Anne-Laure Le Cunff Profile picture
Sep 18, 2020 6 tweets 1 min read Read on X
Want to come up with new ideas? Try the innovation equation.

1. Subtraction: Is there anything you can remove from the equation?

Sony removed the recording function to launch a new product: the Walkman.

Apple got rid of the headphone jack to create the AirPods.

🧵
2. Multiplication: Is there any element you can multiply?

Retina screens are the result of a multiplication of the number of pixels, leading to increased sharpness.

Dropbox stayed competitive by increasing storage space for their users over the years.
3. Division: Can you divide a problem or product into smaller elements and reorganise them?

Divide a laptop and extract the screen to get a tablet.

Divide a fridge and extract a drawer to get a cooling drawer.

Divide food into its nutrients to get nutritional supplements.
4. Task unification: Can several tasks be unified under a single element?

USB-C can transmit both data and power.

Dyson air purifiers can both cool and heat your house.

Smart speakers can play sound and listen to your voice.

Best example: the iPhone home button!
5. Attribute dependency: can you break existing dependencies or create new ones?

Break the water/phone dependency to invent waterproof smartphones.

Create a dependency between light levels and the shade of the glass to invent transition sunglasses.
The innovation equation works for problem solving, product development, writing, and more... I think any creative process would play well with it? 🤓

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Anne-Laure Le Cunff Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @neuranne

Feb 1, 2023
I don't actually use that many mental models on an everyday basis, but this one has been the most helpful to me.

Think of your actions not as a scalar (magnitude) but as a vector (magnitude and direction).

Let me explain 👇
Scientists call a “scalar” a quantity that can be fully described by its magnitude alone.

Speed is a scalar (“I’m driving 80 miles per hour”), and so are volume, mass, and time.

When you’re talking about how fast or how big something is, you’re describing it as a scalar.
In contrast, a vector is described by both its magnitude and its direction.

Velocity is an example of vector: it not only tells you *how fast* you’re going, but also *where* you’re going.

For instance, “I’m driving 80 miles per hour to the south.”
Read 6 tweets
Jan 11, 2023
The concept of meta-emotions is incredibly helpful to better accept and manage our feelings.

It's basically an emotional detangling tool 🌀 Image
Say you worked hard to prepare for an interview for your dream job. You think it went well, anxiously wait, and then... You learn that you didn't get the job.

What happens? You probably feel a mix of emotions and don't even know where to start to untangle all those feelings.
That's where the concept of meta-emotions comes in. It helps you think about your emotions in terms of layers, e.g:

• Emotion: feeling disappointed because you didn't get the job
• Meta-emotion: feeling guilty about your disappointment, because other people "have it worse"
Read 4 tweets
Jul 5, 2022
This is such a shocking stat, but I can't find the original source: allegedly an 80% average of people across age brackets report their lives to be meaningless

What about folks on Twitter? Please answer the questions below 🙏🏽 Image
Let's use an adaptation of Schnell's (2016) 5-item Meaningfulness Scale (with only 4 choices because of Twitter polls' limitations)

👇

"I think that there is meaning in what I do."
"I have a goal in life."
Read 6 tweets
May 31, 2022
Playing with metaphors to illustrate my 4 pillars of creativity...

1. The creative scientist 🧪

• Cognition = set up your lab
• Collection = gather some good samples / data
• Connection = look for interesting patterns
• Creation = publish new insights & get feedback!
2. The mind gardener 🌱

• Cognition = pick a plot of land
• Collection = plant some seeds
• Connection = grow branches & trees
• Creation = harvest the fruit of your hard work!
3. And this is more of an abstract one...

• Cognition = choose a tool for thought
• Collection = consume quality content & capture quality notes
• Connection = practice networked thinking & idea sex
• Creation = produce & share your original work with the world!
Read 4 tweets
May 30, 2022
I'm half-French, half-Algerian. Today was the first time I saw paintings of Algerian landscapes in a museum 🥺♥️ Image
Related: if you find yourself at the Louvre in Paris, they just finished restoring "Women of Algiers", a beautiful Delacroix painting which was praised by van Gogh, Gauguin, Baudelaire & countless artists for its melancholia, calm & colors Image
Picasso loved "Women of Algiers" so much he re-created 15 versions of the painting in his own style!

(as you can see, his versions are a bit more evocative than the original Delacroix) ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Mar 8, 2022
Happy #IWD2022! Let's play a game... Can you spot what's wrong with this list of "intellectual giants" by @farnamstreet? 👀

Men don't hold a monopoly over impacting the world with their brilliant thinking. Here are 10 women that changed the world & their thinking strategies 👇 Image
01. Let's start with the obvious... Marie Curie, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes!

It’s an understatement to say that she profoundly impacted the world with her ideas, and there is a lot to learn from her approach to problem-solving 🧠

nesslabs.com/marie-curie
02. Next is Ada Lovelace, who was wildly imaginative, but also valued her relationships in the scientific community and frequently connected science and literature.

She inspired Alan Turing’s work on the first modern computers in the 1940s 🖥️✨

nesslabs.com/ada-lovelace
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(