Chapter Twenty-Four: The Three B's (or: I Can't Think of a Good Acronym That Involves Three B's)

Based on an exercise outlined in the book "Thinkertoys"

I was thirsty today, as I am many days, and there was a soda can sitting near me. Unfortunately it wasn't my soda can, so I couldn't drink it, and instead found myself studying it intently. Perhaps I was projecting my discontent upon the unfortunate can, but I found myself thinking that there should be some way to improve on this design. Forget that crappy New Coke-- how about a New Coke Can?

Since this is a weighty and ponderous task, I've decided to take the incubation approach to solving this conundrum. I've identified my challenge, and looked into the history of the humble soda can. The methodology of the opening mechanism has changed a bit over the years, to become safer to use and easier to open, but the basic design of the can has remained largely unchanged.

So, I've instructed my brain to ruminate upon the subject. I'm now going to leave it alone for awhile, and see how long until my brain sparks an idea. I've set up a reminder for a week from now, just to galvanize myself in case I totally forget. Let's see what happens!

Closing thoughts on this exercise:

Well, this exercise is much less immediate than other exercises; really, it's not much of an exercise at all, it's basically just 'do that thing where you randomly think of things' that's usually deemed too unreliable for a corporate environment.

A short note about my creative environment:

I typed this up while sitting in the Digital Media lab, after classes had let out for the night. It's dead silent save for the hum of overworked computers, and a couple of other digital media people sitting nearby occasionally murmuring. The room is pretty bright, but stuffy and uncomfortable.