There are many creative tools a designer uses to think differently, but none is more counter-intuitive than “wrong thinking,” also called reverse thinking. Wrong thinking is when you intentionally think of the worst idea possible — the exact opposite of the accepted or logical solution, ideas that can get you laughed at or even fired — and work back from those to find new ways of solving old problems.
To Come Up with a Good Idea, Start by Imagining the Worst Idea Possible
It’s called reverse thinking.
August 16, 2017
Summary.
How have chefs invent new dishes and scientists sequence DNA? The answer may surprise you: reverse thinking. To give it a try yourself, try looking at a problem as a beginner would see it; granting a beginner agency to tell you what to do; or, most radically, suspending hierarchy entirely. When we give ourselves permission to have bad ideas, we often come up with the best ones.