Page 122 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

frequently 101
Used creative alterna- CREATIVE
tive generation check- PROB_LEM
list, the verbal checklist, was developed by Alex Osborn while SOLVING
he was a partner of a major U. S. advertising firm. Osborn TECHNIQUES
also originated the most frequently used group process for
generating alternatives, brainstorming, which will be de- 107
scribed in Chapter 5. These two processes were first de-
scribed to the general public in 1953. 53 Only a few of the
techniques developed since that time have proven to be as
effective as Osborn's two major contributions.

The idea behind the verbal checklist is that an existing prod-
uct or service, whether one's own or a competitor's, can be
improved if one applies a series of questions to it and pur-
sues the answers to see where they may lead. The main ques-
tions take the form of verbs such as Modify? or Combine?
These verbs indicate possible ways to improve an existing
product or service by making changes in it. In the case of
Osborn's checklist, further alternatives may be suggested by
the definitions and related statements accompanying each
of the main verbs. For example, if the item under consider-
ation is a laptop PC and you are pursuing the "minify" alter-
native, you might shrink the laptop into a "notebook" or
"palmtop" computer.