Interesting reading in this month’s Fast Company. P.47 features a side note on design guru Mark Dziersk who teaches at Northwestern University’s Master of Product Development program.
To get his designers to think ‘outside the box’ Dziersk is known to give quizzes on such topics as ‘Name 15 ways a cat is like a refrigerator.’Â�
Normally during the first go-round when individuals work independently, the results are terrible, typically with each student only producing a few quality connections. Yet, when students are put in groups of three something happens. Their creative juices get flowing and the connections (examples: can be black or white, they both smell, etc) manifest themselves at a much more rapid pace. If engineers’ creativity can be stimulated by group collaboration, there is hope for the world yet!
Whomever leaves a blog comment with the best connection between a Cat and a Refrigerator will win a Subscription to Fast Company. Contest will run 10 days.