They focus on analysis of the old system and documenting and implementing the new, but they give little attention to conceptual design. It is at that time that the practitioner exercises his experience and imagination to come up with a new system concept. This magic remains unexplained and largely unexplored and, to a large extend, ignored. But the type of activity that is most particularly associated with design is synthesis, for which there is no commonly-acknowledged form of reasoning.
Creative techniques can enhance information systems.
But techniques are different for each stage of the life-cycle.