The Trap of Assumptions
I just read an interesting post from the folks at 99U and Behance about lateral thinking to solve difficult problems. They start us off with this puzzle:
Pretend that you’re trapped in a magical room with only two exits. Through the first exit is a room made from a giant magnifying glass, and the blazing hot sun will fry you to death. Through the second door is a room with a fire-breathing dragon. Which do you go through?
The first door, of course. Simply wait until the sun goes down.
The 99U post is inspired by Shane Snow’s book Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success.
So what’s lateral thinking?
“It’s the art of reframing questions, attacking problems sideways. They way a computer hacker or, say, MacGyver would think.
Breakthroughs, by very definition, only occur when assumptions are broken. In creative fields, this often happens when people break rules that aren’t actually rules at all, but rather simply conventions. Pablo Picasso changed art forever by smashing the “rules” of perspective, color, proportion. His Cubism took hold in Paris faster than Van Gogh’s impressionism—and any other new form, for that matter. Apple turned the tech world on its head by radically simplifying music and mice when everyone else equated more buttons and more megabytes and more jargon with better. When we look at great inventions and solutions to problems throughout history—the kinds that make what came before instantly obsolete—we see this pattern again and again.”
So they list five procedures you can try yourself when looking for an innovative solution.
1) List the assumptions – what are all the assumptions that are keeping you stuck? In the puzzle above it’s that you have to get out, you have to act now, and both choices will kill you (so you assume)
2) Verbalize the convention – pick the obvious solution then think what if you couldn’t
3) Question the question- rethink what you are asking yourself – is it the right question and/or is there a different way to ask it
4) Start backwards – sometimes starting with the solution can give you a clue. In the example above you could start outside and figure out how to get in the room protected by sun and fire.
5) Change perspective – if you can’t get someone else’s perspective, try thinking about the problem as if you weren’t you – maybe you think what would a track star do? What would a scientist do?
Sometimes the quickest and best way between two places isn’t a straight line.
Want to read their whole blog? Click here.