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Divergent thinking is a creative approach aimed at generating many varied ideas and challenging assumptions. It supports exploration, prototyping, and unconventional solutions during early product and innovation phases. Typical settings include workshops, design sprints, and problem framing; it requires an open mindset and facilitation skills.
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Divergent thinking is a mode of thinking for open-ended idea generation: starting from one problem, it produces many different, including unusual, possibilities before selection or evaluation.
The term comes from psychological creativity research. In 1956, J. P. Guilford contrasted divergent and convergent thinking as different modes of problem solving to describe creative performance beyond a single correct answer. Since then, the focus has been on generating many alternatives, unusual connections, and fresh perspectives in a systematic way.
Think of divergent thinking like opening a fan: one question sits at the center, and many directions spread outward. The search space is kept deliberately wide at first so unexpected ideas can emerge. Only later are the ideas gathered, compared, and prioritized. Its strength is expansion rather than quick decision-making.
Many ideas are produced quickly without filtering too early.
The problem is viewed from different angles to reveal new approaches.
Unusual or newly combined ideas expand the solution space.
Critique and selection are temporarily held back so the idea space does not shrink too soon.
Divergence opens the search space; convergence later narrows it into a decision.
Divergent thinking is useful in early workshops, design sprints, and product phases when the problem is still loosely framed. It is especially helpful for ideation, problem framing, and exploration. Its value drops when teams need feasibility checks or decisions too early; that later requires convergent evaluation, clear criteria, and good facilitation.
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