Information, Knowledge and Agile Creativity

Information, Knowledge and Agile Creativity will enlighten entrepreneurs, and is ideal for facilitating an organization’s ability to react and adapt to its environment.

Creativity is a system that engenders innovation. While integral at the conception stage, it is also important before and after this phase. This book offers a collection of tools, as well as a methodology, to estimate the agility of an organization to generate and transform ideas into solutions that are not only new but also adapted to their users.

To this end, this book presents strategic foresight and problem comprehension methods; tools of sharing and visual information formatting; animation tips for creativity workshops; techniques for generating ideas; and tools for visualizing and mapping ideas, information, and knowledge.

Stéphane Goria is Associate Professor at the University of Lorraine, France. He is member of the Mediation research center (Centre de recherche sur les médiations, Crem) and an expert in creative competitive intelligence.

Pierre Humbert is Associate Professor at Université de Lorraine, Information and Communication Sciences Department director and member of the Crem.

Benoît Roussel is Associate Professor, member of PErSEUs laboratory at Université de Lorraine. He is an expert in interdisciplinary innovation process for product/service and organization.

Introduction ix

Chapter 1. Creativity for Innovation 1

1.1. Definitions of creativity 2

1.2. The different forms of innovation 6

1.2.1. Incremental innovation and radical innovation 7

1.2.2. Innovation from the bottom up 8

1.2.3. Disruptive innovation from the top down 11

1.2.4. Innovation by market extension 13

1.2.5. Some other forms of innovation 17

1.3. The metaphor of the fighter plane to link creativity and innovation 20

1.3.1. The OODA loop 20

1.3.2. The space for imagined aerial maneuvers 23

1.4. Conclusion 27

Chapter 2. Recognizing and Questioning the Problem 29

2.1. Understanding and reformulating a problem 29

2.1.1. A series of very simple questions 30

2.1.2. Questioning problems with multiple interpretations 33

2.1.3. The creation of concepts related to the problem or situation 36

2.2. The ideal final result and resources 37

2.2.1. The ideal final result 37

2.2.2. Start by considering a closed world 43

2.2.3. The balance of available resources 45

2.3. The levels of understanding and frameworks of a problem 46

2.3.1. The levels of scale of an understanding 47

2.3.2. Frameworks characterizing the treatment of a problem 48

2.3.3. The division of frames and related issues 49

2.3.4. The benefit of this division and these questions 52

2.4. Conclusion 53

Chapter 3. Monitoring and the Intelligence Cycle 57

3.1. Monitoring and its forms 57

3.1.1. The main steps in a monitoring process 58

3.1.2. Monitoring according to their location, users and objectives 59

3.1.3. Digital, punctual and continuous monitoring 60

3.1.4. The practice of monitoring expressed in the form of metaphors 62

3.2. Information search and search engines 64

3.2.1. Keywords and strings 65

3.2.2. Relevant search engine responses 66

3.2.3. Choosing and searching on search engines 69

3.3. Keywords and search engine searches 71

3.3.1. Keyword categories 73

3.3.2. The risks inherent in the use of keywords 75

3.3.3. Keywords and expressions in texts 76

3.4. Warning systems 79

3.4.1. Web alert tools 79

3.4.2. Content aggregation platforms 80

3.4.3. Human resources for collective monitoring 81

3.5. The organization of information collection 82

3.5.1. The monitoring plan 82

3.5.2. Human sources 87

3.5.3. Field observations and trade show visits 88

3.5.4. Information reports 89

3.5.5. The comparative study or benchmarking 92

3.6. The processing, formatting and dissemination of information 95

Chapter 4. Visual Communication and Idea Management 99

4.1. Communication at the heart of the innovation process 100

4.2. Knowledge mediation and creativity: the intermediary object, the boundary object 105

4.3. The role of visual artifacts in the management of ideas 108

4.4. The contributions and limitations of visual communication tools for idea management 109

4.4.1. Associative representations 110

4.4.2. Territorial representations 116

4.4.3. Event and causal representations 119

4.4.4. Experiential representations 125

4.5. Conclusion 127

Chapter 5. Animating Teams to Stimulate Collective Creativity 129

5.1. (Collective) creativity: a sought-after skill? 131

5.2. The “classic” structuring of a collective creativity session 133

5.2.1. Step 1 of preparing the creativity session 133

5.2.2. Step 2 of the creativity session 134

5.2.3. Step 3 of analyzing and reporting all the results of the creativity session 135

5.3. The important elements of a collective creativity session 135

5.3.1. The attitudes and state of mind for the facilitator to adopt, and for the group of participants to adopt 136

5.3.2. Move from analytical to exploratory reasoning 139

5.3.3. The three levels of divergence–convergence 141

5.4. The choice of creative tools 147

5.4.1. The five implementation logics 147

5.4.2. The notion of “father tools” 148

5.5. Processing the results of a collective creativity session 150

5.6. The different forms of production. 151

5.6.1. The embryo of an idea 151

5.6.2. The idea sheet 152

5.6.3. The concept and the percept 155

5.7. The selection of ideas 157

5.8. Conclusion 161

Chapter 6. Some Techniques to Stimulate and Aid Creativity 163

6.1. Some techniques and tools such as icebreakers or challenges 164

6.1.1. The human knot/human chain 164

6.1.2. The enigmas 165

6.1.3. The marshmallow challenge 166

6.1.4. Non-musical chairs 167

6.1.5. The ball point game 168

6.1.6. Expressing yourself without speaking and using a game 170

6.1.7. The highest card tower 171

6.1.8. The curved shot 172

6.2. Some techniques using associative logic 174

6.2.1. The magic wand or the machine for exploring the future 174

6.2.2. Once upon a time – some ideas 175

6.2.3. Reasons and changes 176

6.2.4. The big mysterious object bag 177

6.2.5. Concept serious play 178

6.3. Some techniques using analog logic 180

6.3.1. The twisting of ideas or the reversal method 180

6.3.2. Biostorming 181

6.3.3. Miniature men 183

6.3.4. Lego serious play 184

6.4. Some techniques using combinatorial logic 186

6.4.1. The discovery matrix 186

6.4.2. Extensive morphological analysis 187

6.4.3. Cubification 189

6.4.4. The scaffolding of ideas 191

6.5. Some techniques using oneiric logic 195

6.5.1. The ancient method of the waking dream 195

6.5.2. Projective exploration 197

6.5.3. The village of originals 197

6.6. Some techniques using Aristotelian logic 200

6.6.1. UX maps 200

6.6.2. Segmentation 201

6.6.3. Creative aikido 202

6.6.4. Simplified axiomatic design 204

6.7. Conclusion 206

Chapter 7. System Mapping and Analysis 207

7.1. Mapping of the system’s tangible and intangible assets 207

7.1.1. Knowledge management and assets considered 207

7.1.2. From knowledge assets to ideas 209

7.1.3. Assets indirectly involved in knowledge creation 213

7.1.4. The glossary of knowledge creation system assets 216

7.1.5. Questioning and organizing assets in frameworks 219

7.2. System analysis 222

7.2.1. The development of a series of indicators 222

7.2.2. Beyond the calculation of indicators 231

Conclusion 239

Bibliography 243

Index 259

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