[HN Gopher] Creative Problem Solving with a Deck of Cards
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       Creative Problem Solving with a Deck of Cards
        
       Author : chuckblake
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2021-03-19 14:05 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (agencydocs.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (agencydocs.co)
        
       | genjipress wrote:
       | I have the app version of the Oblique Strategies deck, but at
       | some point I mean to pick up the real thing.
        
         | chuckblake wrote:
         | I am in the same boat. I would love to get my hands on one of
         | the original decks one day. That app is very good and is a nice
         | substitution.
        
           | admiral33 wrote:
           | Also the twitter account [0]
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/obliquebot?lang=en
        
         | uberdru wrote:
         | Yep, shout out to Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.
        
       | puddingnomeat wrote:
       | Previously
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24465207
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14917458
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9017960
       | 
       | One for programmers
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13305156
        
       | jph wrote:
       | Oblique Strategies: ideas for creative lateral thinking (GitHub
       | repo)
       | 
       | https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/oblique_strategies
        
       | mattmcdonnell wrote:
       | This reminds me of the I Ching (of Man In The High Castle fame,
       | plus y'know, 3000 years of history) approach to decisions, where
       | you ask a question and then receive a random hexagram with a
       | collection of general wisdom. It stimulates thinking around the
       | subject, surprisingly effectively.
       | 
       | Both that and the card deck have a lack of causal connection that
       | works in favour of creativity.
       | 
       | Brian Eno's Visual Music, which I think shows the problem solving
       | card deck, amongst many other artistic experiments, is also
       | supposed to be good.
        
         | chuckblake wrote:
         | I recall reading about some other musicians that used I Ching -
         | I think John Cage was one of them.
        
           | novosel wrote:
           | Leonard Cohen was also using it at a time.
           | 
           | (as seen in Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen)
        
             | mattmcdonnell wrote:
             | Philip Dick was supposed to have used it to guide his
             | writing and i'd imagine other creatives have also
        
         | richard_todd wrote:
         | Any divination strategy with a rich semantic palette will work
         | like this (tarot is my personal favorite), and besides that
         | it's fun.
         | 
         | There was also a guy that derived a set of problem-solving
         | principles based on a study of patents (TRIZ), where you try to
         | apply innovation principles, such as "does it help if you can
         | you make one thing do the work of two things?" And if you think
         | abstractly enough it's kind of the same oblique process, just
         | starting from a more empirical basis. I wish more people tried
         | it!
        
           | mattmcdonnell wrote:
           | Sounds interesting, it looks practical but perhaps less
           | immediate than the card/hexagram based solution, which might
           | be limiting its uptake (not necessarily fairly). Do you use
           | it regularly?
        
             | richard_todd wrote:
             | I don't use the triz stuff often but sometimes if a design
             | issue is vexing I will look through the 40 principles (and
             | software-engineering variants of them) for inspiration.
             | Mostly I apply cards to everyday issues for fun and for the
             | immediacy you mentioned. It only takes a minute and
             | sometimes I free-associate my way into an interesting idea.
        
       | cseleborg wrote:
       | Is there something similar for business and entrepreneurship?
        
         | bluetwo wrote:
         | Yes, more on point for creative business application is Roger
         | Von Oech's Whack Pack series of card decks. Get them at Amazon
         | or wherever.
        
         | rolha-capoeira wrote:
         | Do you consider your endeavors to be non-creative?
         | 
         | I'm not being difficult--I understand what you're asking for.
         | But perhaps instead of a more-specific deck of cards, a more
         | generalized POV can help.
        
       | jph wrote:
       | I love oblique strategies. For programmers and team leads,
       | there's a similar set called "The Primes" that works wonders with
       | my technical teams, because it has the brainstorming ideas plus
       | effective guidance: https://theprimes.com/book
        
         | chuckblake wrote:
         | cool, I'll check out "The Primes" book.
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-19 23:02 UTC)