Claude Shannon’s Creative Method: Seeing Problems from the Right Angle

Strip Problems to Their Essence

Remove every detail that does not change the core behavior.
Shannon repeatedly reduced problems to their smallest workable form.

Build Toy Models

Create miniature versions of large systems.
Toy circuits, coin flips, and simplified channels expose structure.

Shift Representations

Translate the same problem into logic, probability, geometry, or circuits.
New representations reveal new solutions.

Use Constraints as Guides

Assume limits on noise, bandwidth, or energy.
Design within these boundaries to reveal what must still be possible.

Quantify Before Solving

Measure uncertainty or information first.
Treat problems as accounting tasks before design tasks.

Work from Ideals Downward

Start with theoretical limits: capacity, optimal codes.
Then design practical versions that approach these bounds.

Maintain Parallel Views

Hold multiple drafts of an idea: algebraic, probabilistic, physical.
Different forms reveal different insights.

Build Physical Prototypes

Hands-on constructions expose hidden relationships.
Shannon used gadgets to understand abstractions.

Re-derive Classic Results

Study and re-derive major works from Shannon, Wiener, Kolmogorov.
Reconstruction builds intuition.

Treat Problems as Puzzles

The correct viewpoint often is the solution.
Practice reorganizing problems until the structure becomes obvious.