ATTRIBUTE THINKING - Idea Generation Technique

Attribute Listing is a creative technique that involves breaking the problem into smaller and smaller parts and looking at alternative solutions to the parts.

Attributes can be classified into subcategories like

• Physical attributes: shape, form, colour, texture, structure, sound, taste, door, space, density, location
• Social attributes: responsibilities, taboos, power, ecological
• Process attributes: selling, marketing, production, manufacturing, designing
• Psychological attributes: needs, motivation, positive and negative emotions
• Price attributes: production cost, consumer price, Consumer acquisition cost, manufacturing cost, sunk cost

How to use Attribute Listing :

• Identify an existing product or system or process,
• breaks it into parts,
• identifies various ways of achieving each part, and then
• recombines these to identify new forms of the product or system.

Example :

Let's say you are in the business of making torches. You are under pressure from your competition and need to Re-design your product and drive innovation. Break the torch down into its component parts - casing, switch, battery, bulb, and weight - the attributes of each one - you can develop a list of ideas to improve each one.

Feature > Attribute|| Ideas

Casing > Plastic || Metal

Switch > On/Off || On/Off low beam

Battery > Power || Rechargeable

Bulb > Blass || Plastic

Weight > Heavy || Light

Combine the different attributes and generate a Product. Before releasing the product, ensure the functionality & quality of the torch was not compromised.

Bottom line :

This could result in improved quality, competitive costing & speed of delivery. The more we divide the challenge, the more attributes we can improve. By separating one attribute, we are able to improve focus, think flexibly and discover alternative ideas.

Use SCAMPER with attribute listing for better results.