A number of books on my shelf, some of which I’ve written, broach the topic of divergent thinking. Unfortunately, many developers (and many more managers) don’t really grasp the ideas behind divergent thinking. Simply put, divergent thinking starts with a single premise and views as many permutations of that premise as possible. Most developers don’t take the time to use divergent thinking as part of the development process because they don’t see a use for it. In fact, most books fall short of even discussing the potential for divergent thinking, much less naming it as a specific element of application design. I’ve explored the topic before and a reader recently reminded me of an article I wrote on the topic entitled, Divergent Versus Convergent Thinking: Which Is Better for Software Design?.
The process that most developers rely upon is convergent thinking, which is where you convert general goals and needs into specific solutions that appear within a single application. The difference between the two modes of thinking is that divergent thinking begins with a single specific premise, while convergent thinking begins with a number of general premises. More specifically, divergent thinking is the process you use to consider all of the possibilities before you use convergent thinking to create specific solutions to those possibilities.
There is an actual cycle between divergent and convergent thinking. You use divergent thinking when you start a project to ensure you discover as many possibly ways to address user requirements as possible. Once you have a number of possibilities, you use convergent thinking to consider the solutions for those possibilities in the form of a design. The process will point out those possibilities that will work and those that don’t. Maintaining a middle ground between extremes of divergent and convergent thinking will help create unique solutions, yet keep the project on track and maintain project team integrity. Managing the cycle is the job of the person in charge of the project, who is often the CIO, but could be some other management position. So, the manager has to be knowledgeable about software design in order for the process to work as anticipated.
One of the reasons that many applications fail today is the lack of divergent thinking as part of the software design process. We’re all too busy thinking about solutions, rather than possibilities. Yet, the creative mind and the creative process is based on divergent thinking. The reason we’re getting the same solutions rehashed in a million different ways (resulting in a lack of interest in new solutions) is the lack of divergent thinking in the development process.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that most developers have never even heard of divergent thinking (and never heard convergent thinking called by that name). With this in mind, I’ve decided to provide some resources you can use to learn more about divergent thinking and possibly add it to your application design process.
Strategies of Divergent Thinking
How Convergent and Divergent Thinking Foster Creativity
Creativity and IQ, Part I: What Is Divergent Thinking?
Stereotypes and Divergent Thinking
These are just four of several hundred articles I located on divergent thinking online. I chose these particular four articles because they represent a range of ideas that most developers will find helpful, especially the idea of not applying stereotypical processes when trying to use divergent thinking. Stereotypes tend to block creative flow, which is partly what divergent thinking is all about.
The bottom line is that until divergent thinking is made part of the software design process, we’ll continue to suffer through rehashed versions of the current solutions. What is your view of divergent thinking? Do you see it as a useful tool or something best avoided? Let me know your thoughts at John@JohnMuellerBooks.com.