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Collision-Zone Thinking

mrgoonie
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About

Collision-Zone Thinking is a creativity technique that forces unrelated concepts together to generate breakthrough innovations by asking "What if we treated X like Y?". Developers should use it when conventional approaches feel inadequate, as it deliberately mixes metaphors to discover novel solutions and emergent properties. This method helps reframe problems like code organization as DNA or service architecture as Lego bricks to spark new perspectives.

Documentation

Collision-Zone Thinking

Overview

Revolutionary insights come from forcing unrelated concepts to collide. Treat X like Y and see what emerges.

Core principle: Deliberate metaphor-mixing generates novel solutions.

Quick Reference

Stuck OnTry Treating AsMight Discover
Code organizationDNA/geneticsMutation testing, evolutionary algorithms
Service architectureLego bricksComposable microservices, plug-and-play
Data managementWater flowStreaming, data lakes, flow-based systems
Request handlingPostal mailMessage queues, async processing
Error handlingCircuit breakersFault isolation, graceful degradation

Process

  1. Pick two unrelated concepts from different domains
  2. Force combination: "What if we treated [A] like [B]?"
  3. Explore emergent properties: What new capabilities appear?
  4. Test boundaries: Where does the metaphor break?
  5. Extract insight: What did we learn?

Example Collision

Problem: Complex distributed system with cascading failures

Collision: "What if we treated services like electrical circuits?"

Emergent properties:

  • Circuit breakers (disconnect on overload)
  • Fuses (one-time failure protection)
  • Ground faults (error isolation)
  • Load balancing (current distribution)

Where it works: Preventing cascade failures Where it breaks: Circuits don't have retry logic Insight gained: Failure isolation patterns from electrical engineering

Red Flags You Need This

  • "I've tried everything in this domain"
  • Solutions feel incremental, not breakthrough
  • Stuck in conventional thinking
  • Need innovation, not optimization

Remember

  • Wild combinations often yield best insights
  • Test metaphor boundaries rigorously
  • Document even failed collisions (they teach)
  • Best source domains: physics, biology, economics, psychology

Quick Install

/plugin add https://github.com/mrgoonie/claudekit-skills/tree/main/collision-zone-thinking

Copy and paste this command in Claude Code to install this skill

GitHub 仓库

mrgoonie/claudekit-skills
Path: .claude/skills/problem-solving/collision-zone-thinking

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