In an ever changing economic environment, it is essential that analysts demonstrate added value by developing creative and imaginative solutions to our everyday business challenges. Creativity, as the root of innovation needs to be nurtured and encouraged in any business, yet it is all too often neglected. It is true that some analysts are naturally more creative than others, however there are tools and techniques that can be learned and practiced by all analysts that will drive out better business solutions when applied. This thought provoking and interactive session will explore a range of creative techniques and methods of ensuring that the most suitable innovation is achieved as a result, arming delegates with tools, approaches and a re-invigorated creative outlook to take back to the workplace.

1. The Creative and
Innovative Analyst
27th March, 2014
Ian Richards, CBAP, Dip. BA
Senior Business Architect
Serco Global Technology Delivery

2. • Creativity is the generation of ideas while
Innovation consists of transforming these
ideas into action through a selection and an
implementation
“Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking
what no one else has thought.” Einstein
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

3. ●Our brains are built for creative problem solving,
and it is easy to both uncover and enhance our
natural inventiveness.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
●Our highly evolved brains are always assessing
our ever-changing environment, mixing and
matching our responses to fit each situation

4. NOT SO CREATIVE PEOPLE?
Harry M. Warner,
Warner Bros Pictures, 1927
"Who the hell wants
to hear actors talk?"
Charles H. Duell, Director of
US Patent Office 1899
"Everything that can
be invented has
been invented."

5. NOT SO CREATIVE PEOPLE?
“you can’t win anything with kids” MOTD 1995

6. IS INTELLIGENCE A PRE-REQUISITE OF CREATIVITY?

7. PATTERN RECOGNITION AND LATERAL THINKING
We need to use lateral thinking techniques to break
out of this patterned way of thinking
Pattern Recognition Logic

8. WHO ARE THE MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE?
●They have the ability to go wrong
●They are inquisitive
●They think innovatively
● They are praised for being creative
●Have they had less time to learn patterns?

9. SO WHAT IS STIFLING OUR CREATIVITY ?
●Are we as adults afraid to be creative because of
senior management and colleagues?
●Do we tend to go with the tried, tested and trusted?
●Is it too risky to look for creative alternatives in
case they fail?
●Do we think that we don’t have time to be
creative?
●Do we think that quirky people are the only ones
allowed to be creative?

10. ●What is wrong with simply
following due process to
produce what the customer
is asking for?
●Surely discipline done well is
the difference between a
successful and a struggling
project?
So why do we as Analysts need to be creative?

11. STEVE JOBS

12. So why bother being creative ?
Ability to stay ahead of a changing marketplace and the competition.
Creative and Innovative organizations don't copy what others do........they use
innovative ideas from others to come up with a unique application, product, or
service for themselves
More creative companies tend to distance themselves from the competition rather
than compete with them.

13. CAN CREATIVITY BE LEARNED ?
●Talent
●Training, tools and
techniques
Is creativity is a
mysterious trait
like charisma?
You either
have it or
you don't!

14. SO LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT OURSELVES.........
•Unsure of your creative talent?
•Haven't been given opportunities to be creative?
•Convinced that you're simply not a creative person?
•Your creativity is a "work in progress?
•You've had some successes?
•Interested in how to become more creative?
•Creativity is one of your strengths

15. SELF PERCEPTION AND ATTITUDE
Often the only difference between creative and
uncreative people is self-perception
Think of themselves as
methodical and logical..
...Do not give themselves
the opportunity to create
See themselves as
creative and give
themselves the freedom
to create

16. HOW ABOUT THIS FOR STARTERS?
Being creative may just be a matter of setting aside the time needed to
take a step back and allow yourself to ask yourself if there is a better way
of doing something

17. ENVIRONMENT

18. GOOGLE

19. GOOGLE

20. GOOGLE

21. SO, HOW DO I GO ABOUT STARTING A CREATIVITY SESSION?

22. ICE BREAKERS / WARM UP
Keep the warm-up
unrelated to the
main topic

23. CREATIVITY WARM UP
A big, old, hungry dog
appeared at our door every
morning

24. CREATIVITY WARM UP
A big, old, hungry dog
appeared at our door every
morning

25. CREATIVITY WARM UP
You shouldn't sell this
fossil very cheaply
because it is a rare
specimen

26. CREATIVITY WARM UP
You shouldn't sell this
fossil very cheaply
because it is a rare
specimen

27. CREATIVITY WARM UP
The new law hit everybody's
pocketbook pretty hard

28. CREATIVITY WARM UP
The new law hit everybody's
pocketbook pretty hard

29. CREATIVITY WARM UP
A man went to a party and drank some of the punch.
He then left early.
Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently
died of poisoning.
Why did the man not die?
The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes

30. CREATIVITY WARM UP
They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets etc.)
A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of
the same day of the same year.
But they were not twins, and they were not adopted.
How could this be so?

31. DUNKER’S CANDLE
Subjects are given a candle, a box of drawing pins, and a book of matches, and asked to affix the
lit candle to the wall so that it will not drip wax onto the table below.
The test challenges functional fixedness, a cognitive bias that makes it difficult to use familiar
objects in abnormal ways

32. THE SUBJECT MATTER
State and scope the
Opportunity that needs solving
Get the right people in the
room
Appoint a skilled facilitator

33. SCOPING THE OPPORTUNITY
x2
x1.5
x1
Agree acceptance criteria
Feel free to add weighting
Make sure that everyone understands

34. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION TECHNIQUES
Mind Maps
Reversal
SCAMPER
Brainstorming

35. BRAINSTORMING
There should be no right or wrong
Ideas at this stage
Quantity, not Quality
Everyone has equal opportunity
“Great Ideas often receive violent opposition
from mediocre minds.”: Albert Einstein

36. MIND MAPPING - A PICTURE SAYS MORE THAN 1000 WORDS!
It works like the brain, building a network of
interconnected information
Thinking is not a linear process, but a very complex
one, during which new associations and structures
are produced, generated by key words.
Possible to switch between different trains of thought
Details can be added, varied or removed

37. REVERSAL
To find new approaches
for ideas by reversing
questions
Collect answers and ideas for the reversed
question
“lets not make the link to this page very prominent”
“lets make the route confusing”
Formulate the “reversed” question
e.g.: “how can we get less traffic to this page?”

38. SCAMPER
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Magnify
Put to other use
Eliminate
Rearrange/Reverse
Use it to stimulate new
ways of thinking about
the problem, perhaps to
kick you out of your
current rut

39. SCAMPER
Substitute
What can I substitute to make an improvement to a product or service?
Examples
If I swap this, would it appeal to more people?

40. SCAMPER
Combine
What materials, features, processes, people can I combine?
Examples
What can I put together to come up with something more efficient or more appealing?

41. SCAMPER
Adapt
What other products or ideas could I use for inspiration to adapt to a different
circumstance or environment?
Examples
How could I adapt this product to serve another purpose or use?

42. SCAMPER
Magnify/Minify
What happens if I make it higher, wider or apply it with greater frequency?
Examples
What happens if I make it smaller, slower, lighter or apply it with less frequency?

43. SCAMPER
Put to other use
How would this product behave differently in another setting or location?
Examples
Who else could use this product?

44. SCAMPER
Eliminate
What’s non-essential or unnecessary?
Examples
How could I streamline or simplify this product?

45. SCAMPER
Rearrange/Reverse
What would happen if I sequenced things differently?
Examples
What roles could I reverse or swap?
Not Authorised

46. SO, WE NOW HAVE PLENTY OF IDEAS TO ANALYSE......
All ideas should be clear for all participants
There shouldn’t be any lack of clarity concerning an individual idea
Any idea can be improved; any idea is open to interpretation
Be open to different perspectives on your ideas

47. SO WHAT NEXT?
Creativity is sterile if action does not follow from it – Innovation

48. EVALUATION
Bad Ideas
Treat the ‘bad ideas’ with special care, explore their trains of thought and define their
shortcomings.
Good Ideas
Be wary of accepting good ideas too quickly. Good might seem satisfactory, but satisfactory is
a long way from that feeling of creative delight
Perfect Ideas
Last, be wary of ‘perfect ideas’ – the kind of
idea that makes you blind or deaf to other
ideas and different opinions.

49. SELECTING THE BEST IDEAS
Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4

50. EVALUATION MATRIX
Criteria Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4
Criteria 1
Criteria 2
Criteria 3
Total

51. EVALUATION MATRIX
Criteria Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4
Criteria 1 4 3 1 5
Criteria 2 2 2 3 3
Criteria 3 5 2 4 5
Total 11 7 8 13

52. EVALUATION MATRIX
Criteria Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4
Criteria 1 8 6 2 10
Criteria 2 3 3 4.5 4.5
Criteria 3 5 2 4 5
Total 16 11 10.5 19.5

53. EVALUATION MATRIX
Criteria Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4
Criteria 1 8 6 2 10
Criteria 2 3 3 4.5 4.5
Criteria 3 5 2 4 5
Total 16 11 10.5 19.5

54. IDEAS FUNNEL – THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD LOOK

55. HOWEVER, ISN’T THIS OFTEN THE REALITY?

56. “That is what you asked for,
so that is what you've got?”
Where is the added value in
that?
WHAT IS THE FALLBACK FOR US ANALYSTS?
Isn’t the bad perception of IT is as a result of an army of diligent and dedicated IT
professionals doing precisely what they were asked to do?

57. FASTER HORSES?

58. ●“Your idea of doing it like that was
genius !!”
One thing is for sure, without the drive to come up with breakthrough ideas and the
confidence that a creative and innovative solution exists, it is unlikely that one will be found
ADDING VALUE

59. SO WHAT NOW?
Not only with the products that you have contributed to but with the culture you
have developed within your teams
Some of you will
identify a need for a
slight amendment in
attitude, approach
Some of you have
the right attitude and
just haven’t known
how to apply it
Take a moment to reflect on the legacy of creativity and innovation that you have
left in your wake personally

60. CORRECTIVE ACTION
•Look for opportunities
•You'll be surprised by how creative you can be if you give yourself a chance
•Share your ideas and perspectives with others, and ask them how they view
problems.
•Adopt a collaborative approach to problem finding, and work actively with
others to create and innovate.
•Don't hide your ability!
•Share your creativity process with others and promote creativity in
your team and organization.
•You can always be more creative

61. QUESTIONS?