There is a growing
category of software tools designed to help you think better. Whether
they help depends both on how you think and on why you think
(i.e. whether you're analyzing or imagining). Probably the best known thinking
tool is Peter Senge's
systems thinking
methodology. Basically cause-and-effect diagrams, they help turn negative
reinforcing actions (vicious cycles) into positive ones (virtuous
cycles). Here's an illustration of the
tragedy of the commons
that is leading Bush to want to privatize everything, in systems thinking,
from Outsights
:
You can buy
Stella and ithink systems thinking software. I used this process
to diagram the positive reinforcement of the
17 Projects
in my How to Save the World proposal, and again in my analysis of
depression
.
A second category of thinking tools might be defined as deconstructing
tools. They take an idea or an objective and decompose it into its elements
or aspects. Here's an example of its use by
Matt Mower
to analyze the process of knowledge capture, using
MindManager
software:
There are many other tools that help you organize your thoughts,
and hence at least indirectly think better. These include critical path and
GANTT charts, and a variety of scheduling, system design and project management
tools. There are software versions of many of these tools.
Some bloggers have developed tools that work in connection with their blogs
to help them find relevant information and inspiration. Here's AugustDiva's
links for
thinking
. I think it's a great improvement over blogrolls.
How about right-brain, creative processes? Creative thinking gurus like
De Bono
and
Michalko
use models and exercises like Six Thinking Hats and Thinkertoys
to stimulate the imagination, and perhaps remove blockages from
creative thinking. It's a matter of opinion whether the creative process
lends itself to processes (and hence software tools) as rigorous as those
for the analytical processes.
What do you think? Do you use any of these tools, and do they actually help
you think better?
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3:03:15 PM 
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