• Home
• PART I DREAM
  • Imagine It
  • Work on the Big Picture
  • Aim High
  • BS!
  • Brainstorm
  • Create Design
  • Tell a Story
  • Think JFK
• JUDGE
  • Get Real
  • Play Games
  • Simulate It
  • Run a Thought Experiment
  • Know Your Limits
  • Weigh Ideas
• ASK
  • Ask Dumb Questions
  • Ask Big Questions
  • Ask “What If?”
  • Ask: “Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?”
  • Ask Just One More Question.

• CHECK
  • Prove Yourself Wrong
  • Inspect for Defects
  • Have a Backup Plan
  • Do a Sanity Test
  • Check Your Arithmetic
  • Question Your Assumptions
• SIMPLIFY
  • Keep It Simple, Stupid
  • Draw a Picture
  • Make a Mock-up
  • Name the Beasts
  • Look at the Little Picture
  • Do the Math
  • Apply Occam’s Razor
• OPTIMIZE
  • Minimize the Cost
  • Minimize the Time
  • Be Mr. Spock
  • Make It Faster, Better, Cheaper(But Not All Three!)
  • Know When Bigger Is Better
  • Let Form Follow Function
  • Pick the Best People
  • Make Small Improvements
• DO
  • Learn by Doing
  • Sharpen Your Axe
  • Correct It on the Way
  • Do Something
  • Don’t Ignore Trends
  • Work on Your Average Performance
  • Look Behind You
  • Learn from Your Mistakes
• Epilogue

Unfortunately, when we talk about creativity, about generating newideas, and about solving diffi cult problems, most people becomestiff and formal. You may think that creativity is an activity left tothe erudite—the well-mannered professor, the dignifi ed inventorin a lab coat, the rocket scientist (our hero). There is a strong tendencyto become judgmental and critical, to get serious, and to notbe creative at all.This is what happens when you ask people to get creative.Think about all the boring stories that have been written about“How I spent my summer vacation.”What’s wrong with this picture? It’s that people constrainthemselves, they look for answers that seem acceptable to whomeverthey are trying to please—they try to stay safely inside thebox.They are afraid to offend, to make a mistake, to appear irreverentor nonchalant, to look silly. And thus, you just can’t be creativewhen someone tells you to be creative.But, on the other hand, everyone knows how to BS. (It’s a goodword—as Henry Fonda told us in On Golden Pond.) BS is makingstuff up, telling stories, trying to amuse, and is defi nitely irreverent.BS knows no decorum, no bound, no fear, and no respect. Weall do it. BS is fun, BS is playful, BS is creativity withoutconstraints.Do rocket scientists BS? They sure do! They love to do it andthey love to hear it. Why do they like sci-fi so much?So is that all they do—just make it up as they go along? Is thatall you need to know? Of course not—you should know better thanthat! There is a time for BS and a time for separating the goodideas from the bad. (We’ll discuss this in Part II: Judge.)You can’t get away with BSing your way through with just anyBS. It’s got to be good BS. You’ve got to be able to sniff out thewheat from the chaff.