sparks-create

# Sparks — Creative Problem Solving with 13 Thinking Tools

Apply the 13 thinking tools from Robert & Michèle Root-Bernstein's "Sparks of Genius" to break through conventional thinking. While `/rethink-unblock` targets technical blockers with structured frameworks, `/sparks-create` targets problems that need creative, cross-disciplinary, and sensory-rich exploration.

## Triggers

Use this skill when:
- The problem is not purely technical — it involves design, strategy, communication, or human factors
- Analytical approaches have produced correct but uninspiring solutions
- You need to connect ideas across different domains
- The problem needs a fundamentally new framing, not an incremental fix
- You want to explore a question with creative depth rather than engineering precision

## Process

### Step 1: Define the Problem

```
Problem: [What I want to achieve or understand]
Context: [Domain, constraints, what's been tried]
Desired outcome: [What a good solution looks like]
```

### Step 2: Select a Mode

Choose one of three modes based on need:

| Mode | Tools applied | When to use |
|------|---------------|-------------|
| **Full (전체)** | All 13 tools, sequentially | Deep exploration of a complex, open-ended problem |
| **Quick (단축)** | 5 combined lenses | Fast creative check, time-boxed brainstorming |
| **Deep (심화)** | 1-2 tools, thoroughly | Already know which lens is most promising |

If the user doesn't specify, default to **Quick** mode.

### Step 3: Apply the Selected Tools

Follow the tool instructions in the relevant section below. For each tool:
1. Ask the tool's core question
2. Produce a concrete, specific answer (not generic platitudes)
3. Bridge to the next tool by connecting insights

### Step 4: Synthesize and Recommend

Produce actionable output (see Output Format).

---

## The 13 Thinking Tools

### 1. Observing (관찰)

> "보기"가 아니라 "관찰하기" — 피카소의 아버지는 비둘기 발만 반복해서 그리도록 시켰다.

- Describe the problem as if seeing it for the first time, using all senses.
- What is everyone taking for granted that is actually surprising?
- What is the "pigeon's foot" — the one element worth observing repeatedly?

### 2. Imaging (형상화)

> 테슬라는 기계를 머릿속에서 조립하고 작동시켰다.

- Visualize the problem as a concrete image. What does it look like?
- Translate to other senses: what does it sound like, feel like, taste like?
- Visualize the solved state. What changed in the image?

### 3. Abstracting (추상화)

> "하나만 제외하고 모든 변수를 제거하라."

- Strip away all details. What is the one-sentence essence?
- What is the simplest possible version of this problem?
- If you could change only one variable, which one matters most?

### 4. Recognizing Patterns (패턴 인식)

> 다빈치는 벽의 얼룩에서 풍경을 발견했다.

- What repeats in this problem? What is the underlying rhythm?
- Where has this same pattern appeared in a different time or field?
- Where does the pattern break? That irregularity is a clue.

### 5. Forming Patterns (패턴 형성)

> 바흐는 대칭적 패턴 조작으로 독창적 음악을 만들었다.

- Decompose the found pattern into its smallest units.
- Recombine those units in at least 3 new arrangements.
- Which recombination opens the most surprising possibility?

### 6. Analogizing (유추)

> 뉴턴: 사과를 끌어당기는 힘이 달까지 뻗친다면?

- Find a functionally identical structure in a completely different domain.
- The analogy must share mechanism, not just surface resemblance.
- What solution already exists in the analogous domain? Reverse-map it.

### 7. Body Thinking (몸으로 생각하기)

> 파인먼은 문제를 풀지 않고 "느꼈다."

- If you had to act out this problem physically, what movement would it be?
- Describe the solution process as a physical verb: building, untangling, carving, folding...
- What does your gut say before your mind finishes analyzing?

### 8. Empathizing (감정이입)

> 제인 구달은 침팬지 사회에 들어가 그들이 되었다.

- Become the problem's subject (user, system, molecule, customer). What do you feel?
- "If I were this problem itself, why would I exist in this form?"
- What does the world look like from inside the problem?

### 9. Dimensional Thinking (차원적 사고)

> 오키프는 꽃을 거대하게 그려서 사람들이 "보게" 만들었다.

- Shift the time scale: what if you had 1 second? 100 years?
- Shift the magnitude: 1 person vs. 1 million? 1 won vs. 1 trillion?
- Flatten it to 2D or expand it to 4D (adding time). What appears?

### 10. Modeling (모형 만들기)

> 모형은 직접 경험하기 어려운 것에 접근하는 도구다.

- Build the simplest possible model that captures the core mechanism.
- Run the model. Where does it break? What does the failure reveal?
- What would a napkin sketch or 3-step flowchart of this look like?

### 11. Playing (놀이)

> 플레밍: "미생물을 가지고 노는데, 규칙에 익숙해지면 깨뜨리는 게 재미있다."

- Remove all constraints. What would you try just for fun?
- If failure were impossible, what's the most audacious approach?
- Turn the problem into a game. What are the rules? What's the win condition?

### 12. Transforming (변형)

> 에드거튼은 사진의 한계를 전자공학으로 풀었다.

- Express the problem in a completely different medium (diagram, story, equation, song).
- Translate the language: technical → everyday, Korean → English, numbers → narrative.
- Borrow a tool from another field. What does it reveal?

### 13. Synthesizing (통합)

> "상상하면서 분석하고, 화가인 동시에 과학자가 되라."

- Which insights from the previous tools resonate with each other?
- Where do logic and intuition point in the same direction?
- State the final answer and trace which tools contributed to it.

---

## Quick Mode: 5 Combined Lenses

When using Quick mode, apply these 5 combined lenses instead of all 13 tools:

1. **관찰+추상화** (Observe + Abstract): What is the hidden essence beneath the surface?
2. **패턴+유추** (Pattern + Analogy): What structurally identical problem in another field already has a solution?
3. **감정이입+몸** (Empathize + Body Think): Become the problem's subject. What do you feel? What does your gut say?
4. **모형+놀이** (Model + Play): Build a minimal model with no constraints. What happens when you run it?
5. **변형+통합** (Transform + Synthesize): Re-express the problem in a different medium, then unify all insights.

---

## Deep Mode: Single-Tool Drill

When using Deep mode, the user specifies which tool(s) to apply. Go deep on that tool:

- Apply the tool from at least 5 different angles or domains
- Produce 3+ concrete alternatives from that single lens
- Include a "first step" for each alternative

Example: `/sparks-create deep analogy` — find 5 analogies across nature, music, sports, cooking, and history, then reverse-map the best solution.

---

## Output Format

```
## Sparks: [Problem Title]

**Problem**: [one sentence]
**Context**: [brief background]
**Mode**: [Full / Quick / Deep: tool-name]

### [Tool/Lens Name] Analysis
[Specific insights, 3-5 sentences per tool. Include concrete examples.]

...

### Synthesis

**Key insights** (top 3):
1. [insight + which tool produced it]
2. [insight + which tool produced it]
3. [insight + which tool produced it]

**Recommended approach**: [1-2 sentences]
**First action**: [immediate next step]
**Alternative paths**: [1-2 backup approaches if the first doesn't work]
```

## Anti-Patterns

- Generic creativity theater ("think outside the box!") — every insight must be specific and grounded in the problem
- Skipping the hard tools — body thinking and empathy feel awkward but often produce the strongest breakthroughs
- Decorating an existing answer — the point is to discover NEW directions, not justify what you already planned
- All insight, no action — output must include concrete next steps
- Treating this as a replacement for `/rethink-unblock` — use `/rethink-unblock` for technical blockers, `/sparks-create` for creative reframing

## Relationship to Other Thinking Skills

| | `/rethink-unblock` | `/sparks-create` | `/davinci-define` |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Focus** | Technical blockers | Creative reframing | Problem definition & direction setting |
| **Frameworks** | 4 structured frameworks | 13 thinking tools | 7 Da Vincian principles |
| **Strength** | Engineering precision | Cross-domain imagination | Self-reflection & life compass |
| **Best for** | Architecture, debugging, design decisions | Strategy, innovation, multi-domain problems | Career direction, goal setting, life planning |
| **Can combine** | Use `/rethink-unblock` first for technical analysis, then `/sparks-create` for creative alternatives, then `/davinci-define` for direction alignment |