Program/Project Management Resource List #28

Revised May 2007

Provided by the NASA Headquarters Library

Ralph Waldo Emerson describes in his Journals how simple a solution to a problem may appear to be once it has been implemented:

I like people who can do things. When Edward and I struggled in vain to drag our big calf into the barn, the Irish girl put her finger into the calf's mouth and led her in directly. (cited in The Manager's Book of Quotations)

Some of the following items focus on finding ways to "drag the calf into the barn," others on the creative thinking that leads to such problem solving. For information focusing on the management of innovative and creative environments, see PPM-STACKS Resource List #10 Innovation and Creativity in the Workplace.

All items are available at the Headquarters Library. NASA Headquarters employees and contractors: call (358-0172) or email Library@hq.nasa.gov for information on borrowing or in-library use of any of these items. Members of the public, contact your Local Library for the availability of these items.

Books

Al’tshuller, GS. The Art of Inventing: How to Invent and How to Solve Technical Problems. Worcester, MA: Technical Innovation Center, 1994.

T173.8 .A477 1994 PPM-STACKS

 

Couger, J. Daniel. Creative Problem Solving and Opportunity Finding. Hinsdale, IL: Boyd and Fraser Pub. Co., 1995.

HD53 .C69 1995 PPM-STACKS

 

Dasgupta, Subrata. Creativity in Invention and Design: Computational and Cognitive Explorations of Technological Originality. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

T49.5 .D38 1994 PPM-STACKS

 

Ferguson, Eugene S. Engineering and the Mind's Eye. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.

TA145 .F37 1992 PPM-STACKS

 

Lienhard, John H. The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.

T14.5 .L52 2000 BOOKSTACKS

 

Rabe, Cynthia Barton. The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine--And What Smart Companies Are Doing About It. New York, NY:American Management Association, 2006.

HD53 .R33 2006 PPM-STACKS

 

Weber, Robert J. Forks, Phonographs, and Hot Air Balloons: A Field Guide to Inventive Thinking. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992.

T212 .W4 1992 BOOKSTACKS

 

Articles and Reports

Amabile, Teresa M., Constance N. Hadley, and Steven J. Kramer. "Creativity under the gun", Harvard Business Review, vol. LXXX, no. 8 (Aug. 2002), p. 52-61

 

Burleson, Winslow, and Ted Selker. "Creativity and Interface: Introduction", Communications of the ACM, vol. XLV, no. 10 (Oct. 2002), p. 88-90.

These gentlemen were the guest editors of this issue of the Communications of the ACM, which is all about creativity.

 

Fenn, Donna, and John Case. "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Creativity", Inc., vol. XXIV, no. 10 (Oct. 2002), p. 83-86.

 

Michalko, Michael. "From Bright Ideas to Right Ideas", Futurist, vol. LXXXVII, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2003), p. 52-56.

 

Selinger, Carl. "Unlock your engineering creativity", IEEE Spectrum, vol. XLI, no. 8 (Aug. 2004), p. 47-49.

 

Singer, Thea. "Your Brain on Innovation", Inc., vol. XXIV, no. 9 (Sept. 2002), p. 86-89.

Internet Resources

American Creativity Association. 2005 [23 May 2007].

http://www.amcreativityassoc.org/index1.htm

 

Creative Education Foundation. 2007 [23 May 2007].

http://www.creativeeducationfoundation.org/

 

European Association for Creativity and Innovation. May 2007 [23 May 2007].

http://www.eaci.net/

 

International Society for Professional Innovation Management. 2007 [23 May 2007].

http://www.ispim.org/

 

Northwood University. Alden B. Dow Creativity Center. 2007 [23 May 2007].

http://www.northwood.edu/abd/thecenter/