{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/walk-to-widen-the-option-set-not-to-choose-the-winner",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1256",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Walk to widen the option set, not to choose the winner",
  "summary": "Walking appears more useful for opening the option space than for closing it.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Take the unresolved generation question with you and walk without turning the walk into another meeting. A 2026 meta-analysis found a large average effect on divergent thinking and no clear evidence of benefit for convergent thinking. Use that asymmetry deliberately: generate candidate mechanisms, angles or examples while walking; evaluate feasibility and evidence after you return.",
  "limits": [
    "The evidence is stronger for divergent thinking than convergent thinking, and most participants in the meta-analysis were students. Walking does not make generated ideas correct, original enough or feasible."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-creative-incubation-and-movement"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-008B544C3E9FCDB2"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 23 studies with 1,036 participants found moderate-certainty evidence of a large positive effect of walking on divergent thinking (d=0.93; randomized-study sensitivity d=0.82), while evidence for convergent thinking was very uncertain and compatible with no effect.",
      "source_id": "RS-008B544C3E9FCDB2",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Most participants were post-secondary students, heterogeneity was substantial, and the result supports idea generation more clearly than idea selection or correctness.",
      "locator": "Abstract and results"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "You are stuck producing meaningfully different options and the next job is generation rather than evaluation."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "The evidence is stronger for divergent thinking than convergent thinking, and most participants in the meta-analysis were students. Walking does not make generated ideas correct, original enough or feasible."
  ],
  "example": "For a product page, walk with 'What are five genuinely different ways to show the value in under ten seconds?' Capture directions, then judge them later against audience, evidence and implementation cost.",
  "check": "The walk produces multiple meaningfully different options, and the final choice is made later with explicit criteria rather than by the excitement of the walk.",
  "steps": [
    "Write one generation question before you start.",
    "Walk at a safe, ordinary pace and capture distinct options with minimal commentary.",
    "Do not rank ideas during the generation pass unless a safety or feasibility issue is obvious.",
    "Return and run the normal criteria, evidence and contradiction checks."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-008B544C3E9FCDB2",
      "title": "The impact of walking on creative thinking: A systematic review and meta-analysis",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0347878"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1256",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0745",
      "type": "use_before",
      "url": "/knowledge/separate-generation-clarification-and-ranking"
    },
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1256",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0744",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/invite-one-deliberately-different-discipline-into-ideation"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-A2629F088EA58937",
      "title": "Widen the idea space before asking it to converge",
      "url": "/collections/widen-the-idea-space-before-asking-it-to-converge"
    }
  ]
}