Creativity, Problem Solving and

Innovation

Confidential Course created

by Anil S. Patel Ph.D. in Seattle, USA
Supported by Anil and Asha Patel endowment fund
for creativity course for Gyan Dan to

Uka Tarsadia University

 Creator of the course & his wife as key
reviewer

Anil S. Patel, Ph.D. Asha Patel, Ph.D.

2
WARNING FOR THE ENTIRE COURSE
This class presentation is for purely educational
purpose. In order to avoid plagiarism charges to
the individual doing so and to the UTU to which
the course is donated under a MOU, this
presentation must not be copied and distributed,
published or sold in any format.
It is created and donated solely for the use by the
teachers of UTU for teaching the class on
Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovation.
 CREATIVITY, PROBLEM
SOLVING AND INNOVATION
Week #10
Confidential Course created by Anil S. Patel,
Ph.D. in Seattle, USA
 SPECIFIC DISCLOSURE FOR WEEK # 10
• Most of the text for contents of this class is from the book
“Strategies for Creative Problem Solving” Second edition by H.
Scott Fogler & Steven E. LeBlanc (ISBN 978-0-13-008279-4 pbk)and
publicly available pdf file of tool kit by Prof buddy Ratner and
videos and slides about the Stanford d School. This class
presentation is for purely educational purpose with needed
modifications and additions. In order to avoid legal charge of
violating copyright protection and also to avoid plagiarism charges
to the individual doing so and to your university, this resultant
presentation must not be copied and distributed, published or sold
in any format.
 Important for this and all classes of this
course
For maximum benefit from the
course

Required strict Time Management especially

during Individual Test and Group Test
 Session Flow
 Session Objective(s)
 Strategies for Creative problem solving
methods. Five building blocks as per
Fogler & LeBlanc.
 Stanford D school approach.
 Contents / Points

This book was created by funding from

the National Science Foundation of USA.
This class delivery demands
strict time discipline since 60
minutes must be available after
the break for the Stanford d
School.
 Creativity

Creativity and knowledge makes two

necessary arms of a pair of scissors to
creatively cut through obstacles while solving
problems.
The Five Building Blocks of the Problem Solving
technique is called a heuristic technique. Heuristic is a
Greek phrase loosely defined as an experiment
method with trial and error approach.
Problem Solving
 Five Heuristic Steps of Problem
Solving
• Define
• Generate Solutions
• Decide
• Implement
• Evaluate
Problem Solving Strategies: Why Bother?
Everyone is called upon to solve problems every day
from such mundane decisions as what to wear or
where to go for lunch, to the much more difficult
problems that are encountered in school or on the
job. Most real-world problems have many possible
solutions. The more complex the problem, the larger
the number of alternative solutions. The goal is to
choose the best solution. Understanding and
practicing the techniques discussed in this book, you
will develop problem-solving "street smarts" and
become a much more efficient problem solver.
 Defining the Problem
• Problem definition is a common but
difficult task because true problems are

often disguised in a variety of ways. It

takes a skillful individual to analyze a
situation and extract the real problem
from a sea of information.
 What is the Real Problem?
Grizzly Bear
Student

, Professor

A student and his professor are backpacking in Alaska when a grizzly bear starts
to chase them from a distance. Both start running, but it's clear that eventually
the bear will catch up with them. The student takes off his backpack, gets his
running shoes out, and starts putting them on. His professor says, "You can't
outrun the bear, even in running shoes!"
The student replies, "I don't need to outrun the bear; I only need to outrun
you!" Of course, the student quickly realized that that the perceived problem
was to outrun the bear while the real problem was to not get caught by the
bear. This example illustrates a very important issue: problem definition.
 Defining the Problem
• Defining the real problem is-critical to
finding a workable solution.
Sometimes we can be "tricked" into treating the symptoms
instead of solving the root problem. Treating symptoms
(e.g., putting a bucket under a leaking roof) can give us the
satisfaction of a quick fix, but finding and solving the real
problem (i.e., the cause of the leak) are important to
minimize lost time, money, and effort. Implementing real
solutions to real problems requires discipline, and
sometimes stubbornness, to avoid being pressured into
accepting a less desirable quick-fix solution because of time
constraints.
Examples of Poor Defining the Problem
See next side for details including mirrors as solution !

Figure CPI-W10-4 Elevator Problem

Hotel guests complained that the elevators were too slow

The real problem statement was "Find a way to minimize the
complaints by taking the guests' minds off their wait rather
than installing more elevators."

Shortly after the upper floors of a high-rise hotel had been renovated to increase
the hotel's room capacity, guests complained that the elevators were too slow.
The building manager assembled his assistants. His instructions to solve the
perceived problem: "Find a way to speed up the elevators." After calling the
elevator company and an independent expert on elevators, it was determined
that nothing could be done to speed up the elevators. The manager then issued
new directions: "Find a location and design a shaft to install another elevator." An
architectural firm was hired to carry out this request. Ultimately, neither the shaft
nor the new elevator was installed because shortly after the firm was hired, the
real problem was uncovered. The real problem statement was "Find a way to
minimize the complaints by taking the guests' minds off their wait rather than
installing more elevators." The guests stopped complaining when mirrors were
installed on each floor in front of the elevators.2Few people can resist taking the
time to check or admire their appearance in the mirror.
Examples of Poor Defining the Problem
See next side for details of preventive maintenance!
Figure CPI-W10-5 Leaking flow meter
The real problem statement should have been "Prevent the flow
meter from leaking."
Flow meters, such as the ones used at gasoline pumps to
measure the number of gallons of gas delivered to your gas tank,
are commonplace in industry. A flow meter was installed in a
chemical plant to measure the flow rate of a corrosive fluid. A
few months' after its installation, the corrosive fluid ate through
the flow meter and began to leak onto the plant floor. The
following instruction was given to solve the perceived problem:
"Find material from which to make a flow meter that will not
corrode and cause leakage of the dangerous fluid."

An extensive, time-consuming search was carried out to find such

a material and a company that would construct a cost-effective
flow meter. None was found. The real problem statement should
have been "Prevent the flow meter from leaking."
Examples of Poor Defining the Problem
See next side for surprising obvious diagnosis!
Figure CPI-W10-6 What is the disease
 "Diagnose the ailment from the X-ray”
– a correct problem statement
On a lighter note, we end with the following true example of right
problem/wrong solution. At an American Medical Association
(AMA) convention on respiratory diseases a number of years ago,
an upper-body X-ray was displayed at the booth of one of the
pharmaceutical vendors. The following instructions were given to
the physicians: "Diagnose the ailment from the X-ray, and place
your answer in the contest box near the display" (a correct
problem statement). The winner of a valuable prize would be
drawn from those who had made the correct diagnosis. Because of
the focus on the upper torso, virtually every known lung disease
treatment was suggested by one physician or another.
There was no need to hold a drawing from the correct diagnoses
submitted because only one person discovered the true solution:
"Set a broken right arm” (please note the crack in the x-ray)
CORRECT PROBLEM DEFINITION /
WRONG SOLUTION
Dam the Torpedoes or Torpedo the Dam?
A big and expensive misadventure of the
Australian government where the
problem was correct but the solution
was not !
 CORRECT PROBLEM DEFINITION / WRONG SOLUTION
• The Australian government wanted to increase agricultural
production by finding ways to grow crops on wastelands
which is very arid but some wild plants can grow some times.
• It was believed that the land could be irrigated and that
agricultural food crops could be grown.
• The solution chosen by the Australian government was a
multimillion-dollar dam which was built, and the water was
diverted.
•  Unfortunately, when the irrigation was achieved, absolutely
no new vegetation grew, and even the vegetation that had
previously grown on some of the land died.
• It was determined that this infertility of the soil occurred
because the diverted water dissolved abnormally high
concentrations of salts present in the soil, which then entered
the plant roots.
 Skip as Optional for students to go
through on their own from the folder
for video contents for the course on
the university server

CPI-W10-1 pdf of Tool kit for

creative problem solving by Prof
Buddy Ratner of UW, Seattle .pdf
Individual Test Followed by Immediate group
test before break in order to cover Stanford d
School videos after the break
Only Electric Cars
In India from 2030 onward only electric cars which
will run on rechargeable battery pack will be sold.
Imagine you purchased such a car. Please list
anticipated problems as you see them related to
charging of this battery pack while you are in town
and especially while traveling long distances beyond
the range of capacity of the battery pack. Please note
that to recharge battery pack may take hours unlike
refilling petrol at its pump for the current cars.
Group Test with Strict time discipline so that break and
subsequent Stanford d School is adequately covered.

Only Electric Cars

• The group is expected to do only first 2 steps of the
problem solving process of defining problem and
ideas to solve it. Review, discuss and consolidate list
of problems from all six members of the group and
prioritize and define at least 2 key problems related
to required battery pack for using all electric cars in
India to be sold from 2030.Then brainstorm and
generate ideas as a list for solving the defined 2 key
problems
Bathroom break for
5 minutes.
Please only for those
who must & others
just relax.
 Design Thinking
• Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
known as Stanford d school: Five stages of design
thinking
 Design Thinking
• IDEO company’s process for design thinking. It was found by
David Kelly who also established the Stanford d School for
design thinking.
 Design Thinking
• The d.school’s philosophy
holds that space,
furniture, tools, and
technology are integral to
pedagogy. Students are
encouraged to display
their ideas and work in • CPI-W10-3 CCm13.14
progress. See how they Ideo, an innovative
use their space to design company&
promote behaviors David Kelly-60 Minutes
critical to design thinking, Jan. 06, 2013.mp4
such as empathy and
experimentation.
Design Thinking at Stanford d School

Open Office Hours

CPI-W10-4a CCm6.03 Stanford d

school 2010 Open Office Hours
d.school, 6 min Part1.mp4
Please skip this video which shows
only the physical facility and takes
away valuable 5 minutes

CPI-W10-4b m5.00 d.school

Stanford explored....mp4
Design Thinking at Stanford d School

Stanford d.School
Case study

CPI-W10-4c CCm3.30
Stanford d.school-case
study 2010.mp4
Design Thinking Case Study Example

It is a simple
example of design
thinking presented
by an immigrant
from India CPI-W10-5 CCm6.42
explaining the 2017 Design Thinking
concept of design Solving Life’s Problems
thinking to solve a Suresh Jayakar
problem faced by a TEDxCrenshaw.mp4
community.
There should be enough time
left to show the 17 minutes
video on “Juggad Or Frugal
Innovation” otherwise ask
students to view from the
video folder for the course on
the server of the university.
Design Thinking Example of Frugal
Innovation

CPI-W10-2m16.29
Juggad or Frugal
innovation
NaviRadjou TED talk
2014G-480p-en.mp4