Pencil Questions - Creative Exercise 10

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Introduction

    Have you ever looked at a pencil and wondered how did we come up with this object? It has become a pretty handy invention, I must say.

    I found this creative exercise in a blog post called 10 Activities To Generate Better Ideas created by IDEO U. IDEO U has a podcast named Creative Confidence Podcast, and they brought on Brendan Boyle an IDEO U partner and founder of IDEO U Play Lab. Brendan Boyle discussed “how to bring playfulness back into the workplace”. He listed 10 activities that he uses with his team. The link is below for more information and activities.

https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/10-activities-to-generate-better-ideas

    The activity I chose is called Pencil Questions. First things first, obtain an image of a pencil. The one that I looked at was a sharpened yellow-orange pencil with a pink eraser in a silver piece with a blue strip in the middle of the silver piece.

Next, you are supposed to come up with at least ten questions in thirty seconds.

I will admit I went over the 30 seconds, but I came up with eleven questions in about five minutes.

NOT TOO TERRIBLE!

Pencil Questions:

What can you build with pencils?

Can pencils float?

Why is there a blue stripe around the silver part?

How come the pencil is sharp and brand new and not old, dirty, and dull?

Why is the wood of the pencil always different shades of brown?

What if there was a different way to hold the pencil?

What if there was a tool that held five pencils and you could spread them as far apart as you needed up to a certain length?

Why is the color for a pencil typically a yellow-orange color?

What can you use the different pieces of the pencil for?

How long will a pencil stay sharp?

What if the pencil always stayed sharp?

Conclusion

    I am not sure I ever looked at a pencil and thought, what questions could I come up with about a pencil? It seems like a crazy question to ask. It seems like the craziest questions and ideas end up being the beginning of the GREATEST inventions. It may have taken me longer to come up with my questions, but some of my questions could spiral into great ideas. I would say my favorite question is “What if there was a tool that held five pencils and you could spread them as far apart as you need up to a certain length?

What questions come to your mind?

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