Lateral
Lateral thinking toolkit router — when you're stuck, going in circles, need fresh ideas, or standard brainstorming keeps producing predictable results, this diagnoses the symptom and applies the right technique from the toolkit (random-stimulus, provocation, inversion, concept-fan, analogy, scamper, six-hats, worst-idea). Triggers include "lateral thinking", "I'm stuck on a creative problem", "we…
Random Stimulus
Edward de Bono's Random Stimulus technique — force-fit a random unrelated object, place, or phenomenon onto a creative target to break familiar association patterns. Use for product ideation, feature naming, brand direction, copywriting, architecture and design choices when ideas from outside the problem space would help. Triggers include "random stimulus", "random word", "force-fit", "de Bono",…
Concept Fan
Edward de Bono's Concept Fan — climb from the current solution to the concept it serves by asking "what is this a way of doing?", then fan out alternative concepts and concrete implementations for each. Use when the current solution might be answering the wrong question, when all options look like variations of one idea, or to widen a decision before committing. Triggers include "concept fan", "z…
Six Hats
Parallel thinking with six enforced perspectives, based on Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats® method - examine one decision through sequential passes for facts, feelings, risks, benefits, alternatives, and synthesis, never blending them. Use when a decision is being made too fast or from one angle, when everyone agrees suspiciously quickly, when the discussion mixes emotions with data, or for "s…
Analogy
Forced Analogy / Structural Transplant — map the problem onto a structurally similar system from a distant domain (immune system, air-traffic control, restaurant kitchen, jazz ensemble) and transfer its mechanisms back. Use when a solution works but feels derivative, when the industry playbook is exhausted, or when a system in nature or another trade already solves this shape of problem. Triggers…
Provocation
Edward de Bono's Provocation (Po) technique — state something deliberately wrong or absurd about the problem, then extract useful "movement" from it instead of judging it. Use when a constraint feels unbreakable, when every design converges on the same shape, or to escape "the way it's always done". Triggers include "provocation", "po", "absurd statement", "deliberately break the rule", "the cons…
Worst Idea
Worst Possible Idea (reverse brainstorming) — deliberately design the most terrible solutions to the problem, name the mechanism that makes each one bad, then invert those mechanisms into strong features. Use when ideas all feel timid and safe, when the team is optimizing instead of imagining, or for "worst idea", "reverse brainstorming", "what would make this worse", "design the disaster", "how…
Scamper
SCAMPER (Bob Eberle) — run one existing idea, product, or process through seven systematic transformations - Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Reverse/Rearrange. Use when there is already one working idea and the need is disciplined variations of it, e.g. "give me variations", "riff on this", "scamper", "what can we substitute or combine", "remix this featur…
Inversion
Assumption Inversion — list the assumptions behind the current approach and flip each one, then ask where the flipped version could actually be true. Use when requirements encode beliefs nobody has questioned, when a design feels inevitable, or when incumbents all share one blind spot. Triggers include "invert", "flip it", "flip the assumption", "reverse the premise", "what if the opposite were t…