 1950s. Since then, the process has evolved, but the focus on using creativity still remains important.

More recent modifications group the activities into four categories: 

Each of these categories contain the steps listed above to carry out the problem-solving process.

As you can see, the steps are still there, but the grouping helps provide a bit more structure to the way teams can think about it.

Divergent and Convergent Thinking

The creative problem-solving process uses two thinking styles: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. 

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, the just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while” – Steve Jobs

Divergent Thinking

Divergent  thinking is the creative process of generating multiple possible solutions and ideas. It’s usually done in a spontaneous approach where participants share multiple ideas, such as in a brainstorming session.

This approach allows more “out of the box” thinking for creative ideas. 

Once ideas are generated via creative, free-flowing divergent approach, you then move onto convergent thinking. 

Use questions to stimulate creative thinking.

When conducting divergent thinking sessions, don’t criticize suggestions. Instead, welcome ideas. Build on ideas that have been presented and even improve them if possible. 

Instead of saying “No, but…” welcome ideas with responses such as “Yes, and…”

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Convergent Thinking

Convergent thinking is the process of evaluating the ideas, analyzing them, and selecting the best solution.

It’s the process of taking all the information gathered in divergent thinking, analyzing it, and finding the single best solution to the problem. 

Determine screening criteria for evaluating ideas. Spend time evaluating the options, and even improve suggestions if possible or needed. 

If an idea seems too crazy, don’t immediately dismiss it. A friend told me once he thought the Bird or Lime scooter business models would never work. If it had been pitched to him, his response would have been “People won’t use them. They’ll destroy them. People won’t be allowed to use them without helmets and won’t be permitted to leave them on the sidewalk.” But it’s turned out in many cities to be a great mode of short-distance transportation. 

Someone taking a strictly convergent approach to problem-solving might skip a creative brainstorming session and instead try to think of a straightforward answer to the problem. 

However, it’s useful to employ both approaches to come up with more options and creative solutions to problems. 

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

Running Your Problem-Solving Sessions

When using these techniques, use your great facilitation and leadership skills to keep the group focused and moving forward.

For the best meetings possible, follow the guidance in my book Bad Meetings Happen to Good People: How to Run Meetings That Are Effective, Focused, and Produce Results .

Problem-solving skills and tools are useful both at work and other areas of life.

It’s liberating to know you don’t have to have all the answers to make improvements.

Instead, knowing how to lead and collaborate with others to find solutions will help you stand out as a strong leader and valuable team member to your employer.

Don’t shy away from leading an improvement effort when faced with challenges. Doing so will give you greater confidence to search for solutions in other situations.

And you’ll be known as someone who can tackle challenges and make improvements in the organization. Creating this reputation will be great for your career.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss

Related Posts

Leigh Espy is a project manager and coach with experience working in startups, government, and the corporate world. She works with project managers who want to improve their skills and grow in their career, and entrepreneurs and small businesses to help them get more done. She also remembers her early career days and loves working with new project managers and those who want to make a career move into project management.

I’m glad ‘problem finding’ is the basis for this. However, I think this is still reductive and presumes a ‘problem’ to be ‘solved’. I see ‘problem solving’ as a long way down the path in creativity. Creativity starts with an objective, a challenge, an opportunity. Not a ‘problem’. A problem gets an answer. A challenge gets possibilities.

am a university student from kenya and my lecturer gave us a question on how to use osbons model to systemtically analyze how to find solutions about corruption in our country and i think the info i got here will help me tackle that question alot

Great reading – it helped me with my Creativity Tools homework

Osborn: Creative Problem-Solving Process

Last Updated on 7 July 2021

Alex Osborn is the “O” in the agency BBDO . In 1953, he wrote a book titled “ Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem-Solving .” He was one of the first – if not the first – to write about the practical application of brainstorming and creative problem-solving (CPS). Here is how he outlines the CPS process…

(begin quote)

The creative problem-solving process ideally comprises these procedures: (1) Fact -finding. (2) Idea -finding. (3) Solution -finding.

Fact -finding calls for problem-definition and preparation. Problem-definition calls for picking out and pointing up the problem. Preparation calls for gathering and analyzing the pertinent data.

Idea -finding calls for idea-production and idea-development. Idea production calls for thinking up tentative ideas as possible leads. Idea-development calls for selecting the most likely of the resultant ideas, adding others, and reprocessing all of these by such means as modification and combination.

Solution -finding calls for evaluation and adoption. Evaluation calls for verifying the tentative solutions, by tests and otherwise. Adoption calls for deciding on, and implementing, the final solution.

Regardless of sequence, every one of those steps calls for deliberate effort and creative imagination.

(end quote)

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The author of this site, Paul Reali, has written two books on Creative Problem Solving. Click a cover to learn more, read an excerpt, or purchase a copy.

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

This site is for practitioners, new and experienced, of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process and tools.

WHAT IS CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING?

CPS is a form of deliberate creativity: a structured process for solving problems or finding opportunities, used when you want to go beyond conventional thinking and arrive at creative (novel and useful) solutions.

WHO ARE OSBORN AND PARNES?

In the 1950s, advertising executive Alex Osborn studied creative people to see how they came up with ideas and creative solutions. He called the process he observed “creative problem solving,” and documented it in his seminal book, Applied Imagination .

Osborn’s work soon caught the attention of a college professor who wanted to study and extend the work. Sidney Parnes , Ruth Noller, and their colleagues provided the academic scrutiny that confirmed that CPS works, that it can be taught, and that people can learn to improve the way they think and solve problems.

There are many processes that use the term "creative problem solving" that are not based on the work of Osborn and Parnes. Generally, when the name is written with capital letters ("Creative Problem Solving") or abbreviated "CPS," the work is based on the Osborn-Parnes model.

WHO OWNS CPS?

Unlike proprietary methodologies, no one owns CPS. Osborn put CPS into the public domain so that people could use it. He did not feel as if he owned it; everyone owned it, and anyone should be able to use it.

More than 60 years later, CPS is known and used worldwide, by hundreds of companies and professional practitioners, and thousands of individuals. Expansion and research continues. CPS is the cornerstone of the Osborn-founded Creative Education Foundation (CEF), and CEF’s annual conference, the Creative Problem Solving Institute; and CPS is at the core of the M.S. in Creativity from the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University.

Because no one owns CPS – it is a kind of open-source project – it has been researched and refined, extended and enhanced, for more than 60 years. The beneficiaries? Any of us who choose to use CPS today.

A WORD ABOUT TERMINOLOGY

A side effect of the continuing study and development of CPS is that the terminology - what the stages are called, primarily - can change from one model to another. These changes tend to be author/practitioner preference, and are not material changes. This site uses the terminology developed by Paul Reali, with stages that are consistent with the latest thinking on CPS. (For more information, see the column to the right.)

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, IS IT A PROCESS OR NOT?

The word "process" implies, perhaps, that CPS is performed step by step. In actual practice, it's more organic. Yes, there are times when one might step through a fuzzy situation all the way (using the OmniSkills terminology) from "Imagine the Future" to "Plan for Action." More likely, though, you will "enter the process" wherever you need to be based on where you are in your problem-solving situation.

For example, if you have a clearly-articulated vision, you might begin with Finding the Question. Or, if you already have the question (that is, a clearly defined problem), you might begin with Generating Ideas. Generally, there are conditions that should be satisfied before you attempt any stage (for example, it's not all that sensible to generate ideas for a problem you can't clarify), but you are never required to do anything except whatever you need.

CPS Process Stages: Multiple Approcahes, One Process

The Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process, once it reached maturity, looked like this:

Objective Finding Fact Finding Data Finding Problem Finding Solution Finding Acceptance Finding

Simplex (Basadur, 1994) identifies eight steps, numbered here because one is required to do all the steps, in order, every time (a point of disagreement with many other CPS practitioners and models):

1. Problem finding 2. Fact finding 3. Problem definition 4. Idea finding 5. Evaluating and selecting 6. Action planning 7. Gaining acceptance 8. Taking action

A plain-language version (Miller, Vehar, & Firestein, 2001) expressed the stages like this:

Identify the Goal, Wish     or Challenge Gather Data Clarify the Problem Generate Ideas Select & Strengthen Solutions Plan for Action

CPS: the Thinking Skills Model (Puccio, Murdock, & Mance, 2005) is a multi-faceted rework of the model. It adds a meta-step (the first on the list) which includes management of the process, and incorporates data gathering. It identifies these process steps:

Assessing the Situation Exploring the Vision Formulating Challenges Exploring Ideas Formulating Solutions Exploring Acceptance Formulating a Plan

The Productive Thinking Model (Hurson, 2008), notably, adds setting criteria as an explicit step:

What’s going on? What’s success? What’s the question? Generate answers Forge the solution Align resources

CPS: Competencies Model (Reali, 2009; the model described on this site) is based most closely on CPS: Thinking Skills Model. It looks like this:

Facilitate Imagine the Future Find the Questions Generate Ideas Craft Solutions Explore Acceptance Plan for Action

Leading modules

Learning space, module 5 “can i solve problems” – creative problem solving, unit 1 – what is creative problem solving alex osborn’s creative problem-solving model.

You tried probably many times to solve a problem and got stuck in the process. The reason is that traditional problem-solving methods don’t work for all problems. Sometimes you need to become creative to move forward and find new solutions.

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of solving problems or identifying opportunities when conventional thinking has failed. It encourages you to find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals. It is a model to help you solve problems and manage change creatively. Alex Osborn, founder of the Creative Education Foundation, first developed creative problem solving in the 1940s, along with the term “brainstorming.” Together with Sid Parnes, he developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. Despite its age, this model remains a valuable approach to problem solving. Osborn noted in his breakthrough book “Applied Imagination”, that Hindu teachers had been using brainstorming for over 400 years and Walt Disney encouraged it among his artists in the 1920s (later called “dreaming as a team”).

CPS is based on two assumptions:

• Everyone is creative
• Creative skills can be learned and enhanced

Creative problem solving isn’t just brainstorming, although that’s what many people may associate it with. It’s actually a well-defined process that can help you from problem definition to implementing solutions, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner. Creative ideas do not suddenly appear in people’s minds for no apparent reason. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or to achieve a particular goal. Highly creative people tend to follow the CPS process in their heads, without thinking about it. Less naturally creative people can learn to use this simple process.

There are numerous different approaches to CPS. Jeffrey Baumgartner’s approach is more focused on innovation (that is the implementation of the most promising ideas).

The core principles of Creative Problem Solving are:

Divergent (creative) and convergent (critical) thinking must be balanced. Keys to creativity are learning ways to identify and balance expanding and contracting thinking (done separately) and knowing when to practice them.

Ask problems as questions. Solutions are more readily invited and developed when challenges and problems are restated as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities. Such questions generate lots of rich information, while closed-ended questions tend to elicit confirmation or denial. Statements tend to generate limited or no response at all.

Defer or suspend judgment. As Osborn learned in his early work on brainstorming, the instantaneous judgment in response to an idea shuts down idea generation. There is an appropriate and necessary time to apply judgment when converging.

Focus on “Yes, and …” rather than “No, but.” When generating information and ideas, language matters. “Yes, and” allows continuation and expansion, which is necessary in certain stages of CPS. The use of the word “but”—whether preceded by “yes” or “no”— closes conversation, negating everything that has come before it.

CPS uses tools and techniques that make the process fun, engaging, and collaborative. It not only helps create better solutions; it creates a positive experience that helps speed the adoption of new ideas.

Watch the video about how it started, Alex Osborn’s life and the different persons who contributed to the development of Creative Problem Solving:

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Problem-Solving Techniques and Tips (That Actually Work)

June 14, 2022 - 10 min read

Solving complex problems may be difficult but it doesn't have to be excruciating. You just need the right frame of mind and a process for untangling the problem at hand.

Luckily for you, there are plenty of techniques available to solve whatever problems come at you in the workplace.

When faced with a doozy of a problem, where do you start? And what problem-solving techniques can you use right now that can help you make good decisions?

Today's post will give you tips and techniques for solving complex problems so you can untangle any complication like an expert.

How many steps are there in problem-solving?

At its core, problem-solving is a methodical four-step process. You may even recall these steps from when you were first introduced to the Scientific Method.

• First, you must define the problem . What is its cause? What are the signs there's a problem at all?
• Next, you identify various options for solutions. What are some good ideas to solve this?
• Then, evaluate your options and choose from among them. What is the best option to solve the problem? What's the easiest option? How should you prioritize?
• Finally, implement the chosen solution . Does it solve the problem? Is there another option you need to try?

When applying problem-solving techniques, you will be using a variation of these steps as your foundation.

Takeaway: Before you can solve a problem, seek to understand it fully.

Creative problem-solving techniques

Time to get creative! You might think this will just be a list of out-of-the-box ways to brainstorm ideas. Not exactly.

Creative problem solving (CPS) is actually a formal process formulated by Sidney Parnes and Alex Faickney Osborn , who is thought of as the father of traditional brainstorming (and the "O" in famous advertising agency BBDO).

Their creative problem solving process emphasizes several things, namely:

• Separate ideation from evaluation . When you brainstorm creative ideas, have a separate time for writing it all down. Focus on generating lots of ideas. Don't prioritize or evaluate them until everything is captured.
• Judging will shut it down . Nothing stops the flow of creative ideas faster than judging them on the spot. Wait until the brainstorming is over before you evaluate.
• Restate problems as questions . It's easier to entice a group into thinking of creative ideas when challenges are stated as open-ended questions.
• Use "Yes and" to expand ideas . Here's one of the basic tenets of improv comedy. It's way too easy to shut down and negate ideas by using the word "but" (i.e. "But I think this is better..."). Avoid this at all costs. Instead, expand on what was previously introduced by saying "Yes, and..." to keep ideas flowing and evolving.

Takeaway: When brainstorming solutions, generate ideas first by using questions and building off of existing ideas. Do all evaluating and judging later.

Problem-solving tips from psychology

If you take a look at the history of problem-solving techniques in psychology, you'll come across a wide spectrum of interesting ideas that could be helpful.

Take it from experience

In 1911, the American psychologist Edward Thorndike observed cats figuring out how to escape from the cage he placed them in. From this, Thorndike developed his law of effect , which states: If you succeed via trial-and-error, you're more likely to use those same actions and ideas that led to your previous success when you face the problem again.

Takeaway: Your past experience can inform and shed light on the problem you face now. Recall. Explore.

Barriers to reproductive thinking

The Gestalt psychologists  built on Thorndike's ideas when they proposed that problem-solving can happen via reproductive thinking — which is not about sex, but rather solving a problem by using past experience and reproducing that experience to solve the current problem.

What's interesting about Gestalt psychology is how they view barriers to problem-solving. Here are two such barriers:

• Are you entrenched? Look up mental set or entrenchment . This is when you're fixated on a solution that used to work well in the past but has no bearing to your current problem. Are you so entrenched with a method or idea that you use it even when it doesn't work? As Queen Elsa sang, "Let it go!" 
• Are you thinking of alternative uses? There is a cognitive bias called functional fixedness which could thwart any of your critical thinking techniques by having you only see an object's conventional function. For example, say you need to cut a piece of paper in half but only have a ruler. Functional fixedness would lead you to think the ruler is only good for measuring things. (You could also use the ruler to crease the paper, making it easier to tear it in half.)

Takeaway: Think outside of the box! And by box, we mean outside of the past experience you're holding on to, or outside any preconceived ideas on how a tool is conventionally used.

More problem-solving tools

Hurson's productive thinking model.

In his book "Think Better," author and creativity guru Tim Hurson proposed a six-step model for solving problems creatively. The steps in his Productive Thinking Model are:

• Ask, "What is going on?" Define the problem and its impact on your company, then clarify your vision for the future.
• Ask, "What is success?" Define what the solution must do, what resources it needs, its scope, and the values it must uphold.
• Ask, "What is the question?" Generate a long list of questions that, when answered, will solve the problem.
• Generate answers . Answer the questions from step three.
• Forge the solution . Evaluate the ideas with potential based on the criteria from step two. Pick a solution.
• Align resources . Identify people and resources to execute the solution.

Use a fishbone diagram to see cause and effect

The most important part of defining the problem is looking at the possible root cause. You'll need to ask yourself questions like: Where and when is it happening? How is it occurring? With whom is it happening? Why is it happening?

You can get to the root cause with a fishbone diagram (also known as an Ishikawa diagram or a cause and effect diagram).

Basically, you put the effect on the right side as the problem statement. Then you list all possible causes on the left, grouped into larger cause categories. The resulting shape resembles a fish skeleton. Which is a perfect way to say, "This problem smells fishy."

Use analogies to get to a solution

Analogical thinking uses information from one area to help with a problem in a different area. In short, solving a different problem can lead you to find a solution to the actual problem. Watch out though! Analogies are difficult for beginners and take some getting used to.

An example: In the "radiation problem," a doctor has a patient with a tumor that cannot be operated on. The doctor can use rays to destroy the tumor but it also destroys healthy tissue.

Two researchers, Gick and Holyoak , noted that people solved the radiation problem much more easily after being asked to read a story about an invading general who must capture the fortress of a king but be careful to avoid landmines that will detonate if large forces traverse the streets. The general then sends small forces of men down different streets so the army can converge at the fortress at the same time and can capture it at full force.

Ask "12 what elses"

In her book " The Architecture of All Abundance ," author Lenedra J. Carroll (aka the mother of pop star Jewel) talks about a question-and-answer technique for getting out of a problem.

When faced with a problem, ask yourself a question about it and brainstorm 12 answers ("12 what elses") to that problem. Then you can go further by taking one answer, turning it into a question and generating 12 more "what elses." Repeat until the solution is golden brown, fully baked, and ready to take out of the oven.

Start using these techniques today

Hopefully you find these different techniques useful and they get your imagination rolling with ideas on how to solve different problems.

And if that's the case, then you have four different takeaways to use the next time a problem gets you tangled up:

• Don't start by trying to solve the problem. First, aim to understand the root of the problem.
• Use questions to generate ideas for solving the problem.
• Look to previous problems to find the answers to new ones.
• Clear your preconceived ideas and past experiences before attempting to tackle the problem.

How to solve problems with Wrike

Empower your team to be even more productive with Wrike's project management and collaboration tools. With documents, revisions, and project -related communication all in one place, employees can use Wrike as a single source of truth for all project information.

Get 360-degree visibility of all your work and identify problems before they occur — see schedule or resource conflicts on Gantt charts, easily view progress with custom statuses, and move work along with automated approvals.

Want to streamline your processes and ease future problem-solving? Get started with a free two-week trial of Wrike today.

What are your favorite problem-solving techniques?

Do you have a problem-solving technique that has worked wonders for your organization? Hit the comments below and share your wisdom!

Lionel Valdellon

Lionel is a former Content Marketing Manager of Wrike. He is also a blogger since 1997, a productivity enthusiast, a project management newbie, a musician and producer of electronic downtempo music, a father of three, and a husband of one.

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The Osborn-Parnes creative problem solving procedure

Elaboration , 2018 , 6 Pages , Grade: 4.0

Autor:in: Eugene Ravenell (Author)

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Rivalry, technological growth, lessening yields from current methods, and a change to creating prosperity through information require a new group that is innovative. Innovation is creativity that enhances worth. This paper offers a short-term indication of the Osborn-Parnes creative problem solving procedure, the eldest and most used in the creativity process.

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The Osborn-Parnes creative problem solving procedure Paperback

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Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Model

Difficulty:                               Time: 

What is Creative Problem Solving?

If you were ‘Google’-ing around for creative problem solving, you may find many which lead back to Alex Osborn, and Sid Parnes a little more than a half-century ago at Buffalo State. The many variations of this model give testament that what they achieved works.

Lets converge:

Creative:  any idea that has some elements of uniqueness, at least to the one that is creating the solution, and has value which is relevant.

Problem:  a challenge, opportunity, or concern.

Solving:  developing ways to resolve the problem(s) at hand.

Thus, it can be considered a process or some sort of method which is systematic to approaching some sort of problem with a unique perspective to result in an effective resolution.

What is Creative Problem Solving used for?

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) can be used to develop a variety of new solutions whether its for products, services, designs or systems. Really, for anything. Use your creativity and imagination!

If at work, or actually no matter where you are or whom you’re with if you run into a problem that needs solving, you can go ahead and use this method. It can be used quickly in a small group or can take up to an hour for bigger groups.

The fundamental principle that Creative Problem Solving relies on is divergent and convergent brainstorming and thinking.

How do you use it in practice?

The model consists of six major steps: Objective, Fact, Problem, Idea, Solution, and Acceptance finding. Below you can see a visualization of the complete process and we will explain each step and provide a checklist of questions (prepared by Parnes in 1981) to improve your thinking. These are just provided as examples, they most likely will not fit the problem you are trying to solve, but use them as you wish.

Objective Finding: Here you must identify the situation or the problem. What may be the goal, or challenge which you want to work on?

• What would would you like to get out of life?
• What are your goals, as yet unfilled?
• What would you like to accomplish, to achieve?
• What would you like to have?
• What would you like to do?
• What would you like to do better?
• What would you like to happen?
• In what ways are you inefficient?
• What would would you like to organise in a better way?
• What ideas would you like to get going?
• What relationship would you like to improve?
• What would you like to get others to do?
• What takes too long?
• What is wasted?
• What barriers or bottlenecks exist?
• What wdo you wish you had more time for?
• What do you wish you had more money for?
• What makes you angry, tense or anxious?
• What do you complain about?

Fact Finding: Here you should focus on all relevant facts which may affect the outcome. The best rule of thumb is to use Who, What, When, Where, Why and how questions.

• Who is or should be involved?
• What is or is not happening?
• When does this or should this happen?
• Where does or doesnt this occur?
• Why does it or doesnt it happen?
• How does it or doesn’t it occur?

Problem Finding: Here you should clarify as best as possible what the problem is, try to frame it clearly. The one thing to remember is that the way you frame the problem, the way you define it will determine the nature of solutions in the end. Many recommend to begin each statement with the IWWMW, In what ways might we…

• What is the real problem?
• What is the main objective?
• What do you really want to accomplish?
• Why do I want to do this?

Idea Finding: This is where you will engage in brainstorming for as many potential solutions as possible. Use as many idea-generation methods you want, ideas should be proposed no matter how crazy they seem. Sometimes, the ideas that seem the craziest will be the most innovative, or help in generating more unique ideas later.

Solution Finding:  Now converge on the ideas that you have just generated. You can follow the following steps:

First: create and agree on criteria to evaluate the list:

• Will it work?
• Is it legal?
• Is it possible, resource wise?
• Are the costs reasonable?
• Will it be accepted publicly?
• Will it be accepted by the higher-level administration?

Second: evaluate the list of ideas you created

Third:  select up to three of the best ideas

Acceptance Finding: This is where you go back to your selected ideas, and refine them. Create an action plan for them with steps and a timetable of implementation.

Tips and Tricks (What to do and don’t do)

Divergent Thinking Guidelines

• Defer Judgment
• Strive for quantity
• Seek wild and unusual
• Build on other ideas

Convergent Thinking Guidelines

• Be affirmative
• Be deliberate
• Check the objectives
• Improve ideas
• Consider novelty

Don’t limit yourself, be creative. Get excited, your blood running. Its important when brainstorming through some of the steps to just blurt out the first things that come to mind.

Example at a real use case

Below we have provided an example how you could use Porters Five Forces to develop potential strategic directions to focus on.

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Stakeholder engagement, 6 mergers & acquisitions tactics, stakeholder identification, swot analysis (simple), michael porter’s generic strategies, leave a reply cancel reply.

Project phase

Morphological charts.

Recombine alternative components of a product in a visual representation

The execution is controlled by a moderator. All possible occurrences of the previously determined parameters are written to the right. The result is a matrix in which every combination of expressions of all characteristics is a theoretically possible solution. Thereafter, one characteristic of each feature is selected from each row, resulting in a combination of occurrences. This can be done in two ways: systematically, thereby limiting the number of features and characteristics. Intuitively, one characteristic is selected from each line and the resulting line is then viewed holistically as an alternative solution. This selection process is performed several times. Ideas are then developed with the resulting combinations of expressions.

• Generate solution approaches by combining different solution options for individual functions of a product or service.

For a specific question, the determining parameters are defined and written among each other. The parameters must be independent of each other and implementable in terms of the task.

• Divide the product into its functional components.
• Design independent solutions for the components.
• Form variants by combination.

For complex problems it is advisable to work in a group.

Anything to improve with the method description? Just send an e-mail with your suggestion. Thank you!

• Executable alone and in a team
• Treatment of very complex problems possible
• Collecting a lot of information in condensed form
• Flexible adaptation to different problems
• Clear and complete representation of the problem area
• Profound knowledge of the problem area is required
• Determining the right parameters is both difficult and critical to success
• Choosing the best solutions, from the almost unmanageable number of possible solutions, especially in complex problems, is difficult
• Brainstorming
• Competitive Product Survey
• Osborn Method
• Morphological Charts (MAPS 2.0)

The Design Method Finder is a UX and PM method data base with quick access to a lot of interesting and potentially helpful methods.

Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process

May 27, 2012

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Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. Mess-finding Fact-finding Problem-finding Idea-Finding Solution-finding Acceptance-finding Follow-up (my addition). Morale. Defects. Turnover. Mess-Finding. Mess-Finding.

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Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process • Mess-finding • Fact-finding • Problem-finding • Idea-Finding • Solution-finding • Acceptance-finding • Follow-up (my addition) MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Morale Defects Turnover Mess-Finding MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Mess-Finding A mess is a system of problems whose interactions are complicated and not clearly understood. Taken as a system, problems do not exist in isolation; each affects the fate of the mess of which they are a part. Evans, 1990 MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Mess-Finding Reactive Approach: Observing unexpected change in a metric (e.g. drop in sales, increase in rework). Proactive Approach: Managers seek messes—never stop looking for ways to improve the business. Evans, 1990 MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Mess-Finding A critical aspect of mess-finding is identifying a measure of effectiveness (MOE). MOEs are used to find out how well an existing system works and what it is worth. Change in an MOE can show that a mess exists. Example: percentage of on-time deliveries. Evans, 1990 MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Mess-Finding Tools Control Charts Indication of possible mess MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Another Mess-Finding Tool Gap Analysis What SHOULD be What ACTUALLY is Gap MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Fact-Finding Measures of Effectiveness Organization’s Goals Basic Issues Existing Models Obstacles MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Fact-Finding The purpose of fact-finding is to gather as much information as possible to increase understanding about the mess. Fact-finding helps avoid premature evaluation of the specific problems entwined in the mess. Focus is on mess – not solutions at this stage. Evans, 1990 MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Fact-Finding VanGundy’s Questions for Diagnosing a Mess • What do you know about the situation? • What would be better if you resolved this situation? What would • be worse? • 3. What is the major obstacle facing you in dealing with this situation? • 4. What parts of the situation are related? • 5. When is the situation likely to get worse? Get better? MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Fact-Finding Kepner & Tregoe’s Questions for Diagnosing a Mess • What is the deviation (versus what it is not)? • When did the deviation occur (versus when it did not occur)? • Where did the deviation occur (versus where it did not occur)? • To what extent did the deviation occur (versus to what extent it • did not occur? • Who is associated with the deviation (versus who is not associated • with it)? MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Split Wrong Color Too Long Fact-FindingSome Helpful Tools • Flow Charts • Check Sheets MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Problem-Finding Mess Problem MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Problem-Finding The development of a problem statement for the real problem. Encompasses: • Conditions • Symptoms • Causes • Triggering events MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Problem-Finding Types of errors: • Type I: Solving a problem that doesn’t exist. • Type II: Failing to recognize that a problem exists and therefore not solving it. • Type III: Solving the wrong problem. MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Problem-Finding Example of Type III error: Problem identification: Nurses do not smile at patients. Real problem: Nurses have wrong attitudes about patients. MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Problem-FindingSome Helpful Tools • Pareto Charts • Devil’s Advocacy • Five “Whys?” • Root Cause Analysis MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Idea-Finding MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Idea-Finding Purpose: To generate alternative ideas for solutions to the problem. The more ideas the better. Creativity is important. MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Idea-FindingSome Helpful Tools • Brainstorming • Cause-and-Effect Diagrams MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Idea-FindingMore Helpful Tools • “What if?” questions • Change the wording of the problem statement. • Representing the problem in a different form. MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Solution-Finding Acceptance Practicality Cost Performance Time ROI NPV MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Solution-Finding Purpose: To select the best solution from the alternatives identified in the idea-finding stage. Criteria for “best.” MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Acceptance-Finding Policies “That will never work here” “We’ve always done it this way” Trust Obstacles Resources Power Risk Plan MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Acceptance-Finding Purpose: To develop a plan of action to implement the solution. The solution must be sold to the client. MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

Acceptance-FindingSome Helpful Tools • PERT Charts • Gantt Charts MGT 561 Creative Problem Solving

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Why should i use it, how to use it, won’t.

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