Slice and Dice

This is a linear thinkertoy technique that explains how to get new ideas from a challenge’s attributes.

Imagine renovating a house with many rooms. Each room, however, is separate from the others: bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on. Regarded this way, they are separate attributes that together constitute a house. To change the nature of the house, you do not blow it up and start building a new and different one. It is much more productive to shift your focus from the one “house” to the many separate “rooms” and improve or change one room at a time. By changing a few rooms, you can convert a large house made up of many rooms into a mansion.

Every problem is a house with many rooms. To simulate new ideas, identify and list the various attributes of a problem and work on one attribute at a time.

Some common ways to describe attributes are descriptive, process, function, social, price and ecological.

Common descriptive attributes are: substance, structure, color, shape, texture, sound, taste, odor, space, and density.

Common process attributes are: marketing, manufacturing, selling, function, and time.

Common social attributes are: responsibilities, politics, and taboos.

Common price attributes are: cost to manufacture, wholesaler, retailer, and consumer.

Common ecological attributes are: positive or negative impact on the environment.

Consider the attributes of a common screwdriver.

  1. Round
  2. Steel shank
  3. Wooden handle
  4. Wedge-shaped end
  5. Manually operated. A twisting motion provides power.
  6. Used for tightening and loosening screws

To invent a better screwdriver, focus on each specific attribute and try to improve it. Look at each attribute or component and ask “How else can this be accomplished?” or “Why does this have to be this way?”

AB Bacho Tools of Sweden studied the screwdriver handle. They discovered that most craftspeople use both hands to turn a screwdriver even though the handle isn’t designed for it. So, they developed a screwdriver handle with space for both hands.

By separating the attribute “steel shank” from the screwdriver’s other attributes, you are able to get some distance from the other attributes and focus on it without being influenced by them. The more you are able to focus on a specific attribute, the more likely you are to think flexibly and discover alternative ideas.

Many years ago, bicycle manufacturers improved bicycle design by examining the following attributes:

  1. Frame
  2. Handlebars
  3. Pedals
  4. Brakes
  5. Tires
  6. Chain
  7. Drive sprocket

They improved each attribute of the bicycle, including the following:

  1. Lightweight frames made out of new material
  2. Racing handlebars
  3. Pedals with straps and grips
  4. Hand brakes replacing axle brakes
  5. Lightweight, solid tires replacing inflatable ones
  6. Chains with clamps to make changing them easier
  7. Sprockets that provided 10 gears

Even trivial attributes sometimes provide the clue to a solution. Everything has meaning, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Tiny improvements in a thousand places can lead to an innovation in almost any product or service. When you pay attention to attributes and improve them one by one you build a wave of ideas, drop by drop.

When you subdivide a challenge into many separate parts, the nature of the challenge does not change. However, your perception of it does. It is this expansion of consciousness that leads to new ideas.

BLUE PRINT

  1. State your challenge
  2. Analyze the challenge and list as many attributes as you can
  3. Take each attribute, one at a time, and try to think of ways to change or improve it. Ask “How else can this be accomplished?” and “Why does this have to be this way?”
  4. Strive to make your thinking both fluent and flexible