Creativity Glossary A to Z — Creativity

Creativity glossary — 140 definitions

Every term defined across the guide's sections, in alphabetical order.
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« How might we…? » (HMW): A technique reframing a problem as an open, stimulating question inviting solution generation.
5 whys: A method of asking « why? » several times in a row to trace back to the root cause.
5W1H (QQOQCP): A 6-question analysis grid (Who, What, Where, When, How, Why) to grasp a situation without omission.
Action plan: Translating the decision into concrete actions (who does what, when, with what means).
Actionable question: A wording that orients toward action and presupposes a solution exists (« How… »).
Affinity grouping: Gathering similar ideas into themes/families to see clearly and remove duplicates.
Agenda: The workshop's time structure: welcome/framing, divergence, convergence, conclusion, with controlled timing.
Analogy: Transposing a solution from another field (nature, another trade) to your own problem.
Associative thinking: The brain's workings where one idea calls another, which the mind map naturally matches.
Augmented creative: A person whose creativity is multiplied by AI, without human judgment being replaced.
Black / Yellow hat: Black: caution (risks, weaknesses); Yellow: optimism (benefits, advantages).
Brainstorming: A collective idea-generation method (divergent thinking) governed by precise rules (Osborn).
Brainstorming partner: Using AI to generate variants, angles and provocations, like a tireless ideation partner.
Brainwriting: A generation method where everyone writes their ideas individually and in silence, before pooling.
Brainwriting 6-3-5: Variant: 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 min, then pass their sheet to a neighbor who builds on it.
Branch / sub-branch: Ramifications of the map: main ideas (branches) then details (sub-branches).
Break / letting go: Alternating effort and relaxation that lets the brain « simmer » and ideas emerge.
Breakthrough idea: A radically new idea, leaving usual patterns, often from unexpected connections.
Build on (« yes, and… »): Rule of building on others' ideas rather than starting from scratch (collective rebound effect).
Causal chain: A sequence of linked causes (each « why » reveals the cause of the previous) leading to the origin.
Cause family: A category grouping causes of the same nature (one branch of the diagram).
Cause vs symptom: The symptom is visible/bothersome; the cause is what actually produces it (to treat for a durable fix).
Central topic: The main idea placed at the center of the map, from which branches radiate.
Change of perspective: Approaching a problem from a radically different angle to unblock a solution.
Collective intelligence: A group's ability to produce results superior to its isolated members, by harnessing diversity.
Collective intelligence (sorting): Mobilizing the group's opinion to quickly surface the ideas gathering the most support.
Combine / Adapt: Merge with something else (combine) or transpose a solution from elsewhere (adapt).
Complete approach: A process linking problem understanding, idea generation, decision and test.
Concassage: « Breaking » a concept by turning it around (enlarge, reverse, remove…) to generate variants.
Conclusion (decisions/actions): The workshop's end leading to concrete decisions and actions (without follow-up, it's frustrating).
Conformity bias: The tendency to rally to others' apparent opinion rather than express one's own viewpoint.
Connection / analogy: An unexpected link between different ideas or fields, a source of new ideas.
Convergence (sorting): The selection phase: moving from a mass of ideas to a few workable paths.
Convergent thinking: Closing phase: sort, evaluate and decide among the ideas (analysis, critical selection).
Creative judgment: The ability, gained with experience, to mobilize the right tool at the right moment.
Creativity: The ability to produce ideas that are new AND useful to solve a problem or seize an opportunity.
Culture of innovation: A set of values and practices that, daily, encourage ideas and experimentation over time.
Curiosity: A disposition to take interest in varied fields, ask questions and explore; the nourishment of creativity.
Decision: A settled, owned choice of a solution to implement, after exploration and evaluation.
Decision matrix: A table crossing two criteria to visualize and prioritize options (impact/cost, value/risk…).
Design Thinking: A user-centered innovation approach combining empathy, creativity and rigor (test/iteration).
Devil's advocate: A person tasked with deliberately contradicting to avoid soft consensus and stimulate critical thinking.
Divergent thinking: Opening phase: generate a maximum of ideas without judging or filtering (quantity, originality, exploration).
Divergent/convergent alternation: The principle of clearly separating generation time from decision time (never both at once).
Diversity: The variety of profiles, experiences and viewpoints in a group; the fuel of collective intelligence.
Diversity of sources: Deliberate variety of inspirations that enriches the reservoir of ideas, against routine.
Dominance effect: Bias of oral brainstorming where extroverts/dominants monopolize speech and crush the others.
Dot voting: A technique where each spreads a limited number of votes on the ideas judged most promising.
Double diamond: Design Thinking scheme alternating several divergence/convergence cycles (problem then solution).
Early judgment: Criticizing an idea during generation; kills creativity by censoring before the idea exists.
Effect (fish head): The problem to analyze, placed on the right of the diagram.
Eliminate / Rearrange: Remove an element to simplify (eliminate) or change the order/reverse (rearrange).
Emotional detachment: Advantage of the simple prototype: you throw away and redo without regret (unlike a long-polished product).
Empathy: The ability to understand another's viewpoint and feelings; a key skill of the user-centered approach.
Empathy (Design Thinking): Deep understanding of users (observation, interviews) to solve their real need.
Empathy map: A canvas structuring what you know of a user (says, does, thinks, feels, sees, hears, fears, expectations).
Encouraging ideas: Time, means, listening and recognition given to proposals (instead of ignoring them).
Enduring culture: A permanent way of operating (vs exceptional creative moments) that makes innovation live.
Equal participation: The fact that everyone contributes equally, including the most reserved.
Exhaustive analysis: An organized sweep of all cause categories, to omit none.
Facilitation: The facilitator's role: making the group produce (neutral on substance, active on form).
Factual description: Understanding a problem based on facts (via 5W1H) before any interpretation.
Fail fast and cheap: The principle of testing early at low cost to detect problems before investing heavily.
Favorite ground: The type of situation where a given method is most effective.
Fear of judgment: Fear of looking ridiculous or foolish when proposing an idea, especially in a group; curbs boldness.
Feasibility: The ease, speed or low cost of implementing an idea.
Feedback: A user's reaction (difficulty, misunderstanding, suggestion) used to improve the idea.
Forced connection (random word): A technique deliberately linking a randomly chosen word to your problem to trigger unexpected ideas.
Framing: Delimiting and describing a problem or situation precisely before acting.
Framing-ideation bridge: The HMW's role: linking problem definition to idea generation (a brainstorming's starting question).
Free association: A technique of spontaneous bouncing from one idea to another to leave the beaten path.
Generative AI (creativity): AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, image generation…) able to stimulate ideation.
Green / Blue hat: Green: creativity (new ideas); Blue: organization (steering, synthesis).
Groupthink: A pitfall where seeking consensus silences disagreements and leads to a mediocre, unchallenged decision.
How much (added): A quantitative question sometimes added to 5W1H (scale, cost, number).
Human discernment: Judgment, critical evaluation, sense of context that stay the person's role (convergence).
Hygiene of the mind: A set of daily routines (curiosity, notes, letting go) making creativity a permanent disposition.
Idea notebook: A support (paper/digital) to capture ideas as they arise (an unrecorded idea is lost).
Idea trigger: A question or constraint that forces the mind to explore new angles (SCAMPER's role).
Ideation workshop: A structured session where a group generates and selects ideas, with preparation, framework and facilitation.
Impact: The value or benefit brought by an idea if realized.
Impact/feasibility matrix: A prioritization tool evaluating each idea by its impact (benefit) and feasibility (ease of implementation).
Implicit need: A real need not directly expressed by the user, often more important than the expressed one.
Innovation: The concrete implementation of a new idea that brings value (beyond the mere idea).
Ishikawa diagram: A cause-effect « fishbone » diagram mapping all cause families of a problem.
Iteration: Going back and improving a solution from feedback, rather than moving straight ahead.
Keyword: A short term (rather than a sentence) placed on branches for clarity and speed of the map.
Lateral thinking: The art of approaching a problem from an unexpected angle, leaving usual logical patterns (De Bono).
Leading by example: Leaders and managers embodying innovation values (welcoming ideas, admitting mistakes, taking risks).
Listen without defending: The attitude of understanding criticism rather than justifying your idea (not seeking to be right).
Low-fi (low fidelity): A fast, simple, cheap prototype (sketch, paper mock-up, scenario), far from a finished product.
Maintaining creativity: Keeping and strengthening creativity through regular routines (like a muscle that atrophies without practice).
Method choice: Selecting the tool fitting the problem type (technical, creative, organizational) and context.
Method sequencing: Articulating several tools into a complete approach (frame → diverge → converge → prototype → test).
Mind map: A visual tree-like tool starting from a central topic to generate and organize ideas by branches.
Move to action: The real implementation of a decision, without which ideas stay sterile.
New and useful idea: The double criterion of creativity: the idea must be original but also relevant to the need.
No judgment: Rule forbidding any criticism during generation, so as not to kill creative momentum.
Observation: Attention paid to what surrounds you (details, problems, ways of doing), material for ideas.
Observe (vs listen): Watching how people actually use the prototype, which often reveals more than their words.
Own: Take responsibility for a choice, accepting a share of uncertainty (you never know 100%).
Parallel generation: The fact that all produce ideas at once (in writing), more productive than in series (one at a time).
Parallel thinking: The principle where all adopt the same mode at once, instead of clashing.
Persona: A portrait of a representative user (profile, context, needs, frustrations, goals) serving as reference.
Positive reframing: Turning a negative/closed statement into a question oriented toward action and possibilities.
Problem definition: The step of precisely framing the real problem, an indispensable prerequisite to any search for solutions.
Problem-solving: The process of understanding a problem and finding a solution; creativity is its engine.
Project management link: A decision becomes a project (goals, steps, owners, follow-up) to be realized.
Prototype: A materialized version of an idea to make it tangible and testable.
Provocation: A deliberately absurd idea used as a springboard to bounce toward new ideas.
Psychological safety: A climate where one can propose ideas without fear of being judged or mocked; base condition of creativity.
Quantity over quality: First rule: aim for the maximum of ideas (sorting comes later); quantity raises the chance of gems.
Quick win: An idea with high impact and easy to realize (quick victory): do first.
Rapid prototyping: Materializing an idea fast and cheap to learn and iterate early.
Recombination: AI's way of working: it produces from the existing, without true understanding or deep originality.
Reframing: Stating the real problem precisely (without slipping in a disguised solution).
Regulating dynamics: Containing dominants and involving the quiet to balance contribution.
Right level: A wording open enough for creativity but targeted enough to orient (without containing the solution).
Right to fail: Accepting that an idea may « fail »: this is a normal part of the creative process.
Root cause: The deep origin of a problem, whose resolution prevents its recurrence.
SCAMPER: A creativity method applying 7 transformation levers to an existing thing to generate variants.
Self-censorship: Disqualifying one's own ideas before expressing them; the number-one blocker of creativity.
Shared vision: A common, precise understanding of a problem, obtained by answering the questions collectively.
Six Hats (De Bono): A method structuring thinking into six distinct modes of thought, adopted in turn by all.
Skill (vs gift): An ability that is learned and developed through method and practice, rather than a fixed innate talent.
Substitute: Replace an element, a material or a step with another.
Surface symptom: The first visible explanation of a problem, to go past to reach the real cause.
Test: Confronting an idea/prototype with real users to gather feedback and learn.
The 5 stages: Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test (not strictly linear: you iterate).
The 5M method: Classic cause categories: Manpower, Machine, Method, Material, Milieu (sometimes +Management/Measurement).
Theme / idea family: A category grouping close ideas, emerging from affinity grouping.
Thinking habits: Patterns and routines (« we've always done it this way ») that prevent imagining otherwise.
Thinking patterns: Usual paths the brain takes for efficiency, but which confine facing creative problems.
Toyota system: The industrial origin of the 5 whys (Toyota production problem-solving method).
User-centered: The principle of starting from the real needs of the people concerned, not from your assumptions.
User-centered approach: An approach starting from users' real needs rather than the designer's assumptions.
Vertical thinking: Logical, sequential thinking that digs deeper in the same direction (opposite of lateral).
White / Red hat: White: objective facts (neutral); Red: emotions and intuitions (no justification).
Wild ideas welcome: Rule welcoming bold/unrealistic ideas, because they open paths and trigger others.
Wrong problem: A misidentified problem tackled out of haste, leading to useless solutions.