Provocative operation

A Provocative operation is an idea which moves thinking forward to a new place from where new ideas or solutions may be found. The term was created by Edward de Bono as part of a Lateral Thinking technique. It is often written simply as 'po'.

For example...

• Sales are dropping off because our product is perceived as old fashioned.

1. po: Change the colour of the packaging
2. po: Flood the market with even older-looking products to make it seem more appealing
3. po: Call it retro
4. po: Sell it to old people
5. po: Sell it to young people as a gift for old people
6. po: Open a museum dedicated to it
7. po: Pretend it is a new product

Some of the above ideas may be impractical, not sensible, not business-minded, not politically correct, or just plain daft. The value of these ideas is that they move thinking from a place where it is entrenched to a place where it can move. The above ideas might develop into...

1. po: Change the colour of the packaging
   • update the product casing to bring it up to date (electronic goods can often do this)
2. po: Flood the market with even older-looking products to make it seem more appealing
   • take a cut down version and release it as an older cheaper one to make this product seem like the top of the range
3. po: Call it retro
   • instead of retro say tried and tested or industry standard
4. po: Sell it to old people
   • good idea
5. po: Sell it to young people as a gift for old people
   • good idea
6. po: Open a museum dedicated to it
   • exhibit only your competitor's products
   • sell this product in the museum
   • make the experience educational within your sector
   • open a cafe
   • accept group bookings
   • add a theme park
7. po: Pretend it is a new product
   • give it a new name and call it state of the art

The point of these examples is that an initial po may seem silly, but a further development may seem very good indeed. The intermediate silly idea is a necessary step to find the good idea. If silly ideas are not allowed o form, the subsequent good idea will be undiscovered. Po allows silly ideas to form so that good ones can follow.