'Obvious' is the most dangerous word in mathematics. *
- E. T. Bell
* And not just in mathematics.
The question in the title of today’s post is from the book, Beyond the Obvious by Phil McKinney.1
Exercise
I’ve run this exercise in a couple of creativity / ideation sessions. It is super-fun and super-educative.
Me: “What’s half of 13?”
The answer is obvious, is it not?
Participant: “6.5”
“What else is half of 13?”
“Huh?”
“Ok. What’s half of 13 Thirteen?”
Most of the faces continue to register confusion, but I see the eyes of one or two light up.
“Ummm… Six and a half?
“Correct. What else?”
“Saadhe cheh!” (Six and a half in Hindi)
I smile as I see the first crack in the dam called ‘there’s only one right answer.’
Then it blows up.
“1 & 3”
“XI & II” (in roman, 13 is XIII)
“THIR & TEEN”
And…
And…
…
…
Of course, you might never need to worry about half of thirteen - unless you have to divide thirteen of anything between two children - so the next question is: what’s the point of this exercise?
It is this. The obvious stands between us and possibilities. Now, there are many times when we need an answer (which may be correct in that context), but in being creative, the right answer is almost always the wrong choice.
So… Be child-like. Be unreasonable. Be ambiguous. Even be stupid.
Just don’t be obvious.
Exercise (continuing from above)
The next time you have a challenge, use this prompt to come up with many possible answers. You might find a better solution; better still, you might find a better question.
I have seen this exercise on a few other websites, uncredited to McKinney, so I’m not cent per cent certain of its parentage.