When I started writing for this blog one of my goals was to show that SIT principles are universal and can actually be found everywhere - in brilliant solutions to problems of all kinds, in stories, movies, scientific theories and in…
… jokes.
Humor and creativity go hand in hand, so it stands to reason that we’ll find SIT principles in jokes (the good ones, at least).
Many people believe that analyzing jokes actually kills them, so if you’re one of those, I’m about to kill one for you…
I’d like to thank Don Young for sending in this story a few years back.
So here it is:
A wealthy man decided to go on a safari in Africa. He takes his faithful pet dog along for company. One day the dog starts chasing butterflies, and before long he discovers that he’s lost. So, wandering about he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having lunch.
Continue reading ‘Killing a joke softly with SIT (with apologies to Shirley Bassey)’
Posted in Problem Solving categories |
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I decided it was high time I got on the LinkedIn boat. I had a vague memory of opening an account, once upon a time. (Alright, I’ll admit it. Maybe I was trying to spy on someone. But we all do that. Isn’t that the point?) So, just to be sure, I went on to the website and searched for myself. I did not appear. Not terribly surprising news so far. Fresh out of maternity leave, I’m well aware of my memory not being as sharp as it once was.
No worries though. I filled out the form, clicked “join now”, and waited to become one of the 60 million professionals. LinkedIn was quick to inform me in bold writing “Unable to add robyn@sitsite.com. Email address is associated with another LinkedIn account.” Voila! I exist!
While it’s quite possible that when searching for myself I misspelled my own name, I chose to ignore this option and instead, found it humorous that there were parallel worlds in which one of them I existed, while in the other I did not. It got me thinking - why should LinkedIn do this? What’s in it for them?
The first thing that came to mind was “Limit Rather than Delete”, a possible spinoff of the SIT principle “Limit Rather than Dilute” in which we implement ideas in a limited version rather than diluting them due to constraints. But more on that another time.
Continue reading ‘To be or not to be?’
Posted in Ideation and
Insights categories |
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It’s a sad but true fact that battles and wars stretch man’s creativity to the limit.
The Nazi steel industry needed about 8 tons of water to produce one ton of steel.
Most of the water was taken from three artificial lakes that were created by massive dams. The allies knew that by demolishing these dams they could create a bottleneck in the Nazis’ war machine.
But the dams were massive structures (one was 40 meters wide at the base, 8 at the top, and 50 meters high). A 30-ton bomb would be needed to create significant damage to the dams.
Unless…
Continue reading ‘Creative thinking in times of war: a part of Military Basic Training?!’
Posted in Creativity and
Problem Solving categories |
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What do you get when you mix systematic inventive thinking, a funky digital 
interface and a little party fun? You get the PIG - Party Idea Generator - SIT’s first ever iPhone app. Eight months in the making, PIG is the “baby” of SIT’s Futures, the team responsible for extending SIT’s know-how into exciting new areas, in collaboration with developer Vevent. 
The PIG developed from the idea of finding a way to use SIT’s thinking methodology to apply innovation to everyday tasks. This new application helps users unleash their imagination and generate original ideas for their next party.
Using a series of fun triggers based on the Subtraction and Multiplication tools, PIG users can “invent” with everyday party items (e.g. Guests, Drinks, Music), transforming them into wild and wacky themes and activities for their party.
Continue reading ‘“99c? I’m investing in a million” - Marren Buffet, on SIT’s new iPhone app’
Posted in Creativity and
Ideation categories |
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If we try to list the barriers to innovation, cognitive fixednesses will be very close to the top of the list. One of our main challenges as facilitators is to help our clients break their fixednesses as part of the attempt to promote innovation. One interesting aspect of these fixednesses, and particularly structural fixedness, is their relationship with language. 
Let’s consider the word “order” for example. WordNet defines order as “logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements” and “a condition of regular or proper arrangement”. These definitions, coupled with another meaning of the word – “a command given by a superior that must be obeyed” – can help us understand the power of structural fixedness. It highlights our tendency to embrace order and structure as positive attributes that are not only valuable, but also natural.
Continue reading ‘Innovation is in order?’
Posted in Fixednesses and
Insights categories |
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In the last decade, it seems that if there is any agreement about anything, it is that we need to save the planet, and take responsibility for the environment and our influence on it. Never before has the color “green” received such significance and value.
Considering the great resources governments and companies dedicate to the purpose of sustainable innovation, we should ask ourselves – how should we manage our innovation? Can we go “too far”?
Let’s try and answer this question, using one of Boeing’s latest and most innovative projects as a case study: the new 787 Dreamliner.
Continue reading ‘Sustainable innovation. How far should we go?’
Posted in Greenovation and
Insights categories |
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In our previous post we wrote about how talking about innovation is not enough: you also have to act on it. In this post we will give you our insights on how to translate the innovation and creativity talk into real action.
If you are the kind of leader with the insight that innovation is important, and you also do not accept that relying on chance or unpredictable events are valid leadership qualities; if you are the proactive, hard worker who wants to create innovation, what can you do? 
Here’s a suggestion for a good start:
* Acquire knowledge – Learn about how you can implement effective innovation through systematic and focused efforts. There are many good training programs and tons of literature for this. Start with a simple test, by asking your associates how they define innovation. If you can agree on this, you have a base to build on. Then move on to gaining more knowledge about principles and models for systematic innovation.
Continue reading ‘Walk the Talk!’
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As part of what may be called our daily “routine” we find ourselves leading innovation processes with various companies all over the world - from Cincinnati to Melbourne, from Tokyo to Stockholm, and from La Pas to Moscow.
These innovation processes are usually very intense, and leave little time for anything other than work. But those of us who like photography take advantage of those few free moments for exercising our hobby. In our SITE SEEING posts we want to share with you some of the photographs we took, and some of the stories behind them.
The photos in this album have been taken in Leeds, UK during a weeklong New Product Development process with Unilever. The high profile of the brand, coupled with other unique aspects of the process, made it a very interesting project. We were lucky to work with a group of talented and friendly people, that were kind enough to show us around Leeds despite the intensity of the project.
As we reached the final phases of the project we realized that although the participants were very passionate about some of the ideas, there was no agreement around which ideas we should be passionate about… So, before the formal rating of the ideas, we decided to use a tool called “Articulating the WOW”.
Continue reading ‘SITE SEEING no. 2 | NPD @ Leeds, UK’
Posted in Site Seeing categories |
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