What should you name your product? How might you organize yourbusiness? If questions like these perplex you, brainstormingsoftware may be the answer. These programs act as creativeconsultants, showing you new ways to look at problems.
Robert Schmidt is a computer and business writer in CulverCity, California.
IdeaFisher Pro
This program gives you the tools to break a task into itscomponents and explore each one. IdeaFisher (IdeaFisher Systems;Windows, $189.95) has two main sections. In QBank, a series ofquestions helps you isolate the problem. QBank routines includestrategic planning, marketing and general problem-solving.
Once you've specified a problem, you can go to the heart ofthe program: IdeaBank, a patented database of more than 65,000words, phrases and concepts arranged in topical categories. Morethan a thesaurus, it's a network of cultural associations,grouped and interconnected the same way the human brain storesdata.
Here's an example of how it works: Let's say you want todevelop a new picture frame. QBank prompts you to list all thequalities of a frame, including "level." IdeaBank thenlinks this word with a carpenter's level. Voilá! A pictureframe with a built-in level so it always hangs straight.
ThoughtPath
While IdeaFisher enhances the mind's organizing mechanism,ThoughtPath (Inventive Logic Inc.; Mac, $99; Windows, $295) seesthe mechanism as a potential obstacle. This program's goal isto apply divergent areas of the brain to problems in ways you'dnever think of.
ThoughtPath begins a task by having you describe the problem andits background. Then it asks you to make a wish. The logic behindthis? Wishing uncovers repressed and "unthinkable"notions you can use to make connections.
Next, the program has you generate ideas for each wish andsolutions for each idea. At each step, it offers triggers to spurnovel thinking; the process aids creativity by letting you examinethoughts without censoring yourself.
Suppose your problem is not getting enough done at the office.One wish might be, "I wish I could work all the time."That might lead to ideas such as "work at home" or"work on the train." In turn, these might elicit thesolution "buy a laptop computer."
Inspiration 5.0 Professional Edition
Inspiration (Inspiration Software Inc.; Mac and Windows, $99) isa visual-thinking tool that helps you clarify and organize yourideas. It displays your ideas and their relationships onscreen,letting you make connections that aren't obvious. From thejuxtaposition of ideas, new possibilities emerge.
You begin with an outline view, placing your thoughts in a textmode, but Inspiration's power comes when you switch to thediagram view. This transforms your prose into a concept map, flowchart or other graphic representation. In this mode, you can insertobjects or text, move them around and connect them with lines. Whenyou reposition something, Inspiration adjusts the links in both thediagram and the outline so they're always in sync.
Hot To Buy
- DiskMapper. Version 2 of this Micro Logic utilitydisplays your hard drive as a map of nested rectangles. It showsyou which files are taking up the most space and which you shouldcompress or delete. For simplified file management, you can viewthe disk in a conventional tree structure. New DiskMapper functionscan identify duplicate files and list files by size. For moreinformation, call (201) 342-6518 or visit http://www.miclog.com
Contact Sources
Cougar Mountain Software, (800) 388-3038, http://www.cougarmtn.com
IdeaFisher Systems Inc., 2222 Martin St., #260, Irvine,CA 92612, (714) 225-1100
Inspiration Software Inc., http://www.inspiration.com
Inventive Logic Inc., (800) 253-1844, http://www.thoughtpath.com
Micro Logic Corp., http://www.miclog.com
