Boost Your Creativity: A Guide for Scientists and Engineers

Description

Creativity is a fundamental skill: it is rarely taught, and there are few books that support any serious, intellectually rigorous, teaching. It is also much in demand: creativity and problem-solving rank very highly in the skills sought by employers. Dennis Sherwood is an innovation consultant (and ex-academic) with extensive experience of teaching students and researchers how to be more creative. He has been running EPSRC creativity workshops at universities since 2010, primarily in physics departments at universities including Bristol, Glasgow and Exeter, and this book will be based on these proven methods of enriching creativity in the scientific research community. Dennis has written five creativity books in the past (most recently for Wiley in 2000) and this book will update his thinking for a modern age. The book will be academically rigorous and underpinned by theory, with a focus on practical applications. Most examples will come from the sciences and the book will be written for this audience, although the overall approach will be interdisciplinary and relevant to other subjects too. In addition, the ebook will be highly interactive, making full use of available multimedia. PRELIMS.pdf Preface Acknowledgements Author biography Dennis Sherwood Foreword Introduction CH000.pdf Outline placeholder The right answer Kepler’s BIG IDEA The egg-shaped orbit 0.00429 and 5° 18′ What happened next Kepler re-visited Observation Curiosity Permission Luck Bisociation Knowledge Hard work Tenacity Failure Learning from mistakes Risk Don’t fall in love with your own ideas No problem to solve References CH001.pdf Chapter 1 What, precisely, is creativity? 1.1 Some dictionary definitions 1.2 My ‘sound-bite’ definition – just five words 1.3 Ideas as outcomes, ideas as questions 1.4 Invention and discovery 1.5 What’s missing from the sound-bite? 1.6 What is ‘new’? 1.7 It’s difference that’s important, not novelty… 1.8 …and the best way to discover differences is to be observant 1.9 Value References CH002.pdf Chapter 2 Creativity in context 2.1 Creativity alone is not enough 2.2 A richer picture 2.3 Process 1 – Creativity 2.4 Process 2 – Evaluation 2.5 Processes 3 and 4 – Development and Implementation 2.6 The Target Diagram and skills References CH003.pdf Chapter 3 The six domains of creativity 3.1 Creativity is not just about ‘the better mousetrap’ 3.2 Content 3.3 Process 3.4 Strategy 3.5 Structures 3.6 Relationships 3.7 You! 3.8 The importance of the organisational culture CH004.pdf Chapter 4 Koestler’s Law 4.1 Arthur Koestler’s definition of creativity 4.2 The ‘Eureka moment’ myth 4.3 ‘But I’m not a creative person’ 4.4 Creativity is all about patterns 4.5 ‘Bisociation’ and ‘thinking aside’ 4.6 The more familiar the parts, the more striking the new whole 4.7 What Koestler’s Law does, and doesn’t, do 4.8 The Koestler Challenge References CH005.pdf Chapter 5 Some more examples of Koestler’s Law 5.1 Literature 5.2 Art 5.3 Chemistry 5.4 How chemistry made impressionist art happen… 5.5 …and how physics has facilitated contemporary art 5.6 History, politics, philosophy, and economics 5.7 Newton’s Laws of Motion and Gravitation 5.8 A brief digression – coincidence, co-invention and the zeitgeist 5.9 The light bulb 5.10 Casa Batlló 5.11 The DC electric motor 5.12 The impossible building 5.13 Special relativity 5.14 The structure of DNA 5.14.1 DNA and X-ray crystallography 5.14.2 Photo 51 5.14.3 Florence Bell 5.14.4 Sven Furberg 5.14.5 The diffraction pattern of a helix 5.14.6 James Watson 5.14.7 The triple helix 5.14.8 The missing Koestler’s Law fragment 5.14.9 Jerry Donohue 5.14.10 The Nobel Prize 5.14.11 A moment to reflect 5.15 DNA – a final word References CH006.pdf Chapter 6 The ‘da Vinci problem’ 6.1 Building on Koestler’s Law 6.2 The helicopter that couldn’t fly 6.3 The problem of the missing component 6.4 You might be a ‘victim’, now 6.5 Identify the missing component(s) as precisely as you can 6.6 Keep your eyes – and ears – open 6.7 Be patient 6.8 In conclusion References CH007.pdf Chapter 7 Emergence – why some patterns are better than others 7.1 Emergence 7.2 Same components, different patterns 7.3 Not too little, not too much 7.4 Patterns within patterns 7.5 Emergence is often subjective 7.6 An enriched definition of creativity References CH008.pdf Chapter 8 Knowledge, experience, learning, and unlearning 8.1 Where are the Koestler’s Law ‘components’? 8.2 Donald Hebb’s Theory of Learning 8.3 The learning trap 8.4 Unlearning 8.5 Why is unlearning so difficult? 8.5.1 Love 8.5.2 Laziness 8.5.3 Fear 8.5.4 Arrogance 8.5.5 Unlearning is indeed difficult… 8.6 Hegel, and genetics 8.7 A brief pause… References CH009.pdf Chapter 9 How to have great ideas ‘on demand’ 9.1 InnovAction! 9.2 Step 1: Define the ‘focus of attention’ 9.3 Step 2: Individually and in silence, write down everything you know about the agreed focus of attention 9.4 Step 3: Share 9.4.1 What the ‘share’ is about 9.4.2 Managing the group dynamics 9.4.3 Self-facilitate 9.4.4 One point at a time 9.4.5 Writing on the flip-chart 9.4.6 Be succinct 9.4.7 Don’t worry about structure 9.4.8 Don’t argue… 9.4.9 …but do ask questions 9.4.10 Don’t duplicate points already captured 9.4.11 Don’t start generating ideas (yet!) 9.4.12 And eventually… 9.5 Step 4: Then choose one feature, and ask ‘How might this be different?’ 9.6 Step 5: Let it be… 9.7 Step 6: …and then, when that discussion runs out of steam, choose another feature and repeat Steps 4 and 5 9.8 The nine dots puzzle revisited References CH010.pdf Chapter 10 InnovAction! in action 10.1 Ideas for games based on chess 10.2 Some things we know about chess 10.3 Ideas, ideas, ideas… 10.3.1 Self-capture 10.3.2 ‘Hobbled’ bishops 10.3.3 Taking turns 10.3.4 Square occupancy 10.3.5 The initial layout 10.3.6 Combinations 10.4 It really is as simple as that! 10.5 The central step – Step 4: ‘How might this be different?’ 10.5.1 Three key rules 10.5.2 Don’t be negative 10.5.3 Don’t lose the key questions… 10.5.4 …and keep a record of all the ideas 10.6 Different ways of being different 10.6.1 Size and scale 10.6.2 Sequence, flow and configuration 10.6.3 Function and scope 10.6.4 Roles and responsibilities 10.7 Some examples Reference CH011.pdf Chapter 11 Springboards and retro-fits 11.1 InnovAction! is not the only way to have idea ‘on demand’ 11.1.1 The ‘mountains and valleys’ metaphor 11.1.2 InnovAction! – a springboard 11.2 Some other springboards 11.2.1 Challenge assumptions 11.2.2 Decomposing and recombining 11.2.3 Edward de Bono’s ‘PO’ 11.3 Random words – a retrofit 11.4 Some other retro-fits 11.4.1 PO-2 11.4.2 Simile, metaphor and analogy 11.4.3 Other people’s shoes 11.4.4 Journeying 11.4.5 Visioning 11.4.6 Working backwards 11.5 Springboards and retrofits – which to use? References CH012.pdf Chapter 12 Creativity workshops 12.1 Observation, curiosity and permission made real 12.2 The workshop themes 12.3 Who should participate? 12.4 How workshops are structured 12.4.1 Why off-site, and why two days? 12.4.2 The workshop agenda 12.4.3 Longer, and shorter, durations 12.5 The idea generation group briefs 12.6 Don’t impose constraints on cost and resources 12.7 Creativity, not evaluation 12.8 Quantity, quantity, quantity 12.9 After the workshop 12.9.1 The workshop report 12.9.2 People keep thinking 12.9.3 The next step – wise evaluation References CH013.pdf Chapter 13 Creativity in science and engineering 13.1 What this chapter is about 13.2 Detecting gravitational waves Why did it take so long? Professor Hough picks up the story… Professor Rowan continues (referring to Sir James Hough as Jim!): Jim Hough explains further: Back to Sheila Rowan: 13.3 Building Nemo So after that phone call, what happened? What changed? 13.4 Synthetic synapses 13.5 Biomimetic adhesives 13.6 The magic colouring sheet 13.7 Quantum entanglement, single-pixel cameras, and novel endoscopes 13.8 Keeping the UK’s railways safe 13.9 The ‘Medusa Effect’ 13.10 Mixing things up: ellipsometry and strong coupling 13.11 Reducing noise 13.12 How nanopatterns made it from a semiconductor facility to an artist’s print room 13.13 Newton’s Rings and flat screens 13.14 Blue Plan-it® and Water ARC® How might this be different? References CH014.pdf Chapter 14 Evaluation in context 14.1 Why wise evaluation is important 14.2 A very bad idea indeed 14.3 Not all ideas are good ones… 14.4 …and even good ideas can be fiercely opposed 14.5 How do you, and your organisation, evaluate ideas now? 14.5.1 Evaluating ideas wisely is really important 14.5.2 Some frequently-used methods 14.5.3 The boss knows best 14.5.4 (Apparently) no process 14.5.5 ‘Trial by ordeal’ 14.5.6 Likes and dislikes 14.5.7 ‘Pros’ and ‘cons’ 14.5.8 Evaluation by numbers References CH015.pdf Chapter 15 How to evaluate ideas wisely 15.1 Features of a wise evaluation process 15.1.1 What does a well-designed evaluation process look like? 15.1.2 Consistency 15.1.3 Fairness 15.1.4 Balance 15.1.5 Completeness 15.1.6 Speed 15.1.7 Pragmatism 15.1.8 Transparency 15.1.9 Openness 15.1.10 How does your organisation’s evaluation process rate? 15.2 An ideal process for wise evaluation 15.2.1 Overview 15.2.2 Step 1: Imagine the future 15.2.3 Step 2: What are the consequences? 15.2.4 Step 3: The journey 15.2.5 Step 4: How might all the problems be solved? 15.2.6 Step 5: The numbers 15.2.7 Step 6: The decision 15.3 The half-way house 15.4 Wise evaluation, Edward de Bono’s ‘hats’, and the importance of language 15.5 ‘Evaluation Lite’ 15.6 And so to development and implementation References CH016.pdf Chapter 16 What is ‘culture’? 16.1 The Covid-19 vaccine miracle 16.2 Language 16.3 Observation, curiosity and permission revisited 16.4 The wider picture – ‘enablers’ and ‘motivators’ References CH017.pdf Chapter 17 Enablers 17.1 Budgets 17.2 Funding 17.3 Managing development and implementation 17.4 The idea archive 17.5 Physical environment 17.6 Behaviours References CH018.pdf Chapter 18 Motivators 18.1 Reward and recognition 18.2 Performance measures 18.3 Training 18.4 The role of senior management 18.5 Embedding innovation in the day-job 18.6 So, what next? References BIBLIO.pdf Outline placeholder Creativity in the sciences Creativity in general Also of interest INDEX.pdf Index