Synectics: The Personal Analogy

The Personal Analogy is a problem-solving method where you mentally become the object or process you are analyzing. By imagining its 'feelings' and 'experiences,' you bypass purely logical thinking to uncover hidden insights. For example, a product designer trying to improve a coffee mug might imagine being the mug, 'feeling' the discomfort of a poorly shaped handle or the instability of its base. This empathetic shift reveals problems that technical specifications might miss.

Try this: If I were [the object of my problem], what would I be feeling right now?

The Personal Analogy is a core technique of Synectics, a creativity framework. The process involves temporarily abandoning your own identity and perspective to empathize with an inanimate object or abstract system.

The Process

1. Identify the Object: Choose the key element of your problem. This could be a physical product, a piece of software, or even an abstract concept like 'team morale'.
2. Personify and Empathize: Ask questions from the object's point of view. Use emotional and sensory language. For instance: "If I were this slow database, how would I feel? Overwhelmed? Disorganized? Tired of being asked for the same information repeatedly?"
3. Translate Insights: Convert these metaphorical feelings back into potential real-world problems. 'Feeling disorganized' might translate to an issue with data indexing. 'Feeling overwhelmed' could point to inefficient queries.

A software developer stuck on a bug might imagine being the piece of code. "I feel trapped in an endless loop. I keep getting the same wrong data, and no one is listening to my error signal." This could reveal the problem isn't the code's logic, but the data it's receiving.

Similarly, a city planner could use this to improve public transit. By 'becoming' a bus stop, they might 'feel' neglected, exposed to the rain, and lonely at night. This highlights the human experience of the infrastructure, suggesting needs for shelters, better lighting, or real-time information displays that a purely data-driven analysis might overlook.

The Personal Analogy is one of four analogy mechanisms in the Synectics creativity model, developed by William J.J. Gordon and George M. Prince in the 1950s. The core idea is to 'make the strange familiar and the familiar strange' to trigger new ways of thinking. This technique deliberately engages non-rational, empathetic thought processes to break through logical dead ends.

• Gordon (1961) proposed that creative breakthroughs depend on psychological states, and techniques like the Personal Analogy help induce these states by fostering empathic identification with a problem's elements. [1]
• Prince (2012) described its practical application in group settings, where personifying a problem (e.g., "I am the failing marketing campaign") allows participants to express underlying issues without direct criticism, bypassing emotional roadblocks. [2]
• Nolan (2003) analyzed Synectics' core mechanisms, highlighting that the Personal Analogy works by temporarily suspending analytical thought, which allows for more intuitive and holistic connections to emerge. [3]

The Personal Analogy is not without its challenges. Its effectiveness is highly dependent on a participant's willingness and ability to engage in imaginative, metaphorical thinking; some may find the process silly or too abstract. Furthermore, while excellent for generating novel ideas, the insights gained are often emotional and lack immediate technical rigor. They must be followed by a separate phase of critical analysis and validation to become practical solutions.