'How to' #2: shifting perspective

In this posting, we look at a powerful way of extending the 'How to' technique to generate even more insights.

We can shift perspective on a problem by asking four possible questions.  The answers to these four questions will generate new 'How to' statements, all of different kinds.  And each question allows us to shift our perspective on the problem - to look at it in new ways.

 

There are many other ways of shifting perspective on a problem, of course.  For example, we could look at:

• functional aspects (design; production; administration)
• different points of view (management; technical; customer)
• causes of the problem

Any of these can become new 'How to' statements. Record them all on sticky notes.

 Once you are done, sort the stickies into clusters.  The categories for clustering will normally emerge as you do the sorting; try to avoid imposing artificial categories.

If you are working in a group, ask the problem owner - the person who submitted the original 'How to' - to choose a new 'How to' on the basis of:

• intrigue; and
• desire.

'Intrigue' means that the new 'How to' statement excites them and is not obviously feasible. (Feasible ideas could be put to one side to consider later.)

And 'desire' means that the new 'How to' expresses what the problem-owner really wants to happen.

Once the new 'How to' statement is chosen, the 'How to' session is over. You can move on to begin thinking about how to achieve the task.  One simple way to begin doing that is to construct 'How about' statements: ideas about possible courses of action that you could take.

'How to' is a technique for exploring problems - not for solving them.  It's a first-stage thinking technique.  Our ability to solve a problem is directly related to our perception of it.  Thus, the more richly we are able to look at a problem, the more possibilities arise for tackling it.

Find out more in my book, How to Solve Almost Any Problem.