Page 13 - Microsoft Word - Thinking like a wallaby 14DEC16.doc

Monkey-thinking

Take the problem apart and look at each bit of it. Look at the little details – list them and
describe them. How important is each one? What is the most difficult thing about it?

What doesn’t really matter? Do you need to put it back together? Or would it make it

easier to deal with each little bit of the problem separately?

True story: I was driving through a safari park (a sort of drive-through zoo) some years

ago with my family. There were signs warning people to keep their windows shut and

about the risk to cars of driving through the monkey enclosure, but we decided it would
be fun. As we went in, we saw straight away the bits and pieces of other cars that the

monkeys had ripped off. Sure enough, as we slowly drove in, with our windows tight

shut, dozens of small monkeys swarmed over the car and started trying to remove the

windscreen wipers, the side-mirrors, the radio aerial, the hub-caps and anything else
that looked tempting. I’m sure if we’d stayed longer, they would have had the whole car

dismantled! I’m so pleased it was not my car!

Worm-thinking

Look at the problem from a completely different point of view. Unlike Eagle-thinking,

Imagine you can see it from below, turn it upside down, squash it, morph it, paint it

purple, or see through it. What does it look like now? Does turning the problem around

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