Brian Eno interviewed on BBC about creative strategy and Oblique Strategies

Oblique Strategies (subtitled “over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas”) is a set of published cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt first published in 1975.

Each card contains a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a deadlock or dilemma situation.  Examples include:

• Honour thy error as a hidden intention.
• Look at the order in which you do things
• Work at a different speed
• Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify
• Not building a wall; making a brick
• Repetition is a form of change
• Don’t break the silence
• What wouldn’t you do?
• What are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate
• Disciplined self-indulgence

“It’s kind of art school stuff, turned into a lifestyle really.”  Eno comments.

Random Oblique Strategies (gives you 1 at a time, from OS vols 1-5):

See also the idea of “Lateral thinking” from Edward De Bono, 1970: