Homework for 1/18

• Dodds & Smith define fixation as a persistent block or impediment to successful problem solving.

• Gerber recommends throwing away previously generated ideas when someone is in an idea development stage and hits a wall. This is to keep too much energy from being wasted on a few ideas and allowing for room to be made for new ideas.

• My reaction to Gerber's idea is that it makes sense, but I don't agree it should always be the case. On one hand, it's good not to get too caught up on ideas that are going nowhere, however, if you let a bump in the road stop you in every case, you'll never get anywhere. I think it's good in theory, but not always the best case in practice.

• I don't think Johnson's thesis is entirely true. Some of my best ideas have come during random bursts of inspiration, as if out of nowhere. I think it's impossible too truly define how to generate "good" ideas because every idea is subbjective. It could could good for someone and terrible for someone else.

• In terms of our in-class teamwork, I think doing exactly what we did in class last week, sitting down and brainstorming, might be the best way to go about combining the ideas to creat something more innovative.