Why: Break conventional thinking patterns by making connections with unrelated concepts
When: Ideal when facing complex problems that need fresh perspectives or creative solutions
Instructions for running this play
- Find random objects. Ask participants to come up with a random and unrelated object (person, place, thing, or idea). Write the object names on individual sticky notes.
- Extract their qualities or attributes and write them on index cards:
- An airplane flies through the air, along predefined routes, and has an autopilot feature
- An oak tree has deep roots with wide branching structures and can live from a very small seed.
- Shuffle the cards and distribute them randomly
- Develop analogies. Use the cards to develop analogies to the problem or issues at hand:
- How is this problem similar to [random object]?
- How would I solve this problem with [random object]?
Tips to perfect this play
Master and adapt the play to fit your context and needs.
Tip: Hunt for objects
Spark energy and randomness into the exercise by letting participants hunt for random physical objects in their immediate surroundings. “You have 5 seconds to find an object that is BLUE!”
Tip: Group analogy
You can also work through one analogy as a group: “How would we use a clothing clip to solve our data import problem?”
Every card deck includes workshop patterns, so your team can put the methods to work in your next session.
Running behavioral design workshops? The Persuasive Patterns Workshop Playbook (PDF) shows you how to design and run them.
Browse the card decks- Forced Analogy by Dave Gray
- Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers by Dave Gray
- Forced Analogy by Erica Marx
- Forced Analogies