You can  enhance   your  creativity   through  various  techniques.

CREATIVE PROCESS Many techniques have been  developed  to enhance  or inspire creative problem solving. In fact, just as design processes have been defined,  so has  the creative process  shown  in Table  1-3.  This  creative  process  can  be thought  of as a  subset of the design process and to exist within it. The ideation  and  invention  step  can  thus be broken  down  into  these  four  substeps.

IDEA GENERATION is the  most  difficult  of these  steps.   Even  very  creative people have  difficulty   in  inventing   "on  demand." Many   techniques    have  been   suggested  to improve the yield of ideas. The  most  important  technique  is that  of deferred  judgment, which means  that your criticality  should  be temporarily  suspended.  Do not try to judge the quality of your ideas at this  stage.  That  will  be  taken  care  of  later,  in the  analysis phase. The  goal  here  is  to  obtain  as  large  a  quantity  of  potential  designs  as possible. Even superficially ridiculous suggestions should be welcomed, as they may  trigger  new insights   and  suggest  other  more  realistic   and  practical solutions.

BRAINSTORMING    is  a technique   for  which  some  claim  great  success   in generat- ing creative solutions. This technique requires a group,  preferably  6 to  15 people,  and attempts to circumvent the largest barrier to  creativity,  which  is fear  of  ridicule.  Most people,  when  in a group,  will  not  suggest  their  real  thoughts   on  a subject,  for  fear  of be-

ing  laughed   at.  Brainstorming's rules  require  that  no  one  is allowed  to make  fun  of   or criticize  anyone's  suggestions,  no matter  how ridiculous.  One participant  acts as  "scribe" and is duty bound to record all suggestions, no matter how apparently silly. When done properly, this technique can  be  fun  and  can  sometimes  result  in  a  "feeding  frenzy"  of ideas which build upon each  other.  Large  quantities  of ideas  can be generated  in a short time.   Judgment   on  their  quality  is deferred   to a later  time.

When working  alone,  other  techniques  are necessary.  Analogies  and  inversion  are often useful. Attempt to draw analogies between the problem at hand and other physical contexts. If it is a mechanical problem, convert it by analogy to a fluid or electrical one. Inversion  turns  the problem  inside  out.  For  example,   consider  what  you  want  moved to be  stationary  and  vice  versa.  Insights  often  follow.   Another   useful  aid  to  creativity is the use of synonyms. Define  the  action  verb  in the  problem  statement,  and  then  list as many  synonyms   for  that  verb  as possible.    For example: