// description
Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a structured framework that alternates between divergent thinking (generating many options) and convergent thinking (selecting the best) across multiple stages: Clarify (understand the challenge), Ideate (generate ideas), Develop (refine solutions), and Implement (plan for action). Each stage has its own divergent and convergent phase, creating a rhythm of expansion and focus.
// history
Alex Osborn laid the foundation with his brainstorming work in the 1950s, and Sidney Parnes, a professor at Buffalo State College, formalised the process through the 1960s and 1970s. The Creative Education Foundation, founded by Osborn, continues to develop the framework and hosts the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute, the longest-running creativity conference in the world.
// example
A KDP author wants to grow her income but keeps trying the same approaches. She uses the full CPS process. In Clarify, she redefines the challenge from "how do I sell more books" to "how might I become the first recommendation for KDP beginners in my niche." In Ideate, she generates 40 approaches. In Develop, she converges on a free beginner's guide published as a KDP title at $0.99, designed to rank for beginner keywords and funnel readers to her premium products. In Implement, she plans the content, publication date, and follow-up email sequence. The reframing in Clarify is what makes the plan distinctive.
// katharyne's take
The most powerful part of CPS is the Clarify stage, and most people skip it entirely. The difference between "how do I sell more books" and "how might I become the first recommendation for beginners in my niche" is enormous — one is a production question, the other is a positioning question. Before you start ideating, spend real time rephrasing the challenge. Try at least three completely different versions of the problem statement and pick the one that opens up the most interesting solution directions. That reframe is often worth more than all the ideas that follow.
// creative uses
- Apply the Clarify stage to any stalled creative project: rewrite the problem statement three different ways at three different levels of abstraction. "How do I improve this coloring book?" → "How do I make a coloring book that earns repeat buyers?" → "How do I build a coloring book brand that buyers return to?" Each level opens different solution directions.
- Use the divergent/convergent rhythm as a course development process: divergent ideation produces every possible lesson topic and format; convergent selection produces the module structure; divergent ideation on each module produces every possible activity and example; convergent selection produces the final lesson plan. The rhythm prevents both scope creep and premature narrowing.
- Apply CPS to Etsy shop strategy by treating the shop as a problem to be solved, not just a catalog to be added to: "How might I make my shop the most recommended resource for [specific buyer type]?" The reframe from "how do I get more sales?" to a positioning question changes every subsequent decision about what to list, how to price, and how to build reviews.
// quick actions
- Take the most important business challenge you're working on right now and write three different versions of the problem statement, each starting with "How might I..." The most specific and interesting version is the one to work with. If all three versions feel the same, you haven't gone deep enough — try writing one that completely changes the scope of what "solving" means.
- Run a CPS session on your content strategy: Clarify (what is the actual goal of your content — sales, trust, traffic, community?), Ideate (generate 30 content ideas without filtering), Develop (pick the 5 that best serve the clarified goal), Implement (schedule them for the next 30 days). Four stages, 45 minutes, a complete content plan.
- Use the Develop stage specifically as a filtering mechanism for your product backlog: take the top 10 ideas from your last brainstorm, apply three evaluative criteria (demand evidence, competitive differentiation, production feasibility), and score each idea against each criterion. The highest-scoring idea is not necessarily the most exciting — it's the one most likely to work.
// prompt ideas
Run me through the full CPS process on this challenge: [describe your current creative or business problem]. Start with the Clarify stage — give me three alternative framings of my problem at different levels of abstraction, then help me pick the most interesting one before we move to Ideate.
I'm stuck generating ideas for [my next KDP series / Etsy product line / course topic]. Lead me through a divergent ideation session — give me 20 wild, unconstrained ideas with no filtering — and then help me converge by scoring the top 5 against these three criteria: [paste your criteria, e.g. demand evidence, differentiation, ease of production].
Help me reframe this problem using the CPS "How Might We" technique: [describe your problem as you currently see it]. Give me 6 different "How Might We" phrasings of the same challenge — some narrower, some much broader — and explain how each framing would lead to a different category of solution.