To better narrow the creative focus, one can determine the most important requirements using the data file technique (also called the file or data string technique). It allows dealing with individual features without directly relating them to the actual problem.
In this process, various strands of thought (comparable to digital folders) are created that describe the basic requirements underlying the task or problem.
After that, each folder is filled with typical features that usually describe manifestations of the situations, regardless of the actual problem.
This method can be practiced passively, by looking at the different features, or in an active variant, in which one consciously combines different features and thereby searches for possible solutions.
