Developed by Edward de Bono (The Use of Lateral Thinking, 1967).
Uses set provocations (a random word, a deliberate impossibility, a negated assumption, a dropped concept, or a reversed goal) to shift thinking off its usual track.
When to reach for it
When further analysis keeps producing the same answer and the options needed are more than variations on the obvious.
How it runs
- State the problem and the goal.
- Force a link between the problem and a random word.
- State a deliberate impossibility and follow where it leads.
- List hidden assumptions and negate each one.
- Reverse the goal to expose what drives the current result.
- Collect options first; judge them in a separate pass.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- The Use of Lateral Thinking, 1967
- Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step, 1970
- Po: Beyond Yes and No, 1972