
Ask HN: How do i become inventive? - 8sigma
If &quot;inventiveness&quot; can be described as a skill,how can anyone acquire it?
======
SCAQTony
Build upon an existing or your very own idea but don't make it a one-off.
explore at least a dozen different ways to make it better.

Artist Winslow Homer would do sketch after sketch, study after study, before
he did his final "one-off" masterpiece. Keep improving the idea. It is
astonishing what serendipity that can occur.

Here is a visual example: Andy Warhol's skulls:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=warhol+skull+collection&tbm=...](https://www.google.com/search?q=warhol+skull+collection&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIkamXmYjLAhVHRyYKHW9nCpUQsAQIJw&biw=1163&bih=631)

~~~
vitovito
This is a pretty good answer!

For another example, in information architecture, one way to do that is
according to LATCH, which I've previously written about here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1554237](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1554237)

Another exercise is what I call "counterparts," what are all the ways other
industries, other organizations, other people have solved this problem? And
not just the problem as-is, but, when you simplify or abstract the problem, or
you turn it into a process, or you approximate it into steps, how do those
solutions go? Following a recipe in a cookbook feels very different from
stepping through a software installation wizard, and yet they are both guiding
us through a process.

Take the time to actually explore the entire possibility space. You can't get
to the really crazy, novel solutions until you've thought through all the
_obvious_ ones. "If you didn't have to build it" and "if money and physics
were no object" are valuable constraints.

Finally, spend your "inventive" energy where it matters, and don't value
inventiveness for inventiveness' sake. Design has to serve masters: users, and
business goals, and success metrics. If you're not testing your creative
solutions against those and proving their value, then your "inventive"
solution isn't any better than anyone else's "obvious" solution. An "obvious"
solution that's cribbed from another industry but that tests out as a viable
solution is way better than something super original that you have no idea how
it's going to perform.

------
volaski
While some of the approaches mentioned below do work to some extent (TRIZ,
etc.), they won't really make you "inventive". Personally I think they're all
gimmicks (although to be fair they are gimmicks that work). I think what you
really want is to "become" an inventive person instead of trying to force
invent stuff. Read this book for starters: [http://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-
Ideas-Come-From/dp/15944853...](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-
From/dp/1594485380)

~~~
sklogic
TRIZ was not the only Altshuller invention.

He was mostly interested in how exactly to develop a creativity trait, and
came up with something called a "Theory of a Creative Personality
Development", a further generalisation of TRIZ.

There are some anecdotal confirmations from various schools across the former
USSR that this approach is known to produce some stable results. So at least
it worth looking into.

~~~
volaski
As i mentioned it _does_ work. And it is a good guideline to look at when
you're stuck. But it's not the fundamental solution. TRIZ teaches you to
emulate creativity. The whole idea is "how can an even ordinary person come up
with creative ideas?" My point was that's all fine and it's good to learn that
skill, but it would be better if you shoot for actually "becoming a creative
person" instead of "ordinary person coming up with creative ideas". I
suggested that book above because I found it helpful from that point of view.

~~~
sklogic
I suspect, there is no such a thing as an inherently "creative" person. I very
closely followed the biographies of many of the greatest minds, and I'm yet to
see a compelling evidence that creativity is some kind of a special trait
which cannot be acquired.

There are just people who somehow know the creativity tricks (either
deliberately learned or randomly discovered), and the "ordinary" people who
happen to have a little gap in their education. Learning the formal approaches
to creativity could help to close this gap.

~~~
volaski
I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm basically agreeing with you
that there is no inherently creative person and you can acquire it. I'm just
making a distinction between becoming actually creative vs. emulating
creativity. I would rather "become a creative person" than "use techniques to
come up with creative solutions" if I were to pick one.

~~~
sklogic
Firstly, as I said, all the post-TRIZ works by Altshuller were exactly about
training the creativity as a personality trait, not about the formal invention
methods.

Secondly, if _simulating_ creativity is indistinguishable (by the outcome)
from a "true" creativity, then the very existence of creativity is
questionable, and it is likely that all forms of creativity can be explained
by simply knowing (maybe subconsciously) a number of techniques of
"simulating" the creativity.

~~~
volaski
I didn't say TRIZ is bad. I even said it's a good technique to learn. I just
pointed out that anyone can be creative without "training". The concept of
training is based on the assumption that people are not naturally creative. I
think anyone has potential to come up with creative achievements in their
lives but only small number of people get the opportunity or motivation to do
so. I think in many cases it's just a matter of changing your mindset and
putting yourself in the right environment. Anyway, if you haven't read that
book I recommended above please take a look.

------
hanniabu
I'd say by broadening your interdisciplinary skills and life experiences. From
first hand and what I've read others claim, these 2 things are key. Without a
wide range of experience and knowledge it's still possible, but more of an
innate skill. These characteristics allow you to pull different parts of
knowledge and experience and combine, mix and match, and adult them to the
real world.

------
orionblastar
Develop your imagination and learn how to find solutions to problems. Then
figure out how to make those solutions real and workable. Break each detail
down into a list of things you need to write code for in order to solve them
one by one. Then build data structures and a database behind them. Build
algorithms to solve them and make it into a program you can market and sell.

------
sklogic
Not necessarily a "skill":

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZ)

