"Why Not?" Book Review

I finished the book over the weekend. Compared with other creativity books I've read, this one has many examples in the public sector, like how to be innovative in the legislation or in managing a library. The authors propose 2 sets of tools for generating ideas.

• Thinking outside the box

1. What would Croesus do? - Assumed you have unlimited resources, what would you do?
2. Why don't you feel my pain? - Internalize the external effects in problem solving.
3. Where else would it work? - Apply solutions in one context to other contexts.
4. Would flipping it work? - Look for symmetry and/or asymmetry in the problems.

• Thinking inside the box - Identify the boundary of the box, that is, look for principles or properties of problems or solutions as guides while searching for the solutions.

Another area which differentiates the book from other creativity books I've read is the emphasis on implementation. The authors talked about how to pitch ideas in the last chapter. However, not every new idea can create new business. So following the spirit of open-source movement in the software industry, the authors built a website for readers to share ideas. Publishing your ideas might bring in big rewards as people might ask you to help them implement your ideas.