Episode 56: Think Inside the Umbrella – Four Thousand Years of Innovation

by | Aug 16, 2021 | Podcast | 0 comments

Today, instead of innovating inside the box, I want you to think inside the umbrella.

Believe it or not, the umbrella is a great example of how patterns of innovation have progressed over time to form the basis of the SIT method. Patterns have been used by everyday innovators for thousands of years to create new inventions. Many times they were using those patterns without even realizing it. Now those patterns are embedded into the everyday things you see around you like umbrellas. These items can be leveraged and used to create and innovate new things.

In this episode, we’re going to look into this everyday object of the umbrella. It may seem like a simple and lowly household object. However, you’d be surprised to know that all five patterns of the SIT method can be found inside of it. Tune in to learn how.

In this episode you’ll hear:

  1. The history of the umbrella.
  2. Examples of innovations of the umbrella that used subtraction.
  3. How the task unification technique has been used on umbrellas.
  4. What the “unbrella” is and how it exemplifies the division technique.
  5. How transition umbrellas use the attribution dependency technique.
  6. How the multiplication technique could be used to innovate the umbrella.
  7. What a 3rd grader taught me about the multiplication technique.

Resources from this episode:

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